by Matthew Ligrani

UHCLIDIAN STAFF

Ever wonder how the first space shuttle was designed, or how space suits are made? The answers to these questions lie in the Johnson Space Center History Collection, located on the second floor of the Neumann Library.

"Most students don't know the collection exists," said Anna Peebler, university archives assistant. "The collection is located in the very back corner of the library and is a resource students would appreciate if they knew it existed."

The JSC History Collection offers an excellent resource for gathering information on past manned flight programs.

The four series collection consists of records, transcripts and a memorandum from the Apollo program, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, Skylab and Manned Space Craft JSC General Series. The collection also offers more than 1,000 interviews and other audio and transcript data.

In 2001, the University of Houston signed a Memorandum of Understanding with JSC allowing the records to be housed with the university archives. The university was chosen because it is conveniently located near JSC.

"Our goal was to have public ready access with a full-time archivist available," said Bill Larson, JSC historian. "The university is providing a marvelous service and achieving NASA's goal of public outreach."

The collection allows researchers and the public to access the archives online through two dedicated electronic databases or through paper guides, located in the archive office.

The databases are available online at http://jsc.nasa.gov/history.

"The collection benefits the college because it attracts the attention of researchers from all over the world," said Shelly Kelly, university archivist.

The collection is available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., by appointment only.

For more information about the JSC History Collection, visit http://nola.cl.edu.

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