Rice University Space Science Department records

Lectures and seminars on Space Science by faculty in the 1960s are located in the Rice University Archives Audio-Visual collection, http://library.rice.edu/collections/WRC/university-archives/finding-aids-university-archives/audio-visual_UA151. Search the finding aid by the keywords "space science".

Also separate from this collection, is an "Information File" on the Space Science Department. It includes departmental brochures (1965, January 1966, 1966-67, and 1968) which describe faculty and research associates, research activities, facilities, and graduate degree requirements. The folder also includes newspaper articles, and news releases.

The newspaper articles are primarily from the Houston Post, the Houston Chronicle, and the Rice Thresher. They range in date from 1961 to 1971. There is also a copy of the February 1964 Rice Alumni Magazine, which includes the article “Birth of a Rocket” about the new department. An undated item is an article from Vol. 1, No. 2 of the R.U. Review titled “Rice Reaches for the Stars” by William J. Cromie.

The news releases are the items greatest in number. There are 15, which range in date from January 4, 1963 (which announces the establishment of the Department as the first in Space Science in any college or university in the country) through November 5, 1969 (which announces placement on the lunar surface of an instrument developed by Rice scientists to measure the Moon’s atmosphere). The remaining 13 announce various balloon and rocket launches and the scientific objective of each.