MOON 'DEADLINE' SEEN TOO EARLY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000200310001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 18, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 28, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/18: CIA-RDP73-00475R000200310001-1
BALTIMORE SUN
MAY 2 8 '1964
1
We fin no rea on
'MOON 'DEADLINE'that putting._ men on the moon
could contribute to our military
SEEN Too EARLY ,siti.r,..7rigitli. defense1, N7
esee obio e
jlectil?'?
iedse nce warranth a tt
!a crash program or that a meet-
ing of deadlines such as 1970 :
serves any significant national ob-
.GOP Unit Fears Expensive''jeciive.
i
Wasteful Crash Program "We urge, therefore, that such
. ?a deadline be dropped."
i By ALHERT SEHLSTEDT, PL. A Different View
.i (WashirtOton Bureau of The Stoll A different view of the lunar
I
Washington, May 27?The Cr iti. schedule has been 'taken by
I
;cal Issues Council of the Repub- jalnes a Webb, head o. we pia-
lican Citizens Committee today
tional Aeronautics .and Space Ad-
recommended the United States ministration, in testimony before
Congress.
'drop the' 1970 "deadline" for land- Webb told the Senate Space
. ing men on the moon. Committee in March'.that ' if the
The council, organized last year moon program were carried over
to report' the views Of a number into the 1970's the cost of the
.of prominent Republicans on mat-.I project would increase approxi-
!ters of national importance, ap, mately $1,000,000,000 for each year
:proved the lunar landing project of delay.
as a whole, but feared the effort if' the present schedule is ad-
hered become to. Webb testified, the job
; t L
could be done for less than
that would be ' expensive and
..
t',0 000 000 000 ' ' , ?
. . .
' waste f ul . ' ' The effecls of a stretch-out were
, A national goal of landingistudied Wy NASA's Office "of
'Americans on the moon' by the: Manned Space Flight, Webb said.
end 'of this decade was called, "A three-year delay would cost
:for by the late President John $3,000,000,000;' a six-year delay,
F. Kennedy on May. 25,, 1961, in $6,000.000,000, with no correspond-
his second state-of-the-Union mes-Ong improvements in the benefits
!sage for that year. "obtained,'' Webb declared. ' ?
The Republican council said thei 5.3 Billion Asked
present lunar program was "ad- NASA has asked Congress for
mittedly a project of considerable $5,304,000,000 in the fiscal year
human interest," but was chiefly which begins July 1. , About',
a "prestige item intended to $2,677,000,000 of this total is for
: vvin
.the man-to-moon race.'' 'the Apollo lunar landing program.
' "Indeed, if this race is not Wort The 'Republican council '.saw
'or if a premature 'attempt' in-
, value in the moon voyage as an
,volves loss of life, its prestige essential step toward possible trips
;value largely vanishes," observed ,to a neighboring planet, which it
lthe council, headed by Dr. Milton considered, more worthwhile.
S. Eisenhower, president of the In another part of its report, the
.Johns Hopkins University. ? ,.- , council expressed the belief that
These considerations, coupled the United States has gained con-
with the "deadline date" gives.siderably more valuable prestige
the project "the character af a ' than has been realized from some
scientific space projects. : ..,.
'crash' program," it was stated, other ---- -- ? -
"This is increasingly true when
.the schedule slips, as is bound to ?
happen in an undertaking of this
novelty and complexity. Crash
programs are notoriously expen-
sive, wasteful and prone to pre-
mature execution. , , .: ?
' "Thus the manned lunar land-
ting project .!- represents a 'chal-
lenge, to be sure, but we do 1101
;believe that' the':?.vhOped-for psy ,
chological or ' propaganda ad-
[vantages call for the present ef- !
forts to meet a publicized dead-
line,. currently -stated as prior to
e ieve
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/18: CIA-RDP73-00475R000200310001-1