the author stated to the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sci

ences:

The first category includes the investigation of our Earth and its atmosphere, the Moon and planets, and the interplanetary medium. The nature and behavior of the Sun and its influence on the solar system, especially on the Earth, are of prime importance. With the availability of space techniques, we are no longer limited in direct observations to a single body of the solar system, but may now send our instruments and even men to explore and investigate other objects in the solar system. The possibility of comparing the properties of the planets in detail adds greatly to the power of investigation of our own planet. Potentially far-reaching in its philosophical implications, is the search for life on other planets.

The fundamental laws of the universe in which we live are the most important objects of scientific search. Space techniques furnish a most powerful means of probing the nature of the universe, by furnishing the opportunity to observe and measure from above the Earth's atmosphere in wavelengths that cannot penetrate to the ground. There is also the opportunity to perform experiments on the scale of the solar system using satellites and space probes to study relativity, to delve into the nature of gravitation, including the search for the existence of gravitational waves.33

However expressed, the basic substance of the program was remarkably stable.

In contrast to the overall program, one would expect the projects to change considerably as the years went by. But even here many projects had their origins in the thinking of the first few years. Table 2 lists the major space science, or science-related, projects up to mid-1968. For each project the dollar symbol indicates the first fiscal year in which money was specifically charged against the project, although money from supporting research or other general sources most likely had been spent earlier in exploratory work on the project. In some cases an asterisk is inserted to show how much earlier serious consideration of such a project had been under way. Of the 25 projects named, 22 (or 88 percent) were under way by mid1962 in the sense that costs were being formally charged to them. More than three-quarters of the projects were begun or were being seriously considered during Glennan's tenure.

Considering the rapid development of the NASA program-on all fronts as well as in space science-and the wide range of projects, including launch vehicle development to be discussed later, that were set in motion during Glennan's term of office, it seems clear that the first administrator must be given the credit for setting NASA on the course that it followed for the next decade. Nevertheless, as he himself stated, Glennan was

111

SOURCE: Jane Van Nimmen and Leonard C. Bruno with Robert L. Rosholt, NASA Historical Data Book, 1958-1968, vol. 1. NASA Resources, NASA SP-4012 (Washington, 1976), pp. 136-48. By the time a specific project appears as such in the financial records, generally a considerable amount of time (sometimes years) has been spent on advanced planning and research to lay the groundwork for the project.

no "space cadet." His was just the right balance of conservatism and interest in space to make him congenial to President Eisenhower and acceptable to the Congress. "Thus, with strong support, when it was needed, from Eisenhower the Administrator's Office . . . with pushes-strong pushesfrom Abe Silverstein and believable and solid advice from Newell and others-and strong pushes from the Congress-set the pace."34 It may be said that Glennan set a strong but measured pace.

The effect can be discerned in the methodical way in which the space science program was made to unfold. NASA's first and natural step was to extend the sounding rocket work, and the Pioneer deep-space investigations already under way. The modest step from those to solar and astronomical observatories came next, although the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory proved to be a much bigger bite than the space science managers had imagined. The investigation of the moon would be much more demanding and costly than near-earth missions, and a serious commitment to a lunar science program came more slowly, even though Harold Urey, Nobel Laureate and renowned student of the moon and planets, had begun to press for such a program in the first few months of NASA's existence. 35 Also, to maintain what he considered the right pace, Glennan for a while showed a reluctance to discuss planetary missions except as plans for later, for the more distant future.

But "later" was not long in coming, as table 2 makes clear. Before Glennan left office NASA was engaged in space science projects that took in not only the earth and its environs, but also the moon and planets, the sun, and even the distant stars. One may surmise that Glennan, exposed to the pressures from both within and without the agency, and perhaps himself caught up in the enthusiasm of those around him, moved more rapidly than he had originally intended. At any rate, he turned over to his successor, James E. Webb, a well rounded program, well under way.

By the time Webb took office, the course of the space program for the next decade has been set. Even Apollo, under study since the start of NASA, had been commended to President Eisenhower in the last months of the Republican administration. Though Eisenhower did not approve, the ideas were there ready to be seized when President Kennedy came to feel that the successful accomplishment of an extremely challenging space mission would be important to U.S. prestige. The renewed sense of urgency that the Apollo decision bestowed on the space program made Webb's task one of loosening the shackles imposed by the previous administration and stepping up the pace. But the program content was already there. Thus, Apollo and Gemini may be looked upon as super projects designed to pursue an already existing program with greater vigor.

In this climate the space science managers put together plans to expand their program. On 22 May 1961 the Space Sciences Steering Committee, which consisted of NASA's principal space science program managers,

met with selected consultants to review the proposed expansion.36 The consultants represented a cross section of the disciplines of space science: Dirk Brouwer of Yale (astronomy), Joseph W. Chamberlain of Yerkes Observatory (atmospheric sciences and planetary astronomy), Robert A. Helliwell of Stanford (radio physics), Harry H. Hess of Princeton (geophysics and geology), Bruno B. Rossi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (high-energy physics and x-ray astronomy), and Harold C. Urey of the University of California at San Diego (lunar and planetary science). The group endorsed the expansion of the program proposed by NASA and emphasized a number of exciting researches to pursue, including the moon's gravity, the almost nonexistent lunar atmosphere, solar radiations, the vicinity of the sun as close as 16000000 km from the solar surface (one-tenth the distance from the sun to the earth), and micrometeoric particles in space. In characteristic fashion the scientists favored large numbers of small spacecraft for investigating the vicinity of the earth and heartily endorsed small grants from NASA to large numbers of universities for basic research. They recommended that serious consideration be given to a proposal from General Motors for obtaining by unmanned methods a sample of material from the moon.

By the following autumn NASA had moved forward substantially in the expansion of its program and was beginning to feel the need for a fullscale exchange with the scientific community on the content and course of the program. The Academy of Sciences was requested to organize a study of the space science program, which the Space Science Board agreed to do.37 The study would be conducted during the summer of 1962; the program to be reviewed was described by the author at the NASA management conference held at the Lewis Research Center on 11 January 1962.38 In the program were sounding rockets, satellites, and space probes. The Scout, Delta, Agena, and Centaur rockets, to be discussed in chapter 10, were included. Spacecraft, also to be taken up in chapter 10, included a variety of Explorers; solar, geophysical, and astronomical observatories; the lunar spacecraft Ranger and Surveyor; and Mariner planetary spacecraft. Some advance thinking about a spacecraft for a bioscence program was mentioned. The scientific fields were those already mentioned. Geodesy was described as important but stymied by difficulties over classification. An international cooperative program including many of the disciplines was well under way. What would be of special interest to the summer study participants was the university program, which in January of 1962 was rapidly increasing. The author's report listed university program funding as $3 million for fiscal 1959, $6 million for fiscal 1960, and $14 million for fiscal 1961 (the fiscal year beginning July 1 preceding the corresponding calendar year). In fiscal 1962 plans were to use $28 million on research projects in universities, largely flight experiments, plus $12 million for support of graduate training in space related fields, research facilities on university

campuses, and grants for research of a more general nature than the specific flight projects. Space science managers projected a university program growing in the future to $100 million a year in projects and about $70 million a year in the broader grant program-a growth that was only about half realized in the 1960s.

In short order NASA's new team of leaders, which included many of the NACA's top people, remade the organization and activities acquired from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics into a National Aeronautics and Space Administration as called for in the NASA Act of 1958. As the new agency organized, developed its staff, and built its new facilities, NASA started the space science program along the lines that would be followed for the next decade. The rapidity with which this was done was both a tribute to the NASA team and convincing evidence that a strong base had existed on which to build in a number of areas, including space science. The thoroughness of the early work would be attested to by the fact that during the next decade-though the pace would be increasedlittle that was new would be added to the program.