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SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON SPACE AND ASTRONAUTICS

LYNDON B. JOHNSON, Texas, Chairman

RICHARD B. RUSSELL, Georgia

STYLES BRIDGES, New Hampshire

BOURKE B. HICKENLOOPER, Iowa

THEODORE FRANCIS GREEN, Rhode Island ALEXANDER WILEY, Wisconsin
JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Arkansas
WARREN G. MAGNUSON, Washington
CLINTON P. ANDERSON, New Mexico
STUART SYMINGTON, Missouri

LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, Massachusetts
JOHN W. BRICKER, Ohio

KARL E. MUNDT, South Dakota

EDWIN L. WEISL, Consulting Counsel
CYRUS VANCE, Consulting Counsel

Dr. HOMER JOSEPH STEWART, Scientific Consultant

Dr. GLEN P. WILSON, Coordinator of Technical Information
Mrs. EILENE GALLOWAY, Special Consultant

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A5423

1958

сору

Becker, Loftus E., Legal Adviser, Department of State___
Bronk, Dr. Detlev W., President, National Academy of Sciences.
Dryden, Dr. Hugh L., Director, National Advisory Committee for Aero-
nautics_

315

360

248

Ellsworth, Harris, Chairman, United States Civil Service Commission...
Pickering, Dr. W. H., director, jet propulsion laboratory, California Insti-
tute of Technology -

307

344

Price, Don K., Jr., vice president, Ford Foundation_.
Stans, Maurice H., Director, Bureau of the Budget_

362

279

Stever, Dr. H. Guyford, associate dean of engineering, Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology -

269

374

Wexler, Dr. Harry, Director, Office of Meteorological Research, United
States Weather Bureau__

369

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ACT OF 1958

TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1958

UNITED STATES SENATE,

SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON SPACE AND ASTRONAUTICS,

Washington, D. C. The special committee reconvened, pursuant to recess, at 10:05 a. m., in the caucus room, Senate Office Building, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson (chairman) presiding.

Present: Senators Johnson (chairman), Green, McClellan, Saltonstall, Mundt, Anderson, Symington, and Bricker.

Also present: Edwin L. Weisl, consulting counsel; Cyrus Vance, consulting counsel; Eilene Galloway, special consultant; Dr. Glen P. Wilson, technical coordinator; Gerald W. Siegel, Stuart French, and Solis Horwitz, professional staffmembers.

Senator JOHNSON. The committee will come to order.

Our first witness this morning is Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, Director, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

Dr. Dryden, the committee has considerable interest in your testimony, and we extend you a hearty welcome this morning.

As a background to what you are about to say, I am going to ask consent to insert at this point in the record a biography, setting forth your history and qualifications.

(The biography referred to is as follows:)

BIOGRAPHY OF DR. HUGH L. DRYDEN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS

Dr. Dryden was born on July 2, 1898, at Pocomoke City, Md.

He attended Johns Hopkins University where he received his bachelor of arts degree in 1916, master of arts in 1918, and his doctor of philosophy in 1919. He also has received several honorary degrees.

He was employed by the National Bureau of Standards from 1918 to 1946. He was the Director of Aeronautical Research in the NACA from 1947 to 1950, and has been Director of the NACA since 1950.

He has been editor of the Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences; honorary fellow, Institute of Aeronautical Sciences (president in 1943); Wright Brothers lecturer, Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, 1938; honorary officer, Order of the British Empire; home secretary of the National Academy of Sciences; president, 1952-56, International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; fellow, American Physical Society.

He has published-with H. Bateman and F. D. Murnaghan-Hydrodynamics, 1932; Aerodynamic Theory, volume VI, division T, 1936; Fluid Mechanics and Statistical Methods in Engineering-with others, 1941.

Senator JOHNSON. I understand that you have a prepared statement, Dr. Dryden, and the committee will appreciate it if you will proceed in your own way.

STATEMENT OF DR. HUGH L. DRYDEN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS; ACCOMPANIED BY PAUL G. DEMBLING, GENERAL COUNSEL, NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS

Dr. DRYDEN. Thank you. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee and counsel, less than 72 hours ago, I was high above the Atlantic Ocean, returning from a busy week in Europe.

As we flew westward, my thoughts ranged far beyond the comfort of the pressurized cabin, and, because they may be pertinent to the matters being considered by your committee, I should like to mention two of the subjects that came to mind.

My airplane was traveling at an airspeed of more than 300 miles per hour. The earth-some 20,000 feet below-was revolving at about 1,000 miles per hour.

Simultaneously, the earth was traveling in space, in orbit around the sun, at the rate of about 66,000 miles per hour. At the same time, the sun itself was moving at the rate of 630,000 miles per hour, within our galaxy that we call the Milky Way.

The star nearest our Sun is Alpha Centauri. It is more than 25 trillion miles away.

We have to reach about 25,000 miles per hour to escape from the earth. To travel outside the solar system, we will have to escape from the gravitational pull of the sun. That will require a minimum speed of about 70,000 miles per hour. A space craft journey from the Earth to Alpha Centauri would take over 40,000 years at this speed.

As those increasingly large numbers flashed through my mind, I was reminded how enormous is the task ahead: of learning more about our solar system and the myriad galaxies which comprise the

cosmos.

At the same time, I was impressed with the need for urgency to get on with the job, to use the new tools that we have just fashioned that, for the first time in history, enable us to probe the secrets of the universe, to see things as they really are, and to begin man's exploration of space.

The second of my thoughts on my homeward flight was based upon happenings of the previous week.

Everywhere I went, especially in Madrid and in Munich, where there were opportunities for conversation with others of the scientific community, I had been met with the following questions:

Was the United States really going to provide world leadership in the scientific, peaceful use of our new-found ability to send space craft far beyond the atmospheric envelope that encircles the earth? Would the United States be willing to spend the hundreds of millions annually necessary to accomplish such explorations into space, even if the military advantages were not clearly foreseen and there was no demonstrated prospect of new scientific information that could be immediately translated into dollar-producing projects? Fortunately, I was prepared for such questioning.

I could and did note that our national leaders in the administration and in both Houses of Congress had been virtually unanimous in declaring that the United States should promptly blueprint a wisely bold national space program, and that it should be directed toward exploration and exploitation of space for peaceful purposes. I told

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