posted 03-31-2017 01:54 PM               

NASA's Kennedy Space Center Announces 2017 'Chroniclers'

"The Chroniclers," a program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, recognizing those who helped spread news of American space exploration, will soon have six new names on its wall of fame.

Five of the 2017 "Chroniclers are retired, and one is deceased. They represent TV and print journalism, as well as NASA's public affairs office.

A selection committee chose the six on March 22 from among broadcasters, journalists, authors, contractor public relations representatives and NASA public affairs officers who, while still working, excelled at sharing news from Kennedy with the world.

This year's honorees are, in alphabetical order:

• Bruce Hall, a veteran CBS News and NBC News correspondent and producer who covered space for more than 20 years, starting with the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 and continuing through the early years of the shuttle program, the Challenger accident and NASA's recovery, and the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.

• Scott Harris, Orlando TV reporter and anchor for more than 40 years, and widely regarded for his live coverage of space shuttle launches from Kennedy. Harris worked both the first shuttle launch in April 1981 and the liftoff of the final shuttle mission in July 2011, one month before his passing at age 64.

• Bill Johnson, NASA Public Affairs professional whose career at Kennedy spanned more than 45 years. Longtime chief of Media Services, responsible for dissemination of NASA news from and operation of the Kennedy Space Center newsroom and Press Site, Johnson was an awardee of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.

• Warren Leary, science writer and correspondent for the Associated Press and The New York Times for more than 35 years. An award-winning journalist, Leary covered spaceflight, technology, engineering, aeronautics, and medical science, as well as the investigation into the cause of the 2003 Columbia accident.

• Robert B. (Bob) Murray, NASA's first videographer to provide live, airborne TV coverage of space shuttle launches and landings. For more than 23 years, Murray's primary aerial imagery was seen on television networks and stations, as well as in publications worldwide.

• Phil Sandlin, a photographer for UPI and then AP, covered the U.S. space program beginning with the Apollo moon shots and continuing with the shuttle program until his retirement in 2011. Sandlin was winner of the National Press Photographers Association's prestigious Joseph Costa Award in 2016.

The six honorees, each of whom covered the U.S. space program at Kennedy for ten years or more and are no longer working full time in the media, were selected by a committee of working broadcasters, journalists, public relations professionals, and present and former representatives of NASA Kennedy's Office of Communication. The committee considered a total of 20 nominees for this year's awards.

Past honorees include Walter Cronkite of CBS News, Jules Bergman of ABC News and two-time Pulitzer winner John Noble Wilford of The New York Times.

Brass strips engraved with each awardee's name will be added to "The Chroniclers" wall in the Kennedy Space Center newsroom at the Press Site during a ceremony at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 5, 2017, the 56th anniversary of Alan Shepard's historic flight as America's first human in space. Coincidentally, it was Shepard from whom the first Chronicler honorees received their award certificates in 1995.

posted 03-30-2018 09:35 AM               

NASA Kennedy Announces Recipients of 2018 Chroniclers Awards

NASA will honor three two veteran space chroniclers who have excelled at sharing U.S. space exploration news from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Brass strips engraved with each awardee's name will be added to "The Chroniclers" wall in the Kennedy Space Center Press Site during a ceremony at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 4, 2018.

The honorees, each of whom covered the U.S. space program from Kennedy for 10 years or more and are no longer working full-time in the field, were selected by a committee of working media, and current and former representatives of NASA Kennedy's Office of Communication, March 21.

They are:

• Jay Barbree, veteran NBC News correspondent and only member of the media to have witnessed every NASA crewed launch at Kennedy Space Center, from Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 mission in 1961, to the final liftoff (and landing) of Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-135 in 2011. Barbree retired from NBC News in 2017 in his 60th year with the network stationed at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy.

• Craig Covault, writer and reporter with Aviation Week & Space Technology who authored an estimated 4,000 news and feature stories on space and aeronautics during his 48-year career. Covault covered some 100 space shuttle launches and missions. He was to be the first journalist in space (on STS-7 with Sally Ride), but was replaced by physician astronaut Dr. Norm Thagard to study space motion sickness after its effect on the STS-5 crew. He was considered for NASA's journalist in space initiative during the Space Shuttle Program. Covault retired in 2017.

• George Diller, a 37-year veteran of NASA Public Affairs at Kennedy known by many as "The Voice of Kennedy Launch Control." Among his many missions, Diller is most proud of providing commentary for the space shuttle launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990, and all five of its servicing missions. Diller retired in 2017 after his final on-air launch commentary in April for the Orbital ATK's seventh commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station.

The award ceremony falls one day prior to the 57th anniversary of Alan Shepard's historic flight as America's first human in space. Coincidentally, it was Shepard from whom the first Chronicler honorees received their award certificates in 1995.

The recipients join a distinguished list of broadcasters, journalists, authors, contractor public relations representatives and NASA public affairs officers honored as Kennedy "Chroniclers," including Walter Cronkite of CBS News, ABC News' Jules Bergman and two-time Pulitzer winner, John Noble Wilford of the New York Times.

posted 03-31-2018 11:25 AM               

...only member of the media to have witnessed every NASA crewed launch at Kennedy Space Center

posted 05-18-2018 02:48 PM               

Craig Covault, left, and George Diller were honored as “Chroniclers” during an event at Kennedy Space Center’s NASA News Center on Friday, May 4. The longtime friends combined for more than 80 years of U.S. space exploration news reporting.

“Chroniclers” recognizes retirees of the news and communications business who helped spread news of American space exploration from Kennedy for 10 years or more.

posted 04-03-2019 01:05 PM               

Four Honored and Added to The Chroniclers at Kennedy Space Center

Four career media members are being recognized by the Kennedy Space Center and their media industry peers by being added to "The Chroniclers," a list of retired journalists, broadcasters, authors and public relations representatives who have excelled at telling the story of America's evolving space program.

A selection committee chose the 2019 awardees on March 25. This year's inductees are journalists James A. Banke and Todd Halvorson, radio broadcaster Vic Ratner and photographer Peter Cosgrove (posthumous).

They join the list of 75 members' names on the wall in the "Bull Pen," the room at the Press Site building at Kennedy where media traditionally gather to research and file their stories during launches.

• James Banke began covering the space program as a college journalist at the Avion of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in 1985. Banke then spent many years with Florida Today and was the co-creator of Florida Today's "Space Online" website in 1995. Banke covered the Space Shuttle Program and many other launches from Kennedy and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for more than 20 years.

• Todd Halvorson covered the space program from Kennedy for more than three decades, including as senior aerospace reporter at Florida Today. He also worked for Space.com and freelanced for The New York Times.

• Vic Ratner covered the space program for ABC Radio, working out of Washington, D.C. Ratner was the only radio network correspondent on the air live when the space shuttle Challenger blew up. He remained on the air that day for over five hours, providing on-the-scene information and background on the tragedy for ABC News audiences.

• Peter Cosgrove was a photographer for the Associated Press. Cosgrove's photojournalism career spanned 50 years and included work with United Press International. Cosgrove covered four Apollo Moon mission crew recoveries and more than 100 space shuttle launches. Cosgrove passed away earlier this year.

The four honorees, each of whom covered the U.S. space program from Kennedy for ten years or more and are no longer working full-time in the field, were selected by a committee of working media, and current and former representatives of NASA Kennedy's Office of Communication.

They join a distinguished list of broadcasters, journalists, authors, contractor public relations representatives and NASA Public Affairs Officers honored as Kennedy "Chroniclers," including Walter Cronkite of CBS News, ABC News' Jules Bergman and two-time Pulitzer winner, John Noble Wilford of the New York Times.

This year's additions to The Chroniclers will be honored at a ceremony at the Press Site on Friday, May 3, at 10 a.m.

posted 05-21-2024 05:06 PM               

NASA Honors Three Chroniclers for Helping Tell America's Space Story

Through decades of hard work, three storytellers brought out of this world news down to Earth, providing a lens through which young and old could watch space exploration unfold. This week, NASA recognized the contributions of these Chroniclers during a May 15, 2024, ceremony at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Above: Dan Billow, Mike Brown, and Maggie Persinger were honored May 15, 2024, during the 2024 Kennedy Chroniclers ceremony at the Press Site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA/Glenn Benson)

NASA Kennedy Space Center's Associate Director of Management Burt Summerfield was at the spaceport's Press Site for the unveiling of three brass plates bearing the names of the 2024 honorees – Dan Billow, Michael R. Brown, and Margaret (Maggie) Persinger.

"The Chroniclers ceremony is one of Press Site's greatest traditions," Summerfield said. "We get a chance to extend our deepest thank you to members of the media – and our NASA and industry communicators – who go above and beyond to tell our story to the world,"

The inductees join the list of 82 other Chroniclers awardees whose names hang proudly on the wall in the "bullpen" at Kennedy's Press Site, where journalists, photographers and broadcasters have gathered to cover the space industry since 1962.

The honorees were nominated by other members of the news media and selected by a panel of NASA officials and current space reporters.

Above: Three brass plates bearing their names were added to the wall of the “bullpen,” where reporters traditionally gather to cover launches and events at NASA Kennedy. (NASA/Glenn Benson)

Dan Billow was born in 1960 in Orange County, California. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1982 in radio and television from California State University in Fullerton and completed a certificate in meteorology from Mississippi State University in 2008.

Dan began his career in 1982 as a news reporter at KRCR-TV in Redding, California. From 1985 to 1987, he worked as a news reporter with KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1987, Dan took a job with WESH-TV in Orlando, Florida, as a news reporter and meteorologist. While there, he covered all space shuttle missions from 1988-2011. He also covered NASA's Earth and other planetary missions, including Mars landings, spacecraft flights to Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, the Sun, and Earth's moon. Dan experienced weightlessness in a NASA KC-135 aircraft in 1998, and he even experienced simulated space shuttle landings in a Shuttle Training Aircraft commanded by astronaut Chris Ferguson in 2011.

Dan earned the Society of Professional Journalists Silver Medallion in 2003 and the duPont-Columbia Award in 2004 for coverage of the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy, as well as three regional Emmy awards.

Dan retired in 2021, settling in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia with his wife of 41 years, Rebecca. They have three adult children: Alex, Jordan, and Marie.

"Spaceflight is romance – there's an element of grandeur to it – and that's the way I covered it," Billow said. "Spaceflight is beauty, and I will continue to watch the next generation of reporters covering it."

Michael R. Brown served in the United States Navy from 1968 to 1972. Following his Navy service, Michael studied photography at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale from 1974 to 1976 and launched his career as a photojournalist beginning with the Thomasville Times in Georgia in 1977.

In 1978, Michael accepted a job with Florida Today as a photojournalist. He had many notable accomplishments during his 34-year career with Florida Today, including covering all 135 Space Shuttle launches as well as the launches of hundreds of expendable rockets. Notably, he was recognized as a finalist for the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for his photo coverage of the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy. Michael now lives and works in Florida as a freelance photographer.

"We had a lot of fun setting up remote cameras during shuttle days to get just the right shots," Brown said. "If we had an idea for a photo, the people here bent over backwards to make sure we could get what we needed. But working with the people here was what I really enjoyed most."

Margaret (Maggie) Persinger began her career at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as an archivist assistant in 1975. As a result of her in-depth research of the space program at Kennedy, she was hired by Technicolor to work as a film file at the Motion Picture Lab at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida from 1978 to 1986. Maggie then moved to the Photo Lab at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida where she worked until 1992, ending her time as lead of the Film File Library.

In 1992, Margaret transferred to Kennedy's Press Site, providing still imagery to newspapers, wires, and magazines via black and white as well as color photos, slides, and transparencies. With the rise of the digital era, imagery transitioned to include photo CDs and eventually to digital images on the internet. These shifts in technology required learning brand new techniques, procedures, computers, and programs. With her knowledge and experience, Maggie became the Photo Editor at Kennedy.

In 1995, Maggie's responsibilities grew to include video, motion picture film, and audio tape releases to the media. Originally this entailed research into the subject matter on VHS, beta tapes, and audio tapes used by TV, motion picture film productions, and radio. It wasn't long before technology growth changed the nature of her job again with the introduction of high-definition capability and tapes, which added to the already extensive library. Hard copy tapes eventually gave way to digital formats, requiring Maggie to edit video clips that could be rapidly released to the media via computer, thumb drives, or large capacity decks enabling a vast amount of footage. Without a requirement to mail tapes, videos shot at Kennedy to be edited and viewed quickly around the world.

Maggie's career saw many advances in film and technology, allowing her the rare opportunity to work with many types of media – newspapers, wires, magazines, TV, documentaries, motion picture film productions, and social media.

"I was so proud of what NASA is doing and that I could help get word out to the public," Persinger said. "Back when we worked with print photos and tape, I remember meeting reporters at all hours and at locations like the bowling alley to be sure they had what they needed for their stories."

The Chroniclers ceremony is typically held in early May to honor the first U.S. human spaceflight, Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, on May 5, 1961. The 15-minute, 28-second flight sent astronaut Alan Shepard into orbit around Earth, ending with a successful splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.