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DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE 

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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 

03 

Mr-71 

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MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE 

SEP 7 1966 

SUBJECT: Manned Orbiting Laboratory Monthly Status Report 

The attached Status Report on the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) Program covers activities through August 31, 1966 

and is submitted in accordance with the August 16, 1966 instructions from the Office of the Secretary. 

HARRY L. EVANS INN 

Major General, USAF 

Vice Director, MOL Program 

1 Atch 

a/s 

DORIAN 

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I. PROBLEM 

The MOL Associate Contractor negotiations are not progressing 

as fast as had been planned, due primarily to the contractors having 

to submit revisions to their proposals in July resulting frOm the 

changed program flight schedule approved late in May 1966. The 

specifications, work statements and contract terms and conditions 

have been nearly completed leaving the incentive structure and price 

negotiations as the major items to be completed. 

The following are the anticipated dates for completion of 

negotiations with the MOL Associate Contractors: 

Martin Company September 19 

McDonnell Aircraft September 23 

Douglas Aircraft September 30 

AC Electronic Division September 30 

General Electric October 10 

Aerojet November 15 

United Technology December 31 

Eastman Kodak Company (signed) August 1 

It is possible some of the above dates may slip as negotiations 

progress. In this event it will cause a commensurate delay in 

reporting negotiated contract prices which have been requested by the 

Secretary of the Air Force prior to approving full-scale Engineering 

Development approval. No delay is anticipated in the overall program, 

however, as the Secretary of the Air Force has authorized the Director, 

MOL to obligate funds to protect development lead time. This is 

reported in greater detail in Section IIB of this report. 

II. CHANGE PAST MONTH 

A. PSAC Briefing 

On August 13 a briefing was given to Dr. Land's panel of the 

PSAC on the results of the study on manned-unmanned comparisons. Dr. 

Flax supervised the briefing, which was delivered principally by members of the Aerospace Corporation. 

DORIAN 

ET=TD 

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Expressions of strong interest were received from the 

chairman and other panel members on three subjects: 

1. The achievement of ground resolution was 

characterized as an important national objective. 

2. The panel thought that more attention should be given 

to the acquisition and tracking scopes to assure that the operators 

can perform the desired functions. 

3. The panel was impressed with the prospect of being 

able to conduct 60-day missions in the automatic mode and urged 

that the system be designed for that duration. 

The panel observed that the program was proceeding substantially as directed toward the dual mode of operation and 

expressed satisfaction that considerable progress had been made in 

concepts for the critical automatic photographic devices. 

B. Implementation of Engineering Development Phase 

In his memorandum to the Director, MOL Program of August 20, 

1966 the Secretary of the Air Force authorized obligation of FY 66 and 

FY 67 MOL Program funds to protect development lead time consistent 

with meeting the schedules and primary objective for the first manned 

flight. Prior to authorizing full-scale development, it will be necessary to provide for review by the Secretary of the Air Force the total 

program cost and fiscal year funding requirements resulting from 

negotiations of Engineering Development Phase (EDP) contracts. In 

implementing this directive, MOL SPO has issued pre-contract cost, 

letters to Douglas, General Electric, and McDonnell for the month of 

September limiting their effort to $4.0 million, $2.0 million and 

$1.789 million, respectively. Eastman Kodak was recently awarded a 

contract for the EDP, and TIII-M booster contractors are already on 

long lead development contracts. 

In order to provide contractual coverage to Douglas, General 

Electric and McDonnell for the above effort, amendments to Phase IC 

contracts will be negotiated to cover their interim efforts until 

Phase II contracts are approved. 

It is anticipated that 80% of the total program cost will 

have been negotiated by late October with the remaining 20% expected 

to be reasonably firm at that time. The 20% of the total program 

cost consists of 'approximately $137 million for the Aerojet and 

United Technology contracts and $180 million of deferred contract items 

on the Eastman Kodak, McDonnell, Douglas and General Electric contracts. 

DORIAN. 

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C. Congressional Activities 

August activities relative to Congress involved the submission of papers and answers to Congressional queries justifying 

FY 1967 additional funding requirements. Several discussions and 

briefings were held with Congressmen and staff members. On August 26, 

1966 SAF-SL was informed that a joint House-Senate conference had 

approved appropriation of $50 million in addition to the $150 million 

in the President's Budget. A box score of FY 1967 budget activities 

is shown below: 

AF Request $ 230.M 

President's Budget 150.M 

Reclama 80.M 

Additional Authorization 

(Armed Services Committees) 

House 80.M 

Senate 0.M 

Joint Conference 50.M 

Additional Appropriations 

(Appropriations Committees) 

House 0.M 

Senate 50.M 

Joint Conference 50.M 

D. EKC Contract 

The Phase II contract with Eastman Kodak Company was signed 

and became effective on August 1, 1966. Total negotiated contract 

value is $258,471,000 as compared to previous Systems Office estimate 

of $225,271,000. During August two solid mirror test blanks were 

delivered from Corning Glass on schedule. Delivery of the first 

light-weight mirror blank has been delayed approximately three and 

one-half weeks due to fabrication difficulties. However, the problem 

has been resolved, and this slip will not affect the overall EKC 

schedule. Construction of the new facility is proceeding on schedule 

with expected completion of March 10, 1967. 

III. CURRENT STATUS 

A. MOL Manpower 

The Director, MOL, in a memorandum for the Secretary of the 

Air Force dated July 5, 1966, requested the Secretary's assistance in 

obtaining additional manpower spaces to support the MOL Program. The 

manpower package received Lt General Friedman's (AFODC) approval. 

However, Dr. Finn Larsen (OSD, DDR&E) returned the manpower package 

to AFODC for further information. In a related action, the Director, 

MOL on August 29, 1966, requested immediate action by Headquarters 

AFSC (SCO) to allocate 54 MOL SPO spaces from Systems Command resources. 

Also, the Director, MOL on August 29, 1966, requested in a letter to 

Headquarters AFSC (SCP) that the MOL SPO be brought to 95% manning 

within the next 60 to 90 days. 

DORIAN , /IC °MTN 

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B. MOL Funds Status 

Obligation Authority issued during August 1966 to MOL 

activities totalled $6.0 million. The total of funds released 

against the MOL line item since program approval in August 1965 

is now approximately $114.0 million. The FY 66 carry-over balance 

held by the Director, MOL Program, is approximately $58 million as 

of August 31. 

C. NASA Detailees to MOL 

The request for NASA to identify potential applicants for 

5 positions in the Systems Office has been modified to place emphasis 

on a single high-level individual. Discussions have been initiated 

between the Systems Office and the NASA contact to identify a GS-15 

as Assistant to the Director of Engineering. This individual, when 

selected, will assist in assessing the need and NASA applicants for 

other positions in the Systems Office. 

.D. Manned/Unmanned Comparison Study 

The Manned/Unmanned Comparison Study was forwarded to DDR&E 

over Secretary of the Air Force's signature on August 26, 1966. 

E. Gemini HSQ 

Current planning indicates a capability to launch the Gemini 

Heat Shield Qualification (HSQ) flight on November 9, 1966. Delay in 

launching the recent TIII-C Vehicle #12 with a Comsat payload necessitated the HSQ slippage from October 26 to November 9 for preparation 

of the HSQ Titan Vehicle #9. Any further slippage of the launch date 

will create a significant cost to MOL for NASA-provided services. At 

the present time there is no indication that the failure experienced 

during the last TIII-C flight will in any way reduce confidence for 

the HSQ mission. However, planning is continuing for a repeat HSQ 

launch should the November 1966 mission fail for any reason to qualify 

the design. The MOL Program Office has requested that Titan III-C 

R&D Vehicle #16 be maintained available for this purpose until after 

the forthcoming HSQ launch, when final determination of its possible 

use will be made. 

DORIAN 

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F. Air Force Experiments for NASA S-IVB Orbital Workshop 

NASA has approved the development of the Airlock Module 

for the Orbital Workshop, previously named the S-IVB Workshop. During August, Air Force representatives met with NASA Manned Spacecraft Center personnel to discuss details of experiment integration. 

Work is continuing within the Air Force to obtain FY 1967 funding 

for the experiments. NASA plans a full review of the program at the 

next meeting of the Manned Space Flight Experiments Board on 

September 19. 

G. Titan III-M/MOL Support of NASA Apollo Applications 

Program (AAP) 

An initial set of questions relative to how TIII-M/MOL 

hardware might support the NASA AAP program was formally submitted 

by NASA to DDR&E on June 17, 1966. Answers to these questions were 

provided to NASA on July 12. Subsequently, on August 4 additional 

NASA technical questions were responded to. Currently, the MOL 

Systems Office is doing work to respond to further NASA questioning 

on rendezvous and mission duration extension possibilities. 

H. Recovery Operations 

Several plans to accomplish abort and end-of-mission 

recovery have been submitted that include ships, aircraft, and 

ships/aircraft mixes both with and without a down range aircraft 

staging base. With the data obtained from the Henderson Island 

Survey, these plans are being evaluated to determine the most suitable operational concept, and to define specifically if an island 

staging base is required. If the base is required, FY 68 military 

construction funds will be requested in order to complete construction prior to the first launch. 

I. Ocean Surveillance Program 

Subsequent to the Ocean Surveillance Program presentation 

to the MOL Policy Committee on July 13, 1966 the Navy has presented 

the proposed program to the DDR&E and has engaged directly in additional discussions with the DDR&E staff. To date, no approval for 

the Ocean Surveillance Program for MOL has been forthcoming. 

DORIAN 

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J. Electromagnetic Pointing System 

A Technical Development Plan and briefing descriptive 

of the EPS have been prepared. Dr. Flax has forwarded a letter 

to the Director, NSA making this information available in order 

to obtain the views of his staff regarding the value of such a 

system for intelligence analysis. Dr. Flax also approved briefings to other members of the intelligence community to obtain 

their views concerning the utility of such a system in the collection of intelligence information. 

K. Briefing to the Secretary of Defense 

On September 1, the Secretary of the Air Force was shown 

a tentative briefing to Mr. McNamara on MOL objectives and the 

unmanned study. The Secretary expressed the view that most of 

Mr. McNamara's questions had been answered in the recent written report 

transmitted to DDR&E and directed that prints of the viewgraphs with 

accompanying text be prepared for submission to Mr. McNamara. 

IV. FORECAST FOR FUTURE 

Program Approval for Full-Scale Engineering Development 

The Director, MOL Program will present to the Secretary of the 

Air Force by late October a review of the program cost resulting from 

completed negotiations of MOL associate contracts and estimates of 

costs for which negotiations are still in process or are deferred 

until late in FY 1967. 

V. DUE DATE FOR NEXT PROGRESS REPORT 

Next monthly MOL Progress Report to be submitted October 7, 1966. 

DORIAN 

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