Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in room 224, Old Senate Office Building, Senator Stuart Symington (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Senators Symington (chairman of the subcommittee), Young of Ohio, Dodd, Cannon, Smith, and Case of New Jersey. Also present: Senator Thos. Martin of Iowa.

Kenneth E. BeLieu, staff director; Max Lehrer, assistant staff director; Everard H. Smith, Jr., counsel; Dr. Glen P. Wilson, chief clerk; Dr. Earl W. Lindveit, assistant chief clerk; Mrs. Eilene Galloway, special consultant; Stuart French, associate counsel, Preparedness Subcommittee; and Dr. Edward C. Welsh, assistant to Senator Symington.

Senator SYMINGTON. The committee will please come to order.

This is the first meeting of the Subcommittee on Governmental Organization for Space Activities.

The first witness will be Dr. T. Keith Glennan, Administrator of the newly established National Aeronautics and Space Agency.

It is the plan of this subcommittee to examine the organizations, the responsibilities, and the activities of those agencies of the Government involved in the space field.

Possible overlapping and duplication will be examined.

We will recommend the elimination of waste, whether it be waste of money, waste of manpower, or waste of equipment.

The age of space exploration is just starting, and activity in this field will increase at an increasing rate.

This means a probable rising curve of expenditures, hence a warning that now is the time to provide for maximum efficiency in organizational structure and functioning.

I know I speak not only for myself, but also for all committee members, when I say this committee will approach the subject with an open mind.

We will let the facts speak for themselves.

Dr. Glennan, we welcome you here today, and look forward to your informing the committee about your plans, and how you propose to carry out those plans.

In accordance with the committee's procedure, witnesses will be sworn in. If you will please stand, I will administer the oath.

Dr. Glennan, do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in the testimony you are about to give, so help you God?

Dr. GLENNAN. I do.

Senator SYMINGTON. Before Dr. Glennan proceeds with his opening statement, I want to say that Mr. Everard H. Smith, Jr., of the professional staff of the full committee has been appointed counsel to our subcommittee.

If it meets with the approval of the rest of the committee members, I propose that counsel proceed with the questioning without regard to time limit, and then I shall call on each member to ask questions without regard to time limit.

Counsel informs me that his questions are prepared under major category headings which should allow appropriate breaks for members questioning at regular intervals.

Dr. Glennan, let me thank you again for being here. While we are all interested in all aspects of your activities, these hearings are basically directed toward the mechanics of organization.

In order to review properly the subject, we must have a clear picture of how you go about your business, what NASA's relationship is with other governmental institutions having responsibilities in the space

field.

I understand, Mr. Director, you have a prepared statement?
Dr. GLENNAN. I have.

Senator SYMINGTON. Would you read that statement?
Dr. GLENNAN. Thank you.

Senator SYMINGTON. Before you start your statement, I have two announcements to make. Senator Young and I may have to leave for a few minutes to make a quorum in another committee of which we are members. So I hope you will pardon what might look like a little discourtesy from that angle. Also, I have been informed that Senator Bridges' absence is due to his being at the White House this morning. Will you proceed, please?

TESTIMONY OF DR. T. KEITH GLENNAN, ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION; ACCOMPANIED BY DR. HUGH L. DRYDEN, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR; AND JOHN A. JOHNSON, GENERAL COUNSEL 1

Dr. GLENNAN. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I appreciate this opportunity to come before you today to discuss NASA's role in the national space program and our relationships with the National Aeronautics and Space Council, the Civilian-Military Liaison Committee, the Department of Defense, and other groups.

May I say parenthetically that to me it is a constructive and healthy thing for the committees of Congress to be continuously concerned about the possibility of harmful conflicts and duplication in agencies of the Federal Government.

Before I describe the current situation in our national space effort, I think it would be worthwhile to review, very briefly, the past history

1 Biography of Dr. Glennan is on p. 623; Dr. Dryden, p. 622.

of our efforts in rocketry and space technology, the road over which we have traveled to date.

In 1926, the world's first successful flight of a liquid-fuel rocket was conducted by an American scientist, Dr. Robert H. Goddard. Earlier he had done much pioneering theoretical work in rocketry, and had calculated the requirements to send manmade objects into space. Incidentally, Goddard concluded that by proper use of the rocket staging which he had invented, a space vehicle could be propelled to the moon. Unfortunately for us, he was regarded more seriously in Europe especially in Germany-than in this country.

There is, I believe, a sobering parallel to be drawn between our neglect of rocketry for decades after Goddard and the earlier American refusal to recognize and exploit the potentialities of the Wright brothers' airplane. It was not until 1915 that the Congress established the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, to study the problems of flight, and it was not until after World War I that we were able to regain aeronautical leadership.

DEVELOPMENT OF V-2 BY GERMANY

Intense effort in Germany in the field of rocketry resulted in development of the V-2, almost in time to affect profoundly the course of World War II. That effort provided the basis for Doctor-General Walter Dornberger, commander of Peenemunde, to declare prophetically, some 15 years ago, that—

We have led our generation to the threshold of space-the road to the stars is open.

With the end of World War II and the resumption of peaceful pursuits, only a very few in the United States-with limited fundscontinued to work with rockets and missiles.

CONTRIBUTIONS BY AIR FORCE, ARMY, AND NAVY IN PEACETIME

Within the Air Force, studies had been followed in 1946 by the award to what became the Convair division of General Dynamics Corp. of a contract for Project MX-774, the forerunner of the Atlas. Although this project was cancelled the next year, largely for reasons of economy, Convair continued to work on problems associated with development of an intercontinental ballistic missile, and had accomplished much by 1953 when the scientific breakthrough was achieved that permitted packaging a nuclear payload with a relatively small, reasonably lightweight but high-yield warhead. Of equal importance was the Air Force sponsorship, beginning in 1951, of development of rocket engines with large thrust by the Rocketdyne division of North American Aviation, Inc.

The Navy also contributed to peacetime development of rocketry. Naturally, its missile programs were oriented to reflect requirements peculiar to that service; launching a missile from the deck of a rolling, pitching ship posed numerous problems, including the need to perfect special guidance apparatus. With its Viking and Aerobee missile programs, the Navy became active in upper atmosphere research, learning much about the atmosphere at altitudes above 100 miles, and the instrumentation and operation of such missiles.

Similarly, Army interest in ballistic missiles and rocketry was maintained after the war, and the capabilities of the pioneering Jet

Propulsion Laboratory, operated under contract by the California Institute of Technology, were strengthened and enlarged. The Army also employed effectively the talents of about 125 German scientists and engineers who had worked on the V-2. Using both reconstructed V-2's and the WAC-Corporal, and finally a combination of the two, called Bumper, altitudes of 250 miles were reached.

At Wallops Island, the NACA in 1945, 14 years ago, began using rockets to propel its research vehicles to constantly higher speeds. Nearly 3,300 firings have been made since then, with a reliability rate that is gratifyingly high. Even more important was the need to develop and refine telemetering devices that enabled us to record the research data gathered in flight.

AMERICAN ACTIVITY IN THE 1945-55 ERA

I have detailed American activity in rocketry in the 1945-55 era because it is important to realize that in the United States we had developed a substantial competence in some of the basic elements of space technology, even though our interests in space, official and otherwise, during this period were pretty much confined to studies by a few farseeing individuals.

By 1955, however, we were able to undertake a scientific datagathering satellite project as part of the U.S. contribution to the International Geophysical Year, 1957-58. Each of the military services submitted plans to the Secretary of Defense, suggesting how the project should be accomplished. The final decision was based on a determination that the satellite project should not in any way be permitted to interfere with the ballistic missile programs— then, as now, being prosecuted on a top priority basis.

The result-Project Vanguard-was a triservice effort, with overall management responsibility administered by the Office of Naval Research, with Dr. John P. Hagen, the project director. To avoid interference with the missile program, it was decided to develop in less than 3 years, almost from scratch, a fully integrated three-stage rocket launching vehicle, capable of lifting a highly instrumented payload to an altitude of about 300 miles, and of imparting a speed of 5 miles per second parallel to the earth so that a stable orbit could be attained. Project Vanguard, broadly conceived, was more than just a rocket or a satellite; it was a system, a complete and totally integrated space research program. In addition to development of the vehicle itself, it provided worldwide tracking systems, both radio and optical, and the launching system to place the satellite in orbit.

TROUBLES OF PROJECT VANGUARD

As every American knows, project Vanguard was beset by troubles that would have discouraged all but the most stouthearted and dedicated of research teams. Last fall, the Vanguard team and the four remaining satellite experiments were transferred to NASA. We had confidence in the inherent rightness of the program, and last month, after a thorough reworking of the vehicle, the successful orbiting of Vanguard II did much to affirm that faith. Viewed in retrospect, it is doubtful that any single rocket program has had a better record of successes in the limited numbers of firings undertaken.

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Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and ...