Any problems that may arise in carrying out these interim instructions should be discussed with my special assistant for science and technology or with the Bureau of the Budget, as appropriate. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER.

Dr. DOOLITTLE. The President's instructions included a preparation and presentation by the NACA to the appropriate committees of the Congress of a full explanation of the proposed NASA legislation and its objectives. I am in complete agreement with the proposed legislation and am, of course, happy to respond to the President's directive. Even if the President had not so instructed, I would have welcomed this opportunity to support the bill.

For the record, I should like to make one further introductory comment. The absence at this hearing today of Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, Director of the NACA, is because, several months ago, the scientific community of free Germany paid him the signal honor of inviting him to deliver, in Munich, the second annual lecture in honor of the late Ludwig Prandtl, the eminent German physicist and aeronautical scientist. The fact that Dr. Dryden was invited to be the first non-German to deliver the Prandtl lecture testifies to the great international reputation that he, so rightly, enjoys. Except for this compelling reason, Dr. Dryden most certainly would be here today.

It was just 50 years ago today-May 6, 1908-that the Wright brothers went back to Kitty Hawk to sharpen their piloting skill before they made the world's first demonstration and sale of a military airplane to the United States. By 1908, the controversy had already begun as to whether the airplane could ever be a militarily decisive weapon. It was not until World War II that the argument was finally settled, beyond all question. In the 30 some years between, the airplane was transformed from a contraption of wood and cloth and wire, driven by unreliable, low-power engines, into all-metal craft that could and did accomplish the military tasks required. The very great improvement in those years and since was due to unceasing research and development effort in which the NACA has played a leading role.

The point I wish to make is that today, so far as space technology is concerned, we are at the early state of development comparable to that of the airplane a half century ago. On the basis of the present state of the art, it may be difficult to see clearly the full range of future civil and military uses of space vehicles. But, already, enough is known for us to be sure that we must lead, not lag, in space technology.

My comments about the uses of satellites and space craft are confined to the nonmilitary aspects. They are only examples of the more obvious uses.

What makes the space vehicle of such tremendous interest to the scientists is the fact that they can use it as a tool to study the universe, including the earth, in a way that previously was completely impossible. We live at the bottom of a deep, atmospheric ocean. As we look skyward through the miles of our atmosphere, even when we use the finest optical and radio telescopes that man has been able to devise, we get only blurred images of the wonders of the heavens. Dr. Joseph Kaplan, Chairman of the United States National Committee for the International Geophysical Year, says that the astronomers

have a lot to put up with: "Looking at the stars through our atmosphere is like looking through a dirty window." And Dr Lloyd V. Berkner, president of Associated Universities, Inc., has pointed out that the difference between radio observations of the heavenly bodies made from earth and from a satellite will be the difference between a picture in black and white and in full color. Stated another way, the atmosphere filters out all but a single octave of light and, similarly, all but a narrow band of the broad spectrum of radio waves that travel earthward from the sun and the distant stars.

If we can furnish the scientists with a steady platform out in space beyond our atmosphere, it will provide priceless opportunities to study the phenomena associated with the physical behavior of the sun and the stars. It is possible, for example, to construct a telescope of useful size, together with the television and transmitting equipment needed to send its observations back to earth, that could be carried in an orbiting satellite that weighs only a ton or so. A first step in developing such a satellite is provision of accurate automatic stabilization and control, a task that admittedly will be difficult. It is, however, a job that is essentially straightforward. It can be accomplished with reasonable promptness if sufficient scientific and technical manpower is assigned to the work.

Your committee, Mr. Chairman, has performed a very real public service by including in your No. 1 compilation of materials on space and astronautics, the basic objectives of a continuing program of scientific research in outer space, as drafted by scientists participating in the International Geophysical Year. This document will enjoy wide readership as a consequence of your action. The many datagathering projects it proposes should help our citizens to understand the importance of space vehicles for scientific purposes.

In this connection, the question will inevitably and properly arise, what good will all this new information be to the people of the United States? After all, they have to pay the bill, and it is a bill that annually, for years to come, will probably be counted in the hundreds of millions of dollars. I don't know all the good it will do and I doubt if any man alive today can give specific answers. But, in this connection, I am reminded of the story they tell about Michael Faraday, the English physicist, whose pioneering work in electromagnetics had a profound effect upon our later understanding of electrodynamics leading to useful electric power. About a hundred years ago, Mr. Faraday is supposed to have been asked, in the British Parliament, about the value of his electromagnetic experiments. His answer, so the story goes, was, "I can't tell you what it'll be good for. But I'll tell you this: one of these days you'll be taxing it.'

I can't tell you precisely what of great value will come out of our moving into space to probe the secrets of the universe. However, I have the conviction, and in this I find myself in the company of some very wise men, that a century from now, perhaps much sooner, people will say that this venturing into space that we're planning now was one of the most practical, intelligent investments of our national wealth to be found in history. If we, in the United States, take the wisely bold action necessary to lead in exploiting the possibilities of space technology for science, all mankind will benefit. If Russia wins dominance in this completely new area, well, I think the consequences are fairly plain-probable Soviet world domination.

Now, fortunately, there are peaceful uses of satellites and space platforms that offer a more immediate payoff. One of the most obvious, and immediately valuable, has to do with meteorology. The weather people calculate that if they can forecast long-range and local weather with greater accuracy, this will, each year, be worth billions of dollars to the citizens of the United States. Over the years, great progress has been made in this direction, but there are still definite limits to what we can hope to accomplish in weather prediction so long as we operate entirely within the earth's atmosphere. For example, the behavior of the air masses over the oceans often determines the weather over the inhabited land masses. These great areas of water, as every schoolboy is taught, cover more than two-thirds of the earth's surface. We know so little about how the world's weather is generated over these vast ocean masses and over the polar areas that we are unable to forecast the resulting weather accurately. This is particularly important in the case of devastating typhoons and tornadoes. We have made some progress in our aerial study of hurricanes that form in the Caribbean, but the cost to expand this kind of effort around the world would be great and the information obtained insufficient.

With properly instrumented satellites, the meteorologists can watch storms form and move and disappear, all around the world on a 24-hour basis. They can also study the physical processes that make our weather, how the earth's surface absorbs heat energy from the sun in varying amounts, and how the heat circulates unevenly between the equatorial and polar regions. By observing, measuring, and then understanding these complicated heat-transfer processes, the meterologists expect to be able to predict normal and abnormal weather including the onset of destructive droughts, catastrophic windstorms, and flood-producing rains. Beyond all this, they are thinking and planning for the day when, finally, they will have fully comprehended the meaning of their new knowledge and thus be able to control the weather. The worth of such a possibility is literally incalculable.

I am not an electronics expert but the use of satellites in communications also offers great advantages and economies.

Today, we are at the very edge of one of the great frontiers of history. The frontiersmen who explore the vast reaches of this unknown region will be the space scientists. They will undertake their explorations, because they are compelled by the drive that motivates every true scientist to seek new knowledge, valuing it for itself. For us to attempt to gage each of these adventures into space on the basis of the value of its expected immediate results would, I fear, defeat the very purposes of the essential master plan for the peaceful conquest of space.

This thought brings me to where I wish to emphasize as strongly as possible my conviction that the direction of our national space program must be the responsibility of a civilian agency, as stipulated in Senate bill 3609. I speak as a civilian who was for many years privileged to serve in our Armed Forces. I support the Department of Defense position that the military services should be permitted to undertake the projects that have military value. I also support the Department of Defense position that the military services need freedom to conduct research, or to contract for such research, on space matters that may offer promise of future military value. A little

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later, I shall touch upon the essentiality of the civilian space program and the military space program being closely coordinated.

Around the world there are signs that, even in Russia, the peoples of this earth are beginning to realize that the new weaponry man has invented cannot be fully used without upsetting our civilization. I wish to be clear on this point. I don't for a moment believe that the millenium has at last arrived. I don't for a moment believe that the Russians have discarded their implacable drive for world domination. But I do believe that the Russians may finally have realized that, in the face of our armed might, any attack they launched against us would result in their receiving mortal wounds. It is quite possible that they have learned, as we have, that all-out nuclear war is no longer a satisfactory way to impose national desires. If so, we may expect Russia to attempt world domination by other means, such as infiltration, insurrection, and limited warfare. Over the long haul they will certainly attempt to achieve world domination through scientific, technological, industrial, and economic preeminence.

This the free world must not permit. We must remain militarily strong and economically strong. Thus we must be able to make whatever military use is desirable and possible in the field of space technology. It means, no less, that we must lead in the development of space technology for peaceful purposes. We and the Russians are competing to capture the minds of the peoples of the world. In this struggle, gaining and retaining world leadership in space science will provide us with tremendous opportunities.

The language of Senate bill 3609 is broad. The authorities it provides are necessary to enable NASA to marshal America's resources as may be needed to carry forward our national space program. The bill provides that the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics shall become the nucleus of the new agency. What needs to be done in space technology, however, cannot be accomplished merely by expanding the workload of NACA in the space field where it is already focusing nearly half of its research effort. Nor will a mere name change, for purposes of symbolism, be enough. At this point, Mr. Chairman, I offer an organization and distribution chart of the effort related to space research of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics for the fiscal year 1958.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, the chart will be included in the record at this point.

(The chart referred to faces this page.)

Dr. Doolittle.

For example, the NASA must have authority to contract for a substantial part of its space research to be done by laboratories outside the Government. NACA's research contract authority is limited to $500,000. This is obviously inadequate for the NASA. NASA needs authority to develop, test, launch, and operate aeronautical and space vehicles. NASA needs to have its appropriations on a no-year basis, so that vital space programs can be undertaken and financed without regard to a single fiscal year. NACA does not have that authority, except for construction of laboratory facilities. NASA needs authority to pay salaries that are reasonably comparable with prevailing rates paid non-Federal employees for similar work. As we see it, about half of the work performed by NASA will soon be done by private agencies under contract and about half by the Federal