In 1966, the NASA Administrator approached the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) with the idea of forming a national consortium to take over the management of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) located at Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center) in Houston, Texas. The LRL had been developed a few years earlier to contain and process for study the lunar samples brought back from the Apollo moon landing missions.
The precursor to USRA, the Universities Research Association (URA), had recently been created to operate the National Accelerator Laboratory (now the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or FermiLab). The president of the National Academy of Sciences was aware of URA's excellent work managing the NAL facility, and raised this opportunity at a URA meeting in 1966. Due to budget concerns over operation of the NAL, however, URA did not wish to take on additional responsibility for another large research facility at that time. To satisfy its immediate needs, NASA took over the management of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory but left open the possibility of wider participation of the academic community.
Around the same time, the idea of a Lunar Science Institute (LSI) that would encompass academic as well as public-sector space research was discussed between NASA and the NAS. To develop the LSI concept, NAS created a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Kenneth Pitzer to study NASA-university relations. In 1967, the Pitzer Committee recommended the establishment of the LSI-the first public-private space science research program-which initially would be operated by Rice University under a subcontract with NAS. The Committee's vision was that LSI would eventually be operated by a consortium of universities with research departments in space-related disciplines. The Pitzer Committee concluded that the LSI model could form the basis for development of a stronger and broader relationship between NASA and the academic community.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson announced the creation of the LSI. The NAS and NASA continued to hope that URA would broaden its activities to include space sciences, and would agree to manage the LSI. The URA Board of Directors, however, again rejected NAS's request.
By late 1968, with the receipt of lunar samples from the Apollo 11 mission anticipated in only a few months, NAS President Dr. Frederick Seitz invited the presidents of URA member universities, along with a few other universities involved in space science, to join a new university consortium as recommended by the Pitzer Committee. The consortium's primary responsibility would be the management of the LSI, but it would also be tasked with exploring additional opportunities for university collaboration with NASA.
In October 1968, forty-five invited universities met to discuss Dr. Seitz's proposal that they join a consortium to be known as the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), incorporated in the District of Columbia. At a subsequent meeting, 48 universities adopted the provisional articles of incorporation and appointed an interim managing committee.
In February 1969, following extensive discussions with URA, the NAS determined that "it would be unwise to spend further time negotiating with the Universities Research Association, in view of the doubt expressed within that organization about accepting additional responsibilities at a time when both URA and the Atomic Energy Commission still encounter considerable difficulty in obtaining funds for the National Accelerator Laboratory."
Dr. Seitz recommended, however, moving ahead with the establishment of "an independent consortium of universities which would be specifically oriented toward the problems of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration."
The USRA was incorporated in March 1969. The NAS continued to manage the LSI throughout that year, overseeing the NASA-funded refurbishment of the West mansion in Clear Lake, Texas, which was to house the LSI. NASA and USRA concurrently developed a contract for operation of the LSI by the newly formed consortium, and USRA took over management of the LSI in December 1969.
The first president of USRA was Dr. A.R. Kuhlthau, a professor at the University of Virginia. Dr. Kuhlthau served on an acting basis for several months before being confirmed as president in April 1970. The USRA headquarters was moved to Charlottesville, Virginia so that Dr. Kuhlthau could dedicate half his time to the organization and operation of USRA.
USRA initially concentrated on managing the LSI (renamed the Lunar and Planetary Institute [LPI] in 1978), but as early as 1970 the consortium began to explore other possible interactions with NASA. The first of these, a study of potential materials processing in space, to be conducted by USRA researchers at Marshall Space Flight Center, began in 1970. The initial grant was followed by a contract with MSFC in 1971. Since then, USRA has collaborated with NASA and other government agencies in fields such as materials science, astronomy, advanced concepts, computer science, earth science, microgravity science, space flight engineering, and space technology.
In 1976, Dr. Alexander J. Dessler was elected president of USRA. Dr. Dessler moved USRA headquarters to Rice University, where he served as chairman of the Department of Space Physics and Astronomy. Two years later, the headquarters was moved to a permanent location in Columbia, Maryland.
Dr. Paul J. Coleman was elected USRA president in 1981, and served until April 2000. Dr. Coleman received numerous awards and appointments during his time with USRA, including the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for his contributions to the exploration of the moon, and appointments to two positions at the Los Alamos National Laboratory: Director of the Earth and Space Sciences Division and Director of the Los Alamos branch of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP). In 1984, President Reagan appointed Dr. Coleman to the National Commission on Space.
Dr. David C. Black was appointed USRA president in 2000. Dr. Black served as Director of USRA's Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI, formerly the LSI) from 1988 to 2001, and is internationally recognized for research in theoretical astrophysics and planetary science.
In 2006, Dr. Frederick A. Tarantino was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of USRA. Dr. Tarantino holds a Ph.D. in Nuclear Reactor Physics from MIT and is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business Advanced Management Program. Following a career in the U.S. Army which included a term as U.S. chair of the joint U.S.-UK working group on space power and an appointment as Defense Liaison in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Dr. Tarantino pursued a successful career in private space-related industry. Most recently, he served as Principal Associate Director of the Nuclear Weapons Program at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he directed a science-based weapons stewardship program.
USRA today has grown to more than 102 member universities and employs more than 400 scientific, technical, and professional staff at our headquarters and co-located at six NASA Centers. We continually seek ways to support and sustain space science research and technology development for the benefit of the academic community, space-related industries, and NASA's mission to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research."
