Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Additional Online Media

Catalog Data

Creator:
Desind, Herbert Stephen.  Search this
Extent:
109 Cubic feet (305 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Outer space -- Exploration
Date:
1950-1992
Summary:
The collection consists of 109 cubic feet of material, primarily photographs with some additional documentation, covering aerospace topics. The bulk of the material relates to US space exploration, including extensive photo files on US manned missions through the Space Shuttle, and satellite and sounding rocket work. The first series consists of unmanned spacecraft material, the second series consists of manned spacecraft material, and the third series consists of aircraft material.
Scope and Contents:
The Herbert Stephen Desind Collection (acc. 1997-0014) contains approximately 109 cubic feet of material relating to aviation and space flight. The material is primarily photographic in nature and focuses on manned and unmanned space flight activities.
Arrangement:
Series 1: Unmanned Space Programs Series 2: Manned Space Programs Series 3: Aviation subjects Series 4: Country files Series 5: Miscellaneous files Series 6: Press Kits
Biographical / Historical:
Herbert Stephen Desind was a Washington, D.C. area native born on January 15, 1945, raised in Silver Spring, Maryland and educated at the University of Maryland. He obtained his BA degree in Communications at Maryland in 1967, and began working in the local public schools as a science teacher. At the time of his death, in October 1992, he was a high school teacher and a freelance writer/lecturer on spaceflight. Desind also was an avid model rocketeer, specializing in using the Estes Cineroc, a model rocket with an 8mm movie camera mounted in the nose. To many members of the National Association of Rocketry (NAR), he was known as "Mr. Cineroc." His extensive requests worldwide for information and photographs of rocketry programs even led to a visit from FBI agents who asked him about the nature of his activities. Mr. Desind used the collection to support his writings in NAR publications, and his building scale model rockets for NAR competitions. Desind also used the material in the classroom, and in promoting model rocket clubs to foster an interest in spaceflight among his students. Desind entered the NASA Teacher in Space program in 1985, but it is not clear how far along his submission rose in the selection process. He was not a semi-finalist, although he had a strong application. In 1991, Desind was named Science Teacher of the Year by Prince George's County and the Potomac Electric Power Company. Desind died October 16, 1992, having succumbed to colon cancer. On November 17, 1994, the Herbert Desind Memorial Space Awareness Center, a state-of-the-art facility, was created and dedicated at Laurel High School. Today that Center houses the Cooperative Satellite Learning Project (CSLP) class as well as other science classes. The CSLP is a business, government, and educational partnership, focusing on space sciences and engineering. One of the sponsors of CSLP is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In 1997, Desind's father and sister donated his collection to the National Air and Space Museum.
Provenance:
Barbara Desind Kernan, Gift, 1997
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Topic:
Manned space flight  Search this
Artificial satellites  Search this
Astronautics  Search this
Space flight  Search this
Space shuttles  Search this
Rockets (Aeronautics)  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Herbert Stephen Desind Collection, Accession 1997-0014, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NASM.1997.0014
See more items in:
Herbert Stephen Desind Collection
Archival Repository:
National Air and Space Museum Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nasm-1997-0014