CONTENTS
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Reminder: Seminar this Wednesday â Aaron Bateman Presents on âWeapons in Spaceâ
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Our Next Aerospace Latin America Seminar on July 10
Reminder: Seminar this Wednesday â Aaron Bateman Presents on âWeapons in Spaceâ
This Wednesday, June 11, Aaron Bateman joins us for the next installment in our quarterly NASA History lecture series.
Weapons in Space: Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative
Aaron Bateman (George Washington University)
Wednesday, June 11 at 12:00 pm EDT / 11:00 am CDT / 9:00 am PDT
In March 1983, President Ronald Reagan shocked the world when he established the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively known as âStar Wars,â a space-based missile defense program that aimed
to protect the United States from nuclear attack. In his presentationâWeapons in Space: Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative,â Aaron Bateman draws from recently declassified American, European, and Soviet documents
to give an insightful account of SDI, situating it within a new phase in the militarization of space after the superpower détente fell apart in the 1970s. Bateman reveals the largely secret role of military space technologies in lateâCold War US defense strategy
and foreign relations.
Aaron Bateman is
an assistant professor of history and international affairs at George Washington University. He received his PhD in history of science from Johns Hopkins University and previously served as a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer.
Microsoft Teams
Meeting ID: 283 102 858 171 0
Passcode: Jq9m7Cz6
Dial in by phone
+1 256-715-9946,,622051866# United
States, Huntsville
Phone conference ID: 622 051 866#
Our Next Aerospace Latin America Seminar on July 10
âNASA in the Most Remote Area: The Laser Station and the Landing Strip on Easter Island during the 1980sâ
Pedro Alonso (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)
Thursday, July 10 at 2:00 pm EDT / 1:00 pm CDT / 11:00 am PDT
In 1985 a group of architecture students from the University of Chile made up two scale papier-mâché models of a Moaiâthe emblematic and monolithic human figures carved on volcanic stone by the Rapa
Nui people of Easter Islandâto create a barricade in demonstration against General Augusto Pinochetâs intentions to allow the installation of a U.S. NASA base on the island. A mixture of art, activism and politics, their performance defied the dictatorial
regime by ultimately burning the figures. In fact, during that period, several episodes of technological exchange between Chile and the United States took place when tracking stations and other facilities were installed all along the country. By discussing
a wide array of objects and visual materials, this talk will explore how science and technology were imagined, designed, and built alongside the politics, as well as the associated artistic and visual cultures attached to the reception and adaptation of those
technological artifacts intended for one of the most remote areas of the planet.
Pedro Ignacio Alonso holds a PhD in architecture from the Architectural Association in the United Kingdom and heads the PhD program
in Architecture and Urban Studies at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He was a Princeton-Mellon Fellow at Princeton University (2015â2016) and a resident architect at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center (2019). With Hugo Palmarola, he received
the Silver Lion for the Chilean Pavilion Monolith Controversies at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2014), which is now a permanent exhibit at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago, Chile.
Microsoft Teams
Meeting ID: 250 373 861 309
Passcode: fj6tZ6LV
Dial in by phone
+1 256-715-9946,,618742743# United
States, Huntsville
Phone conference ID: 618 742 743#
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NASA History Office
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