• 

PIRG, APPROVED FOR 

•RELEASE 1 JULY 201$ 

Ianuary 18; 1964- 

V.111.;OR.Z..2eYal FCC 11111ECTO3 - 4 reSEARCH & grGILTEMING 

SIELECE: Manned Orbital. 

This is in response to sour Memerandum of December' u 

13-3 on the above subject pie:_sents the Air Force planfer initiating the lyi01. preeea.a.. Additionaldetails_of_the . 

plan are included in the ate:actleent and have•aiready been 

briefed eo Dr. Hall and eeller members of your staff. 

The proposed meL menei;ement organization at the Space 

Systeee; DiviSiaa will be beeeld on, a system program office .hav-. 

in;; responsibility for the the TITAN III and the Gemini 

progreee. and including a rASA field office-subject to arrange.; 

ments with NASA. The.system program o:i:fice would be headed b 

deputy coretender , of SSD. The reporting channels for this 

'1' of:ice and the higher echelen management structure are still 

u.nee' r study, with particulee reger.d to the requirements for • 

application of OD Directive S-52a0.1.3 "Security Policy for 

Military Space programs" and other direction contained in your 

-ememorenduw. Additional information oncthe proposed management 

structure will . be forwarded to you separately. 

•;, 

In order' to ,help assure ade-eaate consideration of the 

eeperkeents to be Performed in ::the VOL,-it is' proposed, to 

initiate the OSS, studies with,l-leasis on fhaies I,, _II: and III 

eilich include: analysis .of ra.litany mission models; 

Lien of technical requires entse' definition of experiments and 

ceytieneints; test planning; zule, definition.-of vehicle parametric 

criteria. Phase IV, which priginally,cevered preliminary k IOL 

system-configuration* will,be deleted And vehicle .configuration considered only to the degree necessary ,to assist in the . 

cenduet of the other •phases. Adjusted elork statements will be 

7...e2;otieted in the light of the ..above=: reduction in. tetal. program,. 

see,pe. Release of $1.0.ef tarred funds for the _OSS studies 

-Le requested. 

• A pre-program definition study will be conducted in-house 

tie SSD with the assistance of the AiresPace Corporation: This 

etucly include . definition of experiments and will utilize 

results derived from Phases'I, and'Ill of the OSS 'study :as 
P4RdAPPROVED FOR 

RELEASE 1 JULY 2015 

available. To supplement t..s effort, test and experimental 

prograe. studies will'be cc ie f.ectee in-house and by centrectors 

to be corepetitively select,e. The cost of the contractor 

studies : will be $500,000. adc.:ition, certain classified 

studies-to be condUcted b--.ee contractors . at a, cost of 

$750,0103 will be initiated., 

Prozran definition, the Gemini B by the McDonnell., 

Zeircraf.t company at an es::11:= =est of 03.5 million and for 

the TITAN IIIC by the If..er;:f,.e. ',..erf:etta Corporation at a total 

cost of '0..5 million will ?-e,n racted for on a sole source 

• basis. These stddies Aircraft :Company and 

liartin-nerietta Aircraft 'include such interface and system integration 'I': dies . as"can most expeditiously 

be carried out by the respective contractors in addition to - 

efforts specifically related t ,their :respective 

The SSD study result :d in.a recommendation that contracting for Gemini "B" by the Air Fortte be directly with the 

:McDonnell Aircraft corporat: L011 re, her than through NASA. NASA, 

on other hand, believes the 'contracting should be through', 

NASA. The study 'further recoemended resolution of. this problem, 

at the AFSC DISC level. lv Preliminary, diecuesiona with Dr. 

Mueller, Dr. Seamans, and .Admiral:Boone have indicated an un 

willingness to go .along 'with this 4proach; their feeling:is 

that agreement on this matter -should' be reached' bet men NASA:in 

DAD at the highest management level. It is therfifore requested 

that.you undertake' to. atx:Lee. at an agreement regarding, Gemini 

"B" contracting with the 117ZA inaragement.. An appropriate moans 

of developing the pertinentfactors bearing on this question 

on a-mutuallyacceptable,. basis 'would be by means of an MSC/SSD 

workine groin.. Thii group could report its findings, including 

specific areas of 'egreement and disagreement, to.DOD and NASA': 

management for final 

Following completion of the pre-program definition studies 

aad upon acctraulation of SUffidient data from the experiment 

definition studies and tests, the I.131. program definition study 

veuld be initiated based‘.on a competition at an estimated cost 

of. $910 million. ! In the pre-program definition phase, considera 

tion will be given to the relati.vi_ advantages and disadvantages 

of conducting the definition phase competitively with 

two contractors or with'a 'single contractor selected cempetitively. 

Results of the. M.01. pre-program definition studies and recommended 
.OSS Studies; 

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NIRCS APPROVED FOR 

RELEASE1 JULY 2015 

r or stateznent and plan f - „the : a r definition phase will 

b„:. presented to you prior ef,:- :1',.ni..lation of MOL pros defini— 

tion. 

e eztisting plan fo': el:periments t be perfermed ,

17.',.SA flights has te2-m --r:zamined with a view to in - 

creaalilz; applicability VIOL. Eowever, because of the 

eN.tre:z.1.:,7 tight scheticule rh: limitations of weight and space, 

ais'.-:,if.icant cliange.s cc .i,dentified at this time: It Ls 

honeyed, however, that t."‘ - : rained in the Gemini, 

e';-;:periments will be of cc: -,,i _.t.re-le value for the. VIOL program.,‘, 

In order to meet til =bi> t drat that the one-man Ceidni 

and is a Apollo xaodificati-1::: s-7,udied to determine whether 

either of these can tbset. ;...OL objectives, it is planneet to 

contract on a sole source has .0lAtia the McDonnell Aircraft 

Corporation and the `North Lviation Corporation for the 

Gemini and Apollo studies rcs-ye,c•.-Ively.' The estimated total-, 

cost of: Cat.N.se studies is $35a,Ota,.). In view of this planned",‘ 

action, tile North ri aviation -Corporation Will be .removed 

from its position with res;.,att to the LASS competition. -- 

study is:re 47 ...od 'before a .specific reorientation 

of ths. t.S.:41•7.1 program to the technical requirements to 

support f.,.n advanced ferry vehicle development can be completed. 

As resafds the use of ASSET for-Gemini B tests, we propose to 

a comparative evaluation of an ASSET test with's- larger 

scale TITAN IIIC test whicb oet.,1,1 be conducted d=ing the 

TITAN IIIC development prQ,szszt.. Upon completion of these studies. 

a plan for reorientation- and extetug:on of' the ASSET proati 

Le for.warded. None of the other act6ons discussed-in this memorand= are contingent upon tom ::ASSET program redirection at this-, 

tiMa .

• 

•• 

st.mimary s of estimated'cosits.'for tie pre 

and program definition p4 es ,is as follows: 

Gemini "D"" and'Interface efrinition 

IIIC. and Interface Da.finition 

. Ez.periment Definition Studies and Test 

Classified. Expercent- 'Definition , Th:,-" • 

Study of One-Man C=ini and Apollo, 

.M01. Program Defini.tion 

Aerospace Co " SE/TD 

lirspgr4 

3.50' 

• .50

•:..35.,- , 9.33 

2.00 '„• 
;14NO.APPROVED FOR 

RELEASE 1 JULY 2015' 

T\ )- To perzait i=adiate oZ the V't)314 pro,,raz your 

ovz I of. this plan and ti ral2ase of $10 million of 

-.orgency Amds aro rcvesv.td. 

Alex-roder 

Secrotary 

esc -..rea, and Ivelovzen