The rockets underneath the shuttle Discovery may have sent women and men into space last November, but it was Senator John Glenn who launched NASA's most recent PR success.
Although NASA denies it either expected or sought out the attention of the swarm of journalists who covered the event, the attention was certainly a media coup and gave a shot in the arm to the agency's image. With the stakes high, including NASA's need to get Congress to approve its $13 billion appropriation, the event may have strengthened its financial security.
But the NASA public affairs department says the media relations tactics they performed weren't exercises in PR at all. "I see PR as trying to convey the best about a company. Public affairs is providing information and access to anyone and everyone," says Paula Cleggett, NASA's PA deputy associate administrator. "They are to represent their client's interest and we are to represent the taxpayer."
If NASA seems to shun the "PR" label as vehemently as a journalist would, it's because federal government agencies are forbidden by law to promote themselves, says Richard Berendzen, professor of Physics at American University and a NASA researcher. Although the public affairs department does not officially work to promote NASA, it does inform the public about what it does, he says.
"Did NASA realize the PR aspect of the launch? Of course they did," he says. "But they didn't know what it was going to turn into."
The PR Lift Off
Getting information out about the launch wasn't the problem for the NASA PA team. The story had a life of its own. In fact, the team's story is every media relations professional's dream.
When Glenn announced he was joining the crew last January, NASA became inundated with requests from journalists to see him training, to interview him or to have him on a TV show. "We tried to accommodate everyone's needs," Cleggett says. "On special occasions, such as a test demonstration (30 days before the launch), we invited the press to watch."
"The media came to us, but we still had to announce what the crew was doing, how the science was significant to the public and the safety measures that went along with the launch," Cleggett says.
Cleggett and 52 PA office staffers sent out press releases, videos, and an e-mail via listserv to the journalists who usually cover the space program. NASA's listserv includes 30,000 names. Cleggett says they did not target any additional press for the launch. "Less than one-half of what we do in public affairs is media relations," she says. "For this launch we cross-trained and used people from within public affairs for media relations."
The challenge for NASA, says Cleggett, was to balance how much public affairs pros were feeding into the media frenzy and how much they were responding to the media on a weekly basis. Glenn's return to space was what attracted the media's interest. But testing the effects of aging on the body was what made the story news for NASA. "John Glenn was not the only news hook," Cleggett claims. "We talked about the science behind the mission, not just the crew."
The Countdown
About 3,000 journalists attended the Discovery launch. In addition to the PA staff from Washington, D.C., 33 staffers from the Kennedy Space Center and 10 from other NASA facilities converged on the site 24 hours before takeoff.
The media barrage came quickly. Journalists wanted to know everything, from what Glenn ate for breakfast to what mission dangers there were. Cleggett had to coordinate with the PR departments from contractors, such as Boeing, and with Glenn's Senate press secretary.
Details included arranging for 80 auxiliary media risers, press name badges, security checks, for buses to provide additional power for media needs, 24-hour food service and phone systems for NASA employees, the astronauts and the PA team. Cleggett said communication was the backbone to a successful launch day.
"The lesson to take away from this is to communicate with your team of people often and early," she says. "Everyone has to learn the entire plan, from the press secretary to the PA headquarters."
The frequency of staff meetings increased each month that the launch drew closer until they were meeting every day the week of the launch. The first strategy meeting took place about six months before the launch. Despite advance planning, there are always last minute crises. In this instance it was when NASA's cellular phone system became overloaded and the phone connections ceased to operate the day of the launch. Just about every PA member was affected. The staff had to go and find people (they couldn't be called) until the phones worked again.
Despite the fact that much of the media responded in droves to the idea of an American hero's return to space after 30 years, not all journalists were impressed. Brian Berger, NASA reporter for Space News, did not even attend the launch. "The John Glenn launch is a bunch of hoopla and there's more to it than straight science," he says.
Fielding negative press was an ongoing challenge. "We addressed these issues head on," Cleggett says. "We had a few well informed people who spoke on that topic to lay out the facts." One of these spokespeople included the head of NASA's public affairs, associate administrator Peggy Wilhide.
Most members of the media contended that NASA did a good job of handling media day, but others were disappointed in NASA's concern with newspaper "circulation figures."
"They worked very hard, but I don't think they managed it as well as they could have," says Tim Gaffney, military affairs writer for the Dayton Daily News. "If you weren't the national media, they didn't know who you were." Gaffney, who also co-wrote a book on the launch called Back in Orbit, thought he should have had access to Glenn and other crew members. Bill Harwood, a CBS news space consultant, says although NASA did a good job of providing printed background information, bios of the crew and B-roll, they did not provide enough about the science behind the flight. (NASA, 202/358-0000; Berendzen, 202/885-1000; Berger, 703/658-8400; Harwood, 407/799-0029; Gaffney, 937/225-2000)