leadership in science and in industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation. We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new, terrifying theater of war. I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the Office of the Presidency. In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history. We have felt the ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of a SATURN C-I booster rocket, many times as powerful as the ATLAS which launched John Glenn, generating power equivalent to 10,000 automobiles with their accelerator on the floor. We have seen the site where five F-1 rocket engines, each one as powerful as all eight engines of the SATURN combined, will be clustered together to make the advanced SATURN missile, assembled in a new building to be built at Cape Canaveral as tall as a 48-story structure, as wide as a city block, and as long as two lengths of this field. Within these last 19 months at least 45 satellites have circled the earth. Some 40 of them were "made in the United States of America" and they were far more sophisticated and supplied far more knowledge to the people of the world than those of the Soviet Union. The MARINER spacecraft now on its way to Venus is the most intricate instrument in the history of space science. The accuracy of that shot is comparable to firing a missile from Cape Canaveral and dropping it in this stadium between the 40-yard lines. Transit satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course. TIROS satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for forest fires and icebergs. We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them. And they may be less public. To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade we shall make up and move ahead. The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school. Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains. To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal of money. This year's space budget is three times what it was in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined. That budget now stands at five billion four hundred million dollars a year-a staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every year. Space expenditures will soon rise some more, from 40 cents per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman and child in the United States, for we have given this program a high national priority even though I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us. But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, reentering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun, almost as hot as it is here today, and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out, then we must be bold. Well, space is there, and we are going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked. News-Conference Remarks by President Kennedy, [Extract] Q. Mr. President, in the area of peaceful uses of space, you have said that we shall be first, but if we refrain from competing with Russia for warlike space vehicles as Mr. Gilpatric 2 has said, doesn't this almost condemn us to a second place finish in the military field? 1 Stenotype transcript of press conference, Sept. 13, 1962, Department of State files. 2 Roswell L. Gilpatric, Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1961-. For an extract from his address of Sept. 5, 1962, see ante, p. 317. THE PRESIDENT. No, . . . As I said last week, in the first place we are spending $1 billion 500 million a year on our military space program. What is the key for the success both of peaceful exploration of space as well as the military mastery of space are large boosters, effective control of the capsule, and the ability to rendezvous, and all of the rest, so that there is an obvious usefulness if the situation should require, military usefulness for our efforts, peaceful efforts, in space. There is no sense-in addition, as you know, very recently we determined to go ahead with the Titan-III, which gives the United States Air Force a very strong weapon if that should become necessary. So that the work that NASA is doing on Saturn and the work the Air Force is doing on Titan and the work being done on the Apollo program and Gemini and the others, all have a national security factor as well as a peaceful factor. Q. Could you say a little more about what Mr. Gilpatric meant by allowing the Russians to go first with hydrogen weapons in space? THE PRESIDENT. I am not aware that we are intending the Russians to go first with hydrogen weapons. Q. He said we wouldn't go until they did. THE PRESIDENT. Well, I think the United States is attempting, and the Administration, as you know, is making a massive effort in space. As I said, we are spending three times what we spent last year in space, and more in this year's budget than the eight previous years, so that this is a tremendous effort, $52 billion as well as the money that we are spending for the military use of space. As I say, the size of the booster and the capsule and the control all would have, if the situation required it, a military use. We hope it does not; we hope that space will be used for peaceful purposes. That is the policy of the United States, but we shall be prepared if it does not, and in addition, as I said from the beginning, both the Soviet. Union and the United States both have a capacity to send a missile to each other country with a nuclear warhead on it, so that we must keep some perspective as to where the danger may lie. But the United States, in the effort it is making both in the peaceful program and the military program, all of this will increase our security if the Soviet Union should attempt to use space for military purposes. Address by the Secretary of the Air Force (Zuckert) to the Air Force Association, September 21, 1962 1 [Extract] Paramount, of course, in the future of the Air Force, is space. The interest of the free nations in freedom in space was reflected in President Kennedy's comment on the first orbital flight of an American Astronaut. In his characteristically straightforward manner— and we don't mind his using marine terminology-the President said 1 Department of Defense press release 1534-62, Sept. 21, 1962, pp. 9-12. space is "the new ocean, and I believe the United States must sail on it and be in a position second to none." 2 It seems to me his description covers two very important lessons for those of us concerned with defense. The first is that space is not only the pathway to other planets, but is also the medium of access to all of the earth. An ICBM, for example, traverses space on a ballistic trajectory which intersects the earth's surface at a targeted point. The second lesson is that space as a new medium of activity for man is also a medium in which we must look to our defenses. I believe the whole military effort in space reflects these lessons. As the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Roswell Gilpatric, said recently, "We will take whatever steps are necessary to defend ourselves and our allies. . . in accordance with the inalienable right of self defense confirmed in the United Nations Charter." 3 The United State, in keeping with our motivations in freedom and peace, has embarked upon a space program aimed at peace building, constructive exploitation of space-second to none. In the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the nation has mobilized an effort unprecedented in history. NASA is making progress, because it has imaginative leadership, a competent staff, extensive facilities, and wholehearted support from all elements of industry and government which can contribute, especially the Air Force. In addition to our contribution to the success of the NASA program, the Air Force is required by its own mission to put its energies into a different kind of space effort. We are reaching a clearer definition of that mission as it relates to space. The Air Force, under its assigned mission is concerned with preparations for dealing with threats to the security of the free world that might evolve through the use of space. This is the reason for our growing research and development budget for space projects in the Department of Defense. The bulk of it is in the Air Force. We realize that space is an environment, not a project. The development of devices which have to work in space, because of their newness, their cost, and their importance, must be decided upon on the basis of the most thorough scientific and technical analysis, the soundest military judgment, and the broadest possible consideration of national interest. The United States is dedicated as a matter of national policy to the peaceful exploitation of the space medium. The United States does not intend to extend the arms race into space. We are, however, taking the step to enable us to protect ourselves in the event the Soviets or any other nation were to undertake missions in space that would endanger our security. As we look into the future, the things we will have to do to be able to protect ourselves and preserve freedom in space seem not too different from many traditional military missions of scouting, and standing alert. This means launch vehicles-ready to go on short notice. 2 See the statement of President Kennedy of Feb. 20, 1962, ante, p. 232. See the address of Deputy Secretary Gilpatric of Sept. 5, 1962, ante, p. 317, extract. Protection certainly calls for the capability of observing what goes on in space, and the ability to seek out and investigate vehicles which may appear hostile. We must be able to protect our own vehicles in space. Such missions, of course, call for adequate command, control, communications, weather, and related support capabilities, including the ability of moving from earth to orbital stage as necessary, and operating freely in the orbital stage. The dual-vehicle orbital experiment of the Soviets, when coupled with their previous claims, seems to indicate that the need for protection against possible threats to our security will be in the near orbital stage of space, rather than farther out. One possible instrument of security that might be useful at this level in space may be found in extending the X-15 and X-20 technology, leading to craft which could operate from surface to orbit and back, and perform defense missions at the edge of the atmosphere. Another might be the permanently manned orbital space station designed for military purposes. Progress toward utilization of such a vehicle for security and protection would be speeded by capitalizing upon the NASA program to acquire knowledge and competence in manned orbital flight. All of the hardware used in carrying out these responsibilities must meet military standards of maintenance, reliability, cost effectiveness and repetitive use. This is why we work toward reusable, or less expensive mechanisms for getting into space, whether by use of recoverable first stage boosters or by employment of airborne launch platforms. We have learned a great deal from the work we have done on space projects in the past and we are applying those lessons to the future. The necessity for a standardized workhorse launch-vehicle has been recognized by the Secretary of Defense and the Air Force. That is why the TITAN III project was recently approved and we are giving it our whole-hearted support. It will cost the American taxpayer about a billion dollars to develop this vehicle. The TITAN III represents an important step forward in focusing rather than spreading our efforts. We need to take the same approach in other areas of our space work. We must guard against spreading our brains and dollars too thin. These are the principles on which Air Force space program must be based: a. Ample preparation to utilize the space medium. b. Ample preparation to defend ourselves in case others choose to extend the threat of aggression to outer space. c. Concentration on the really important tasks, including today's job and not just tomorrow's, and finally, d. An organizationally disciplined space program-well planned and specific-which fits into overall national plans and objectives. We in America have no choice but to extend our defenses as far as they need to be extended to save freedom on earth. |