A NASA adviser has resigned after the space agency denied their request to rename the James Webb Space Telescope.
Lucianne Walkowick, a member of NASA’s Astrophysics Advisory Committee who identifies as non-binary, wrote in an open letter the agency’s handling of the matter “made a farce” of the committee and its work. Walkowick was one of more than a thousand people – including two professors at the University of Alabama – who signed a petition to rename the $10 billion space telescope over concerns regarding Webb’s tenure as U.S. Undersecretary of State during the dismissal of gay and lesbian federal employees in the 1940s and ‘50s. Webb served as NASA Secretary from February 1961 to October 1968 and is credited with being instrumental in the Apollo moon program.
In their resignation letter, Walkowick said NASA had pledged to investigate the decision to name the telescope for Webb.
“It is evident from this choice that any promises of transparency and thoroughness were, in fact, lies. It also seems clear that NASA would prefer a committee of Yes Men, a committee that co-signs things that NASA had already planned to do, or perhaps chides them about moderate course corrections that don’t actually challenge NASA at all,” Walkowick wrote, adding the decision to keep the name “sends a clear message of NASA’s position on the rights of queer astronomers.”
“It also speaks clearly to me that NASA does not deserve my time,” they wrote.
NASA’s decision to keep the space telescope named after Webb “sends a clear message of NASA’s position on the rights of queer astronomers,” Walkowicz said in the open letter. “It also speaks clearly to me that NASA does not deserve my time,” they said.
NASA had previously told NPR it had investigated the matter and found no evidence that backed changing the project’s name.
“We have found no evidence at this time that warrants changing the name of the James Webb Space Telescope,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said.
The Webb telescope – described as the largest, most powerful and complex space telescope ever built and launched into space – will have the capability to look inside dust clouds to see the formation of stars and planetary systems as well as use its longer wavelengths to “look much closer” at the beginning of time, according to NASA. It is scheduled to launch on Dec. 18.