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Forum:	Publications & Multimedia
Topic:	Concerns about space author David Baker

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Whitehouse has now made [URL=https://twitter.com/drdwhitehouse/status/1375103563823730688]some of that letter public[/URL], including: <BLOCKQUOTE>[i]I know I am not the only one who has over the years looked at the professional claims made by David Baker, the editor of the BIS Spaceflight magazine, with more than a little bafflement. Such a feeling has only increased given the spate of remarkable new claims made by him during the anniversary celebrations for Apollo 11. To have had so much new and extraordinary information about him come out this year and in his lectures to the BIS since he became editor of Spaceflight, makes one wonder why such interesting and newsworthy experiences have been unmentioned for half-a-century by a space journalist and writer! But my confusion goes deeper... The information David Baker has given publicly (especially in his online lectures to the BIS, in podcasts, and the many biographies and interviews associated with his books and activities), if taken at face-value show Dr Baker to be one of the most, if not the most, remarkable space engineer and scientist ever. In my many decades of experience I have come across none other who approaches Dr Baker's achievements and experience as he has described them.[/i]</BLOCKQUOTE> Among some of Baker's claims raised by Whitehouse: [list][]In Baker's Haynes Manual on Apollo 13, he outlines the [URL=https://twitter.com/drdwhitehouse/status/1373947811281113094]work he did at Mission Control[/URL]. In "The History of Manned Spaceflight" published a decade earlier, there are 13 pages on Apollo 13 with no mention of his involvement. Also a press cutting from the time of the mission has him in the UK. []Baker claims to have been [URL=https://twitter.com/drdwhitehouse/status/1373950050515218434]involved in the 1984 Westar-Palapa satellite loss[/URL] "because they recognised I was independent and would provide a fair assessment." The final report does not mention him. No one recalls him. []How long did [URL=https://twitter.com/drdwhitehouse/status/1373948872242892800]Baker work for NASA[/URL]? In a British Interplanetary Society lecture in 2019, it was 25 years. For Higham Hall Study Centre it was 30 years. In Haynes Manuals it was 1965-1980. In New Scientist in the 80s it was 16 years. In a 1981 newspaper, it was for 5 years. []For 42 years, Baker claimed or allowed others to identify him as [URL=https://twitter.com/drdwhitehouse/status/1372550864699850765]having earned a doctorate[/URL]. By his own admission, he never had a Ph.D. "Ever since 'The Rocket' [in 1978], he has been 'Dr. David Baker' in every book, article, interview and lecture for 40 years."[/list] Whitehouse's list goes on, including Baker's access to the Mission Operations Control Room during the Apollo 11 moon landing and his self-described role as an advisor to the Reagan administration, when he said he was "closely involved with the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) and 'Star Wars' ballistic missile defense system." See Whitehouse's [URL=https://twitter.com/drdwhitehouse]Twitter feed[/URL] for more details. The BIS initially responded to Whitehouse's 2019 letter by stating they were "confident David Baker has not misled the BIS" and that "none of the allegations you have made against him affect our view and experience of him." <BLOCKQUOTE>[i]After our investigation, it is clear to the Council, David Baker has done nothing untoward or anything that could be described in any way as dishonest or fraudulent in his dealings with the BIS.[/i]</BLOCKQUOTE> Further the BIS urged Whitehouse [URL=https://twitter.com/drdwhitehouse/status/1375107625852010504]to remain silent[/URL]. <BLOCKQUOTE>[i]...we would like to remind you that promulgating allegations of this kind could potentially place the Society at risk of having to protect its reputation. We would therefore have no hesitation instructing counsel to do this and any costs associated with such an action would be claimed against you.[/i]</BLOCKQUOTE> After Whitehouse went public with his findings this month, it created a stir within the space history community on Twitter, with others coming forward with information confirming Whitehouse's research. On March 21, the BIS [URL=https://twitter.com/BIS_spaceflight/status/1373686308514762756]acknowledged[/URL] they were aware of the "hearsay allegations" shared on Twitter and that Baker "strenuously refuted" them, but the BIS Council "will reconsider any impact these allegations [have] on the Society." Four days later, Baker resigned.[/B][/QUOTE]
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