Jay Barbree

Infobox actor
name = Jay Barbree


caption = Barbree as Master of Ceremonies at the 50th anniversary of rocket launches from Cape Canaveral.
birthname = Jay Barbree
birthdate = 1934
birthplace = Georgia
deathdate =
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occupation = News broadcaster,
reporter, author
yearsactive = 50
spouse = Jo Barbree
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academyawards =
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emmyawards = 1970: NBC News Space Unit - Emmy award for coverage of the Apollo moon landingCite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5462500/|title=The moments before the Eagle landed|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=MSNBC|year=2004|author=Jay Barbree|language=English]
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awards = 1995: NASA Award - for being the only journalist to have covered all 100 manned spaceflights.

Jay Barbree (born 1934) is a correspondent for NBC News, focusing on space travel. Barbree is the only journalist to have covered every manned space mission in the United States, beginning with the first American in space, Alan Shepard aboard Freedom 7 in 1961, continuing through to the most recent mission, "Discovery's" STS-124 mission in May/June 2008.Cite web|url=http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/04/State/His_place_with_space.shtml|title=A journalist who’s covered every manned NASA launch will be on the job Wednesday when “Atlantis” takes off.|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=St. Petersburg Times|year=2006|author=Curtis Krueger|language=English] Cite web|url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=3547687|title= Memoir Details Reporting on Spaceflight|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=ABC News / Associated Press|year=2007|author=Marcia Dunn|language=English] Cite web|url=http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/02/09/astronautculture_spa.html?category=space&guid=20070209121530|title=Astronaut Culture Stresses Achievement|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 16|publisher=The Discovery Channel - Associated Press|year=2007|author=Seth Borenstein|language=English] Barbree has been present for 123 space shuttle launches, and every launch for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo eras. In total, Barbree has been witness to 154 manned space launches.

Early life

Barbree grew up on his family's farm in Early County, Georgia, and entered the United States Air Force in 1950, when he was only 16 years of age. Following the Air Force, Barbree began his broadcast journalism career at WALB in Albany, Georgia, where, in 1957, he saw Sputnik's spent booster rocket orbiting in the sky, and then wrote radio and TV reports about the Soviet Union's launch of the first artificial satellite.Cite web|url=http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070902/NEWS02/709020311/1007|title=The sage of space: Jay Barbree marks 50 years of space program reporting with book|accessyear=2007|accessmnthday=September 16|publisher=Florida Today|year=2007|author=Todd Halvorson|language=English] Cite web|url=http://harpercanada.com/global_scripts/product_catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0061233927&tc=cx|title=Chapter One: Sputnik|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=Harper Collins|year=2007|author=Jay Barbree|language=English] Cite web|url=http://harpercollins.ca/global_scripts/product_catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0061233927|title=Life from Cape Canaveral - Jay Barbree at Harper Collins|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=Harper Collins|year=2007|author=Harper Collins|language=English]

Career

Reporting career

Barbree was so interested in the space program, that he paid for his own ticket to get to Cape Canaveral, Florida in 1957, and watched the attempted Vanguard launch. The failed launch was one Barbree would never forget: "There's ignition. We can see the flames," Barbree reported. "Vanguard's engine is lit and it's burning. But wait... wait a moment, there's... there's no liftoff! It appears to be crumbling in its own fire... It's burning on the pad... Vanguard has crumbled into flames. It failed ladies and gentlemen, Vanguard has failed."

Early the next year, he returned and witnessed the successful launch of Explorer 1 on January 31, 1958, all the while calling in his reports to WALB. Eventually, Barbree was hired by radio station WEZY in Cocoa Beach, and worked as a traffic reporter, covering the space program as well.

Six months later, Barbree joined NBC as a part-time space program reporter, eventually moving up to full-time. Over the years, Barbree had been offered the opportunity to move to Washington, D.C., or New York, but he turned down every offer, preferring to stay and report on what had quickly become his passion, spaceflight.

In 1958, while in a restroom, Barbree overheard a general and a NASA official, talking about an upcoming launch called "Project SCORE", one of the earliest American satellites. This would become one of Barbree's many "scoops", when after a bit of digging, he found that President Dwight D. Eisenhower would use the satellite to broadcast a pre-recorded Christmas message from outer space. When SCORE launched in 1958, Barbree broadcast the story, knowing the military would not deny it once the satellite was in space.

In the early days of the space program, astronauts and reporters would often socialize together in Cocoa Beach, and had a very different relationship than they do today. Barbree described his relationship with the astronauts as a friend and confidant, often going out to dinner with them, or socializing together when the astronauts were in town. In his book, Barbree writes that in 1961 Alan Shepard told him an "off the record" fact: He was going to be the first American astronaut in space. Barbree noted that if he were to report this, it would not only jeopardize the friendships, but possibly his career as well, so he said nothing. Barbree also recounts a conversation with Gus Grissom about the astronaut’s concerns regarding Apollo not long before the fatal Apollo 1 fire.Cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16797157/|title=Apollo 1’s tale retold: ‘Fire in the cockpit!’ - 40 years after tragedy, seasoned space writer re-creates the scene|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=MSNBC|year=2004|author=Jay Barbree| language=English] Cite web| url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20641051/|title=Soar into a behind-the-scenes look of space| accessyear=2007| accessmonthday=September 11| publisher=The Today Show - MSNBC|year=2007|author=MSNBC|language=English] Barbree's association with the astronauts had some unexpected bonuses as well, Neil Armstrong flew a gold coin to the moon on Apollo 11 for Barbree, and Pete Conrad flew several flags and patches on Apollo 12, which Barbree later handed out to friends.

In the early 1980s, when NASA developed the Teacher in Space program, a similar program was developed, the Journalist in Space program.Cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,139766,00.html?iid=chix-sphere|title=A Realm Where Age Doesn't Count|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 12|publisher=Time Magazine / CNN|year=2001|author=Roger Rosenblatt|language=English] Cite web|url=http://www.spacetoday.org/Astronauts/BarbaraMorganTeacherAstronaut.html|title=May fly sometime:|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 12|publisher=Space Today Online|year=2005|author=Space Today Online|language=English] Barbree was one of forty finalists to be selected as a Journalist in Space.Cite web|url=http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/candidates/english/barbaree_jay.htm|title=Jay Barbree Biography|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 12|publisher=Spacefacts|year=2005|author=Spacefacts|language=English] Cite web|url=http://www.spacefacts.de/english/e_journalist.htm|title=Candidates for the "Journalist in Space Program"|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 12|publisher=Spacefacts|year=2006|author=Spacefacts|language=English] Cite web|url=http://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/journalist.htm|title=Journalist-in-Space|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 12|publisher=worldspaceflight.com|author=worldspaceflight.com|language=English] Both the teacher and journalist programs were discontinued after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

In 1986, following the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, Barbree placed a telephone call to a friend and retired employee of NASA, who -- as a favor to Barbree -- went to Kennedy Space Center, looked over the accident information and analysis being done, and later reported the early findings to Barbree. Consequently, Barbree was the first journalist to report on the source of the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger: Faulty O-rings.Cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20496533/|title=Jay Barbree chronicles launches and lore in ‘Live From Cape Canaveral’|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=MSNBC|year=2007|author=Marcia Dunn|language=English] Cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077897/|title=NBC’s Cape Canaveral correspondent retraces the Challenger tragedy|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=NBC - MSNBC|year=1997|author=Jay Barbree|language=English] He was also part of the NBC News Space Unit that won an Emmy award for NBC's coverage of the "Apollo 11" moon landing.Cite web|url=http://www.itwire.com/content/view/14388/1102/|title=Jay Barbree’s new book: “Live From Cape Canaveral”|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 16|publisher=iTWire|year=2007|author=William Atkins|language=English] Following the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, Barbree was the first reporter to break the news of an internal NASA memo expressing concerns about foam striking the orbiter's left wing during ascent.Cite web|url=http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=115573|title=After ritual, reporters get back to digging|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|year=2003|author=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|language=English]

In 1995, NASA awarded him with recognition for being the "only journalist known to have covered all 100 flights". Among those present for the ceremony were several NASA officials, Alan Shepard, and shuttle commander Robert L. Gibson.

At age seventy-three, Barbree is one of the longest-serving network correspondents to work continuously on a single subject. He started working for NBC on July 21, 1958 covering the space program, and continues in that capacity to the present. He has never missed a mission launch, despite suffering a heart attack while jogging along Cocoa Beach in 1987, and being declared clinically dead for several minutes.cite book | last = Barbree | first = Jay | title = The Day I Died | publisher = New Horizon Pr | location = City | year = 1990 | isbn = 0882820613] Following his heart attack, he had bypass surgery, and still did not miss any launches.

Barbree can be seen covering the shuttle program and space missions on the cable network MSNBC, and NBC's news reports covering missions. His contract with NBC runs through 2010, allowing him to complete the coverage of the entire Space Shuttle program, and he hopes to be there for the return launch to the moon.

Career as author

Barbree is the author or coauthor of seven books, including two memoirs.cite book | last = Barbree | first = Jay | title = "Live from Cape Canaveral: Covering the Space Race, from Sputnik to Today" | publisher = Collins/Smithsonian Books | location = London |pages=336pp | year = 2007 | isbn = 9780061233920 ] In 1993, Shepard, fellow Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton, journalist Howard Benedict, and Barbree collaborated to write the book "Moon Shot". Slayton was a participant in name only and died before the book was completed. Barbree's most recent book, "Live from Cape Canaveral: Covering the Space Race, from Sputnik to Today", was released on August 28, 2007, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of spaceflight, that began with the Sputnik 1 launch on October 4, 1957.Cite web|url=http://www.earlycountynews.com/news/2007/0905/Front_Page/004.html|title=Jay Barbree recounts 50 years at the Cape |accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=Early County News|year=2007|author=Early County News|language=English] The foreword is written by Tom Brokaw. Barbree's newest book attempts to illustrate how the media has changed in their coverage of the space programs, from the early enthusiasm to the relative disinterest in the program today.Cite web|url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/944/1|title=Review: “Live from Cape Canaveral”|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=The Space Review|year=2007|author=Jeff Foust|language=English] Barbree says he wrote the book because as he looked back over his career, when recalling all the people he'd worked with, very few were left. Barbree claims that he told himself, "You're the only one who has covered the whole program going all the way back to the beginning, and if you don't tell the story, who is going to do it?"

Barbree also collaborated with Martin Caidin on a number of non-fiction works, such as "Destination Mars: In Art, Myth and Science" (Penguin, 1997, ISBN 067086020) and "A Journey Through Time: Exploring the Universe with the Hubble Space Telescope" (Penguin, 1995, ISBN 0670860182). Barbree also wrote the novelization of "Pilot Error", an episode of "The Six Million Dollar Man", a television series based upon Caidin's novel "Cyborg" (Warner, 1975, ISBN 0446768359).

Over the years, Barbree has stated that he has stayed away from sensationalizing the space program, or those associated with it, and commented that he would not put some items that could be considered harmful into his newest book, stating "The whole idea of the book is not to hurt somebody." Barbree attempts to illustrate this in his memoir by telling of a private investigator who approached him with an audio tape which allegedly contained proof of an extramarital affair involving an astronaut. Barbree told the investigator he would speak to his superiors, but then proceeded to erase the tape.

Personal life

Barbree has been married since 1960 to the former Jo Reisinger, whom he met while covering her participation in Florida beauty pageants. They live near Kennedy Space Center at Merritt Island, and have three adult daughters and six grandchildren. Their son, Scott, died in infancy following a premature birth, an event Barbree writes about in his newest book.Cite web|url=http://harpercollins.com/authors/31936/Jay_Barbree/index.aspx|title=Jay Barbree|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=Harper Collins Publishers|year=2007|author=Harper Collins Publishers|language=English]

Bibliography

*cite book | last = Barbree | first = Jay | title = "Live from Cape Canaveral: Covering the Space Race, from Sputnik to Today " | publisher = Collins/Smithsonian Books | location = London | year = 2007 | pages=336pp |isbn = 9780061233920
*cite book | last = Barbree | first = Jay | title = Destination Mars | publisher = Penguin Studio | location = New York | year = 1997 | isbn = 0670860204
*cite book | last = Barbree | first = Jay | coauthors = Caidin, Martin | title = A Journey through Time: Exploring the Universe with the Hubble Space Telescope | publisher = Penguin Studio | location = New York | year = 1995 | isbn = 0670860182 Cite web|url=http://www.gwillick.com/Spacelight/caidin.html|title=Martin Caidin|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 11|publisher=spacelight.com|year=1997|author=Beorge C. Willick|language=English]
*cite book | last = Shepard | first = Alan | authorlink = | coauthors =Slayton, Deke; Barbree, Jay | title = Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon | publisher = Turner Pub | location = Atlanta | year = 1994 | isbn = 1878685546Cite web|url=http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-032604a.html|title="Candle" author melts 'icy' astronaut|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=September 16|publisher=CollectSpace|year=2004|author=CollectSpace|language=English]
*cite book | last = Barbree | first = Jay | title = The Day I Died | publisher = New Horizon Pr | location = City | year = 1990 | isbn = 0882820613
*cite book | last =Barbree | first =Jay | authorlink = | coauthors = | title =The Hydra Pit | publisher =Ashley Books | date = | location = | pages =316pp | url = |year= 1977 | isbn =0879490845
*cite book | last = Barbree | first = Jay | title = Six Million Dollar Man, No. 4 : Pilot Error | publisher = Warner Books, Incorporated | location = City | year = 1975 | isbn = 0446768359

References

External links

* [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html NASA's Space Shuttle Site]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3033063/ MSNBC Space News]
*imdb name | id=0053866| name=Jay Barbree