Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967 November 6
(FOBS) : The weapon would “suppress our manned bombers by catching
them on the ground with only a 3-minute attack warning . . . destroy
the acquisition radar of any [ABM] system we might install . . . [and]
destroy our retaliatory ICBM’s in their s~~os.” Hosmer noted that Soviets
call FOBS by code name Scrag, and said the May 29, 1967, issue of the
American Security Council’s Washington Report contained an article
“written by the exceptionally well-informed Dr. Stefan T. Possony, of
the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford Uni-
versity.” Hosmer stated: “A most vital disclosure by Possony is that
the Scrag. . . would have a 30-megaton warhead, presumably sufficient
to penetrate our hardened ICBM silos, ruin our ICBM missiles and thus
destroy our retaliatory capacity. Despite Soviet capabilities with this
size warhead and larger. . . McNamara continues to insist that Scrag
warhead yields are only in the 1- to 3-megaton range. I believe he does
so less with assured knowledge of the yield than he does wishfully, to
support his continued claims that we do not need an ICBM system for
protection because our missile silos are so strong they cannot be
penetrated.” (Testimony; CR, 11/6/67, H14638-9)
NASA’s Apollo 4 (AS-501), which would be launched by Saturn V in
three days, had the power to place astronauts on moon, or telescopes
in orbit beyond earth’s atmosphere; American capability for major
strides toward the unknown had arrived when interest in these en-
deavors had reached a new and understandable low, Albert Sehlstedt,
Jr., reported in Baltimore Sun. Along with the new era of less than
major interest in space had come the high-priority problems of the
Southeast Asia war and the urban riots. Aviation reek for Aug. 7
had said “An era ended for the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis-
tration last week when Congress voted a $234,000,000 cut in the agency’s
budget authorization for fiscal 1968.”
Many people during recent months had looked toward the achieve.
ment of social as well as scientific goals, reappraisement of both being
called for by Congress. Because AS-501 would be one of the highest
achievements in space, the question was no longer whether man could
reach into space, but “. . . . with what urgency it should be done
in the light of all the needs on earth.” (Sehlstedt, B Sun, 11/7/67, 6)
Detailed information on French space budget for 1968, expected to be
approved soon by National Assembly, was reported to total $141
million, increased about $36 million over 1967 budget. It would in-
clude $121.5 million for research and operations and $19.3 million for
facilities and administration under spending plan being developed by
Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales ( CNES) . Research and operations
funds would be divided, $87.8 million for French programs and
$33.7 million for ELDO and ESRO projects. About $1 million also had
been allocated for bilateral space research projects outside ELDO and
ESRO. Major items of budget included: development costs for ELDO
Europa 1/PAS launch vehicle and Diamant B launch vehicle; R&D costs
for two Roseau radio observatory satellites (scheduled for U.S.S.R.
launch in 1971) ; planning costs for two Symphonie communications
satellites (joint French-West German venture with one spacecraft
structure group and two avionics groups to be chosen from competing
groups in both countries) ; construction costs for Kourou launch com-
plex in French Guiana; and partial costs of new Toulouse complex for
satellite development and balloon sounding projects. Budget also con-
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