Introduction to the
2002 MAPLD International Conference Panel Session
Kossiakoff Conference Center
The Johns Hopkins University- Applied Physics Laboratory
11100 Johns Hopkins Road
Laurel, Maryland 20723-6099
September 10-12, 2002
Dr. Roger D. Launius is Chief Historian for the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), headquartered in Washington, D.C. His office is responsible for
preparing books, monographs, special studies, and articles on U.S. aerospace history;
managing the NASA Historical Reference Collection of materials about the history of the
agency; and providing historical services to both the NASA staff and the public.
Dr. Launius was born in Galesburg, Illinois, on 15 May 1954 and grew up in Greenville,
South Carolina. He graduated from Graceland College, Lamoni, Iowa, with a major in history
in 1976 and received the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history in 1978 and 1982 at Louisiana
State University, Baton Rouge, with major fields in American frontier and military
history.
After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Launius became a civilian staff historian with the United
States Air Force. He served in a variety of historian positions with the Air Force, and
between 1987 and 1990 was Chief Historian for the Military Airlift Command, outside St.
Louis, Missouri. He moved to his present position at NASA in October 1990.
Dr. Launius has lectured widely on historical subjects to military, scholarly, and general
audiences. He has also served part-time on the faculties of McKendree College, Weber State
University, Graceland College, and Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland. He has
acted as a reader for publishers, as a member of the governing councils of several
historical associations, and on the editorial boards of numerous journals. He is an active
member of several professional associations, among them the American Astronautical
Society, where he is the vice president for publications and the editor of Space Times:
The Magazine of the American Astronautical Society.
He has written or edited numerous books and articles on historical subjects. On aerospace
history some of the more recent include: NASA & the Exploration of Space (Stewart,
Tabori, & Chang, 1998); Frontiers of Space Exploration (Greenwood Press, 1998);
Exploring the Unknown: A Documentary History of the U.S. Civil Space Program, Volume III,
Using Space (NASA SP-4407, 1998), co-editor; Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential
Leadership (University of Illinois Press, 1997), co-editor; Exploring the Unknown: A
Documentary History of the U.S. Civil Space Program, Volume II, External Relationships
(NASA SP-4407, 1996), co-editor; Organizing for the Use of Space: Historical Perspectives
on a Persistent Issue (Univelt, Inc., AAS History Series, Volume 18, 1995), editor; NASA:
A History of the U.S. Civil Space Program (Krieger Publishing Co., 1994); History of
Rocketry and Astronautics (Univelt, Inc., AAS History Series, volume 11, 1994), editor;
and Apollo 11 at Twenty-Five, electronic picture book issued on computer disk by the Space
Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, 1994. His Frontiers of Space Exploration
textbook will be published by Greenwood Press in May 1998.
He is also involved in the study of nineteenth century history. His book, Joseph Smith
III: Pragmatic Prophet (University of Illinois Press, 1988), won the prestigious Evans
Award for biography. He has also co-edited Differing Visions: Dissenters in Mormon History
(University of Illinois Press, 1994), Cultures in Conflict: A Documentary History of the
Mormon War in Illinois (Utah State University Press, 1995), and Kingdom on the Mississippi
Revisited: Nauvoo in Mormon History (University of Illinois Press, 1996). His biographical
study, Alexander William Doniphan: Portrait of a Missouri Moderate (University of Missouri
Press, 1997), discusses the role of the vital center in American politics during the
Mexican-American War and sectional conflict.
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