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LGBTQ scientists and activists want to rename the James Webb telescope (named after a NASA administrator, not the author\/Silver Star winner\/Senator) now, since he was in government when they didn’t like the government. Think that’s what this means.<\/p>\n
The excitement around unprecedented new images<\/a> of far-off galaxies has reignited calls from some within the scientific and queer communities to rename the James Webb Space Telescope<\/a> because of Webb\u2019s alleged involvement in past anti-LGTBQ government policies in the mid-20th century.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\nNASA has billed the mission as an \u201cApollo moment,\u201d with the potential to answer probing questions at the frontier of space discovery, including about life on other planets. But the agency has also faced criticism<\/a> for naming its signature project after former NASA Administrator James Webb, who previously had served as undersecretary of state<\/a> during the Truman administration, when the federal government systematically purged its ranks of LGBTQ employees.<\/p>\n
In a statement to NBC News, a NASA spokesperson said Tuesday the agency\u2019s historians have conducted an \u201cexhaustive search through currently accessible archives on James Webb and his career,\u201d which has included speaking with experts who \u201cpreviously researched this topic extensively.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNASA found no evidence at this point that warrants changing the name of the telescope,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThey are compiling their information now into an update the agency will share.\u201d<\/p>\n
Webb ran NASA, then a fledgling space agency, from 1961 to 1968, playing a major role in the Apollo program. Prior to his role at NASA, he served with the Truman administration during a period in the 1950s now known as the Lavender Scare<\/a>. From the late 1940s to the 1960s, thousands<\/a> of federal employees were forced to resign or were fired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In a statement to NBC News, a NASA spokesperson said Tuesday the agency\u2019s historians have conducted an \u201cexhaustive search through currently accessible archives on James Webb and his career,\u201d which has included speaking with experts who \u201cpreviously researched this topic extensively.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNASA found no evidence at this point that warrants changing the name of the telescope,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThey are compiling their information now into an update the agency will share.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n