A Case Study in NASA-DoD - The Black Vault

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The introduction of the L-AE11 spacecraft during the second phase
of the study led to a superior procurement option that did not necessarily
include the NMS or AEM. The L-AEM spacecraft is very similar
to both the Air Force STPSS and the proposed SMMS.
Since NASA had declined
to proceed with the SMMS development in response to the Air
Force-proposed memorandum of agreement, the results of the second phase
of this case study provided the Air Force Space Test Program Office
with justification for developing its own standard spacecraft, i.e.,
the L-AEM. At the present time, the Air Force is requesting bids from
industry for designs of the spacecraft to support its next two missions.
Whether or not the resulting spacecraft designs will represent the beginning
of an Air Force standard spacecraft design must await the outcome
of a number of future Air Force decisions.
In any event, it
appears that the possibility of procuring NASA spacecraft for the Air
Force Space Test Program will be determined case by case.
Finally, some observations are presented concerning the prospects
and problems of applying the NASA-DoD cooperation experience to other
situations. This is done in recognition of the increasing interest in
interdepartmental and international cooperation as a means of either
achieving economic efficiency or of undertaking projects that one
agency or country cannot support on its own. The two principal underlying
factors that were essential to the ultimate success of the NASA-
DoD cooperation experience are: (1) a common subset of missions and
resources--manpower, data, spacecraft, launch vehicles, facilities,
etc.--where cooperation was possible and desirable, and (2) a common
organizational responsibility to the Executive Branch (the President
and the Bureau of the Budget), which in turn was responsible to
Congress. But even given these two principal factors, it took four
to five years before successful cooperation and the formal organizational
machinery became a reality for NASA and DoD. The principal
impediment to establishing coordination earlier was the open disagreement
between President Eisenhower and the Congress over the need for
NASA-DoD coordination and their respective space missions. However,
during the Kennedy Administration, cooperation between NASA-DoD became
institutionalized after the Soviets' first manned orbital flight.