Jet Propulsion Laboratory Archives: Slice of History
On this page, the JPL Archivists share historical photos from the JPL Archives. The JPL Archives' mission is to document the rich organizational, mission, and cultural histories of the institution by identifying, collecting, preserving, and making available primary source materials that have value for research by users at JPL/Caltech/NASA and the wider public.
The content presented here should be viewed in the context of the time period. Our intent is to present the history of JPL in a factual manner that uses primary resources and historical context. We recognize that some information or images do not reflect the current values, policies, and mission of JPL.
Slice of History
September 2023
P-35320, 1989-12-14
5 September is the International Day of Charity! JPL and Caltech have long been committed to partnering with United Way, playing just a small part in the much larger Los Angeles area effort to support a broad spectrum of United Way-supported social service and health care agencies. This image, taken 1989-12-14, shows “Dr. Allen[, who] helped officiate as JPL’s 1989 United Way campaign coordinators celebrated an ‘over-the-top’ victory for charity in late December. With a goal of $550,000 for the Lab’s annual fund-raising drive, final results tallied at $555,404 – the second consecutive year in which United Way has topped its goal in charitable giving.”
Additionally, JPL’s annual cooperation with United Way has warranted the production of many JPL pins over the years, including this one, which is part of the Archives’ growing pin collection.
Click here to contribute a charitable donation that will “help ensure individuals, students, veterans, and families in need across Los Angeles County get access to the tools, support, and services they need to survive and thrive.” CL#23-3567
Photo taken by Madison Teodo, 2023-07-10
5 September is the International Day of Charity! JPL and Caltech have long been committed to partnering with United Way, playing just a small part in the much larger Los Angeles area effort to support a broad spectrum of United Way-supported social service and health care agencies. This image, taken 1989-12-14, shows “Dr. Allen[, who] helped officiate as JPL’s 1989 United Way campaign coordinators celebrated an ‘over-the-top’ victory for charity in late December. With a goal of $550,000 for the Lab’s annual fund-raising drive, final results tallied at $555,404 – the second consecutive year in which United Way has topped its goal in charitable giving.”
Additionally, JPL’s annual cooperation with United Way has warranted the production of many JPL pins over the years, including this one, which is part of the Archives’ growing pin collection.
Click here to contribute a charitable donation that will “help ensure individuals, students, veterans, and families in need across Los Angeles County get access to the tools, support, and services they need to survive and thrive.” CL#23-3567
Slice of History
September 2023
- Preserving the Past
This video shows how the JPL Archives performs conservation efforts to preserve the content of the photos in our Still Negatives Collection. Digital Archivist, Victoria Castaneda, walks us through the detailed steps on how to capture the content of a damaged photo negative and repair the image to create a restored digital access copy.
Access Previous Historical Photos of the Month
Each below photo will link to the full size image on Pub-Lib. In the upper right hand corner, click on the three dots, then click on Details to see the full caption of each image.
For more previous photos, please click here.
JPL-10185
35 years ago, JPL gained a cultural mascot: our very own Voltage the Raccoon! Voltage became famous amongst Lab because of her late-night escapade around the grounds that resulted in a shocking electrocution on 30 August 1988.
Noted by Dick House as an “unauthorized interloper” to the contrasting grounds of high-tech JPL amongst its very natural surroundings, Voltage was a six-month-old, fifteen pound visitor that found her way onto a high-voltage line of the Lab’s main power station - her zap was so significant it even knocked out power to the Lab for about ninety minutes! Electrical maintenance staff discovered Voltage with all four feet and muzzle seriously burned, and she was whisked away to the nearby San Fernando Wildlife Waystation where she was cared for, and eventually returned to the mountains, but far enough away to avoid another “electrifying encounter.”
Voltage’s survival and safe return to the mountains caused a media frenzy, and she remains a hopeful highlight of JPL’s electric past and present. CL#22-6248
D2003_0707_S1
On Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Delta II Heavy launch vehicle carrying the rover "Opportunity,” or “Oppy,” for the second Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission launched 7 July 2003 at 11:18:15PM EDT. Opportunity reached Mars on 25 January 2004. Together the two identical MER rovers, Spirit (launched about a month prior, on 10 June) and Opportunity, were tasked to determine the history of climate and water at two sites on Mars where conditions may once have been favorable to life. They navigated themselves around obstacles as they drove across the Martian surface, traveling up to about 130 feet each Martian day. Each rover carried five scientific instruments, including a panoramic camera and microscope, plus a rock abrasion tool that ground away the outer surfaces of rocks to expose their interiors for examination.
Each rover’s prime mission was planned to last three months on Mars, but Oppy far outlasted this plan, and explored the Martian terrain for almost fifteen years. Oppy stopped communicating with Earth when a severe Mars-wide dust storm blanketed its location in June 2018. After more than a thousand commands to restore contact, Oppy and JPL were cut off from each other, and engineers’ last attempt to revive the rover took place on 13 February 2019, and received her final communication 10 June 2019, exactly sixteen years after her twin, Spirit, launched. CL#22-6160
D2004_0131_B43: JPL engineers in mission control cheering on Oppy’s egress from a region on Mars
On Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Delta II Heavy launch vehicle carrying the rover "Opportunity,” or “Oppy,” for the second Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission launched 7 July 2003 at 11:18:15PM EDT. Opportunity reached Mars on 25 January 2004. Together the two identical MER rovers, Spirit (launched about a month prior, on 10 June) and Opportunity, were tasked to determine the history of climate and water at two sites on Mars where conditions may once have been favorable to life. They navigated themselves around obstacles as they drove across the Martian surface, traveling up to about 130 feet each Martian day. Each rover carried five scientific instruments, including a panoramic camera and microscope, plus a rock abrasion tool that ground away the outer surfaces of rocks to expose their interiors for examination.
Each rover’s prime mission was planned to last three months on Mars, but Oppy far outlasted this plan, and explored the Martian terrain for almost fifteen years. Oppy stopped communicating with Earth when a severe Mars-wide dust storm blanketed its location in June 2018. After more than a thousand commands to restore contact, Oppy and JPL were cut off from each other, and engineers’ last attempt to revive the rover took place on 13 February 2019, and received her final communication 10 June 2019, exactly sixteen years after her twin, Spirit, launched. CL#22-6160
Contact information for the JPL Archives:
- Archives Guide and Application
- Records and Archives Collection Guidance
- Email archives@jpl.nasa.gov
If you have questions about historical photos, or about the history of JPL, please contact the JPL Archives.