Jay Barbree

Jay Barbree (November 26, 1933 – May 14, 2021) was an American correspondent for NBC News, focusing on space travel. He was the only journalist to have covered every non-commercial human space mission in the United States, beginning with the first American in space, Alan Shepard aboard Freedom 7 in 1961, continuing through to the last mission of the Space Shuttle, Atlantis's STS-135 mission in July 2011. He was present for all 135 Space Shuttle launches, and every crewed launch for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo eras. In all, he witnessed 166 human 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 16 years of age.

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. Barbree's association with the astronauts had some unexpected bonuses as well: Neil Armstrong carried 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. Barbree was one of forty finalists to be selected as a Journalist in Space.

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 reported the early findings to Barbree. 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. Following the 2003 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.

In 1995, NASA recognized him as the "only journalist known to have covered all 100 flights". Among those present for the ceremony were several NASA officials, Alan Shepard, and Space Shuttle commander Robert L. Gibson.

Barbree was 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 remained on that beat until his retirement in 2017. He 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. Following his heart attack, he had bypass surgery and still did not miss any launches. His name, however, was later removed.

Writing Barbree was the author or coauthor of eight books, including two memoirs. In 1993, Shepard, fellow Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton, journalist Howard Benedict, and Barbree collaborated to write the book Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. The foreword is written by Tom Brokaw. Barbree's book attempts to illustrate how the media has changed in their coverage of the space programs, from early enthusiasm to relative disinterest. Barbree said he wrote the book because as he looked back over his career when recalling all the people he had worked with, very few were left. "There are an awful lot of guys ... who were here for the early days, and they're no longer here ... So I thought, well, if that story is going to be told, I've got to do it". He said that he stayed away from sensationalizing the space program, or those associated with it. He 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 died in Florida, aged 87, on May 14, 2021.