The University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory has been part of every NASA planetary exploration mission. A new book chronicles that history and the scientists who made it.
A decade ago, the late Michael Drake, then director of the Lunar and Planetary Lab (LPL), asked UA undergraduate Melissa Lamberton Sevigny to collect memories from the lab’s longtime planetary researchers. Sevigny was working as a NASA Space Grant intern.
“At the end of that first year I had a dozen interviews or so, and I had so much fun on the project I went to Mike," said Sevigny. "I said, 'I don’t think I’m done yet. Why don’t you keep me on for another year?' And he did, and four years later I had between 50 and 60 interviews with planetary scientists and a first draft of what eventually became this book, Under Desert Skies.”
Under Desert Skies: How Tucson Mapped the Way to the Moon and Planets was published by University of Arizona Press in February.
Sevigny, now a science reporter at KNAU Arizona Public Radio in Flagstaff, will moderate a discussion with three LPL veterans Monday evening in Tucson. Ewen Whitaker, Peter Smith and William Hartmann will share memories at the UA Library. It’s free and registration is required.