NASA will not rename James Webb House Telescope regardless of controversy

NASA says it has no plans of renaming the James Webb House Telescope, which was named after a former administrator who permitted the federal government to discriminate in opposition to lesbian and homosexual workers.

Talking to NPR, NASA administrator Invoice NelsonClarence (Invoice) William NelsonKnow-how is simple however politics is difficult for NASA’s Lunar Human Touchdown System Equilibrium/Sustainability — Offered by The American Petroleum Institute — Local weather change turning US into espresso nation Elon Musk mocks Biden for ignoring his firm’s historic house flight MORE stated, “We now have discovered no proof at the moment that warrants altering the title of the James Webb House Telescope.”

The telescope is being considered being the successor to the Hubble House Telescope and is predicted to launch by the top of this yr.

Nonetheless greater than a thousand folks signed a petition earlier this yr calling for the telescope to be renamed as a consequence of Webb allegedly being complicit within the purge of queer folks from authorities service, often known as the “Lavender Scare.”

The letter reads that “beneath Webb’s management, queer folks have been persecuted. Those that would excuse Webb’s failure of management can not concurrently award him credit score for his administration of Apollo.”

After the letter was made public, NASA opened an investigation to look at the allegation in opposition to Webb.

Senior science communications officer Karen Fox instructed NPR, “We have executed as a lot as we will do at this level and have exhausted our analysis efforts.”

“These efforts haven’t uncovered proof warranting a reputation change,” she added.

NPR famous that the choice to call the telescope after Webb — which breaks from the custom of naming telescopes after well-known scientists — was made by former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe.

O’Keefe, who like Webb additionally doesn’t come from scientific background, stated he determined to call the telescope after Webb following an off-the-cuff dialog with different NASA workers and stated different appeared to love the thought. Whereas shocked by the outrage, O’Keefe stated he understood the priority.

“This is a crucial matter of historical past, to know how it’s we might probably have tolerated the purging of proficient professionals on the premise of their private preferences,” O’Keefe stated to NPR. “That is simply so objectionable. No query about it, and I applaud the hassle to floor the visibility and consciousness of it.”

Nonetheless, he added that he hadn’t seen proof to recommend Webb was instantly concerned within the purging of queer folks from authorities jobs.