JAKARTA - NASA recently faced insults to the fact that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) bears the name of the agency's leader who discriminates against gay or lesbian workers.
It was James Webb, who ran the space agency from 1961 to 1968 and is suspected of promoting anti-LGBTQ policies during his tenure.
So, as the Webb Telescope prepares last year to go into space, an investigation into the allegations quickly began, fueled by protests from scientists, activists and members of the general public urging the name of the pioneering machine to be changed.
However, NASA said an investigation conducted by the agency's chief historian Brian Odom found the figure of James Webb not being involved in the act.
They examined 50,000 documents and other correspondences from the historical period of the United States (US) known as the Lavender Scare, namely eradicating homosexuals from federal workers starting in the 1940s and continuing for decades.
"Setelah pencarian menyeluruh terhadap archival pemerintah AS dan Library Kepresidenan 11, penyelidikan sejarah NASA menemukan sampai saat ini, tidak ada bukti yang secara langsung menghubungkan (sok) James Webb dengan tindakan atau tindak lanjut apa pun yang terkait dengan pemecatan individu karena orientasi seksual mereka," ujar Administrator NASA Bill Nelson dalam sebuah pernyataan resmi yang dikutip Senin, 21 November.
"Based on available evidence, NASA is not planning to change the name of the James Webb Space Telescope," he added.
The special investigation by Odom and his team focused on two events related to the Webb figure, both of which occurred during the Lavender Scare.
NASA is not conducting any rapid investigations until 2021, although years of astronomers and other scientists have asked to remove the name James Webb.
The allegations included those made by NASA employee Clifford Norton, she filed a lawsuit claiming she had been fired in 1963 after being seen in the car with another man.
At that time he was taken to police custody, then NASA's security then took him to the agency's headquarters and interrogated him throughout the night. Before long, he was later dismissed from work.
NASA usually names telescopes with the names of prominent astronomers, such as Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra, and Compton telescopes. Webb is an exception.
James Webb led the agency while advancing the space program towards landing on the Moon and promoting astronomical research, but he is a bureaucrat, not an astronomer.
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