NASA once again declines to rename the James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope can be seen in this illustration as it is about a million miles from Earth.

NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez

Astronomers don't like to call the telescope The James Webb Space Telescope.

They don't want to honor a NASA administrator who was in charge at a time when homosexuality was a crime. NASA found no evidence that the man was a leader or advocate of firing government employees for their sexual orientation.

"Based on the available evidence, the agency does not intend to change the name of the telescope," the agency said in a statement.

Telescopes have been named after scientists before. The instrument that is now NASA's flagship telescope was named after a man who oversaw the Apollo program.

Astronomers called for the observatory to be renamed before the telescope was launched into space. During a time when the federal government was investigating and expelling gay employees, they argued that he had to have been involved.

Many astronomy researchers signed on to a petition asking NASA to change the name of the telescope. Members of the American Astronomical Society were reminded this month that they don't need to use the telescope's full name in their scientific papers.

Access to some archival collections was restricted due to the coronaviruses outbreak, but NASA began to investigate records related to the time in government.

NASA's chief historian says getting access to records was critical to the investigation. The challenge was presented by covid.

NASA's administrator Bill Nelson said in September of last year that the telescope's name would stay the same. Astronomers were upset that NASA wasn't more transparent about how they came to that decision.

The full report of NASA's investigation of the time in government of the man has been made public.

Over 50,000 pages of documents from 1949- 1969 were reviewed by a group of people.

He says that he's happy that they've done their due diligence.

The review didn't turn up anything about the federal government's employment policies, except for the policies set by his superiors. New equal employment opportunity practices related to race and gender were a concern for Webb.

"We don't really know how he felt about any of the issues, but his main concern was understanding the administration's policies and putting them into effect while also fulfilling other priorities, like going to the moon."

Homosexuality doesn't come up in the communications about personnel issues at NASA. There was no evidence that he was aware of the firing of the man. After being arrested by the police for making a "homosexual advance,"Norton lost his job at NASA and later sued the government.

During his time at the State Department, he met with Senator Hoey, who led a congressional inquiry into homosexuality in the federal government.

According to the new NASA report, the main involvement was in trying to limit Congressional access to the personnel records of the Department of State.

There were no links found between the discussion and the actions that emerged from it. According to NASA's report, no one follows up on the matter in the aftermath of the June 28th meeting.

NASA's approach to this issue is sorely lacking according to critics of the telescope's name. The astronomer who wrote the Scientific American article sent a statement to NPR saying that NASA's statement relies on a practice ofselective historical reading, where there is not a piece of paper that explicitly says "James" did not know about it.

"All evidence points to the suggestion that he continued to be in positions of power specifically because he was highly competent, and that he knew much about the security practices at his agency during the Cold War, when being gay was perceived as being a national security issue," the astronomer said.

They write that it is hypocritical of NASA to insist on giving credit for the exciting things that happened under his leadership but refuse to accept his responsibility for the problems.

NASA's stance may be seen as suggesting that managers aren't responsible for discrimination that happens on their watch.

The persecution of gay government workers was a painful chapter in American history, and that's why people have a passion for the name of the telescope.

I know how the past can affect the present. It means a lot to people. We have to go where the evidence leads.

As NASA moves forward and tries to have open conversations about diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, it's important that they understand that part of history and the damage it did to people's lives.

We will be weaker for it if we don't make this a usable past.