Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

May 11 ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967
May 11: President Johnson submitted to Congress NASA’s 15th Semiannual
Report, covering January to June 1966, and praised the continued prog-
ress of US. space program: “The achievements reported here reflect
not only our progress in space flight, but also new steps taken toward
the real objective of all our efforts in space-the application of new
knowledge to bettering the lives of all people. Already, we see dramatic
examples of success in the satellites which have improved our weather
forecasts and navigation, and which are extending radio and television
communication to the farthermost regions of the earth. . . .
((
The United States space program, as reflected in this report, con-
tinues to exemplify our Nation’s conviction that the road to peace,
progress, and abundance is through continued cooperation among all
nations.” (PD, 5/15/67,729-30)
0 To clarify apparently conflicting statements presented during Congressional
testimony, NASA Administrator James E. Webb issued statement re-
garding selection of North American Aviation, Inc., as prime Apollo
spacecraft contractor. In separate appearances before Senate Com-
mittee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, Webb had indicated (1)
that NAA was the unanimous choice and (2) that Martin Co. had been
recommended by the NASA Source Evaluation Board in 1961. Webb
explained: “Dr. Robert Gilruth, Dr. Robert C. Seamans, and Dr. Hugh
L. Dryden. . . were unanimous in their judgment that of the five com-
panies submitting proposals . . . [NAA] offered the greatest experience
in developing high-performance manned flight systems and the lowest
cost.
“In the selection . . . the work of the Source Evaluation Board was
not rejected or discarded. It was used as the basis for a more extensive
and detailed examination of all pertinent factors . . . necessary to de-
termine whether the facts then available formed an adequate basis for
our selection of a contractor. We decided in the affirmative and then
proceeded to select the contractor the facts indicated offered the most
to the government. ” (NASA Release 67-122)
Subcommittee on Manned Space Flight, in its report to House Committee on
Science and Astronautics, recommended that $445.8 million be cut from
$3.4 billion requested by NASA for N 1968 manned space flight pro-
gram. Recommendation, which included $25-million reduction in Apollo
program, was approved by full committee May 16. (W Post, 5/12/67,
A13)
0 Glennan Space Engineering Building in Cleveland at Case Institute of
Technology was dedicated. NASA Administrator James E. Webb said :
“we need more men like NASA’s first administrator . . . Dr. Keith
Glennan . . . men who are willing. . . to seek out new facts, new concepts
of reality as to the current human situation and [who] have the courage
to base new and untried political, professional, industrial and tech-
nological ventures on information they test and learn to trust.”
Recognizing the value of institutions who provide graduate education,
he said: “There is little further room to doubt that a high level of basic
research, an intellectual activity that must be closely associated with
graduate education, is indispensable to an advancing front of scientific
knowledge. . . .’,
Webb referred to a June 1957 speech of J. S. McDonnell of St. Louis
who had made predictions to graduating students at Rollak Missouri
School of Mines. Prediction No. 1 had a satellite circling earth and moon
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