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NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe, who gave the telescope its name in 2002, said in an email that Webb is a “champion of education, technology, science, aviation and human exploration.”
“Our capacity to explore today would have been completely different if it weren’t for James Webb’s determination to realize possibly the most daring vision of his time,” said Mr O’Keefe. “It introduced complex systems management – a discipline to leverage NASA’s extraordinary technical capability at the time.” Mr O’Keefe added that he was unaware of any evidence that Webb was responsible for the Lavender Fear.
In May, NASA promised a full investigation by its deputy chief historian, Brian Odom. On September 27, the agency released a statement from Bill Nelson, NASA’s current administrator, that “At this time we have found no evidence that warrants renaming the James Webb Space Telescope.” Since then, no comprehensive report has come.
This infuriated many astronomers, and about 1,200 signed a petition He wants the name of the telescope changed. The petition partially states that “queer people were persecuted under Webb’s leadership.” “Those who would justify Webb’s failure to lead cannot simultaneously give him credit for directing Apollo.”
Hearing Mr. Nelson’s announcement, Dr. Walkowicz abruptly resigned from his position on the NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee. “This disrespectful, pathetic response Very reasonable questions raised by the astronomical community regarding the name of JWST It sends a clear message about NASA’s stance on the rights of queer astronomers,” they wrote in an online statement. “It also makes it clear that NASA doesn’t deserve my time.”
In an email, Dr. Prescod-Weinstein said he was disappointed by the promised lack of transparency. He also said the “no evidence” claim was too strong, suggesting that Webb’s team was not responsible for the homophobia—well-documented—proclaimed during his tenure at NASA.
“If he is not responsible for the bad things that happened while he was on duty, why is he responsible for the good things?” Dr. Prescod-Weinstein said. “There seems to be a bit of double thinking going on here, where people are giving him responsibility for the things they love about his legacy and pretending he’s only responsible for the things they love.”
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