NASA confirms decision to keep JWST name after historical report - SpaceNews

WASHINGTON — NASA says a historical review of actions by former administrator James Webb confirmed its decision to keep the agency’s flagship space telescope named after him.

18 an 89-page report by the agency’s chief historian, Brian Odom, reviewing allegations that Webb, first at the State Department and later at NASA, was directly involved in the firings of employees based on their sexual orientations.

Those allegations had led many astronomers to call on NASA to rename the James Webb Space Telescope.

The report’s conclusions, NASA said in the statement, confirmed its earlier decision not to rename JWST.

The Lavender Scare that took place following World War II is a painful part of America’s story and the struggle for LGBTQI+ rights,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in the statement.

18 statement, four astronomers who led the effort to rename JWST — Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Lucianne Walkowicz, Sarah Tuttle and Brian Nord — said they had not yet read the report but believed it was focused too narrowly on those specific cases.

The report, they wrote, “seems to be answering the question ‘Is there definitive physical proof that James Webb knew about Clifford Norton and his case?’ That’s a separate question from, ‘Was James Webb, as administrator, responsible for the activities of the agency he led?’” They said they find it hard to believe that, as NASA administrator, Webb did not know of Clifford’s firing.