posted 02-12-2008 08:22 AM               

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Robert Jastrow, who led a major space science institution and helped to bring space down to earth for millions of Americans, died Friday at his home in Arlington, Va. He was 82.

The cause was complications of pneumonia, according to an announcement from the George C. Marshall Institute in Washington, the policy institute Dr. Jastrow helped found in 1984 after 20 years as head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, a unit of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

In an age when scientists tended to keep to their laboratories and lecture halls, Dr. Jastrow was a very public figure, a prolific author and commentator on a wide range of topics including the space program, astronomy, earth science and national security issues. He lectured on CBS and NBC about space, and his 1967 book "Red Giants and White Dwarfs" was a best seller for a nation hungering for an accessible guide to science during the space race.

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