Officials shown in the photo, left to right: University of Alabama president Frank Rose, unidentified, Sen. Bob Jones, and Research Institute director Rudolf Hermann.
Wilson joined UAH in 1972 as faculty in the Deparment of Biological Sciences and served as the Dean of the College of Science from 1984 until his death in 1991. The photograph shows members of his family viewing the portrait.
The program includes a diagram of the arrangement of the collection, a brief biographical sketch of Ley, and a program for the "Ley Memorial Symposium on Science and Technology in the 1970's." Willy Ley died in 1969. The UAH Library purchased his book collection from his widow, Olga Ley, in 1970.
The forum included a scholarship presentation and awards dinner given by the National Space Club. Special guests were musician John Denver, Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt, and engineer Ernst Stuhlinger.
Tom Bevill is shown at center. Also attending the ribbon cutting are Bill Chappel Jr., U.S. Rep. Ronnie Flippo, Dr. Walter G. Nunn, and Lt. Gen. E.R. Heiberg III.
The float was made by Marshall Space Flight Center. Von Braun Research Hall can be seen in the background. The photo likely dates from the 1980s or early 1990s, when the NASA worm logo was still in use, as seen on the sides of the float.