PA:62 E, WORTHMAN. 

Colonel, USAF 

Attachment 

BYE -5661-65 

(Cy 2 Ser 

The attached draft of a memorandum to the President on the 

MOL Project was prepared by .Dr. Hall and sent to Dr. McMillan 

for coordination on 10 August 1965. 

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Policy: MOL 

12 August 1965 

MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD 

SUBJECT: Memorandum to the President (MOL) 
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These studies have now been completed. Based upon .a thorough 

review of the conclusions I recommend the 'oLowing: 

1. Approval of the MOL for full-scale development to begin 

during FY 1966. The release of the $150 M in the FY 66 budget and the 

initiation of contract definition will beg in the full-scale development.-- 

plan to request $330 million.for the support, of the progran in 

Fiscal Year 1967, plus about $70 Million fcr the related manned and 

=manned optical development. 

2. That the MOL program proceed toward the following 

objectives: 

Ema-zuzuw.l FOR THE PRESIDENT 

SUBECT: Manned Orbiting Laboratory 

Your FY 1966 budget request to Congress Lcludedl -and the Congress 

is in the process of appropriating, $150 mLllion for the Manned. 

Orbiting :Laboratory (Ka), which was initiLted in • December of 1963* 

when the DYYASOAR Program was terminated. When these funds were 

budgeted in December of 1961,,, I indicated tkaI would defer their 

release until such time as the studies of the nature and value of the 

.prograrr.„ then underway, were satisfactorilr completed. 

a. Semi-operational use beginning in late 1968 to secure 

photographs of 

This is approximately 

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resolutions of significant targets. 

better than. the best satellite photobetter-phan 

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we are now obtaining, and_approximatelv 

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the best expected U-2 photographs or the G:; satellite system, now 

under development from which we expect phc.tographs in about 15 months. 

b. Development of high-resoluLion optical technology 

and systems for either manned or unmpnned Lse This technology will 

provide the ■ resolution for manned operation of MOL, 

and. be aimed at ultimately even better resclution 

It will also be aimed at bringing unmanned capabilities closer to 

those of a manned system. A parallel deveaopment of camera and spacecraft systems for unmanned operation will to carried on. 

c. Provide a facility for the development, test and use 

of other potential military, applications such as SIGINT collection, 

radar observation and ocean surveillance, as the utility and feasibility of such applications become establisned. 

d. Provide an experimental program.for determination of 

man's utility in assembling large structures, and in adjusting, main 

taining and processing the output from complex military equipment in 

space. 

3. That the. HOL program be operated within the guidelines 

of our existing national policy and within -.the carefully-ordered 

security environment which already exists for military space programS. 

This environment helps to avoid. provocation Inthe international arena, 

and to forestall initiation of international action that might preVent 

the United States from using satellites,for reconnaissance. A paper 

discussing the policy in this respect concu2red in' by 

A

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4. To support this objective, thzt we maintain a firm position 

to ensure that the public information prog.rams associated with MOL 

are kept modest and low key and that -the rub:icly announced miscion 

of the MOL continues to be expressed sole2 y .a "the investigation and 

development of orbital capabilities, manned and unianned„ associated 

with national defense." A press release is attached. 

I have the concurrence of 

 on the above recomMendations. I have not 

sought or received concurrence on the -- parts of the paper other than 

the recommendations. 

I am proposing a develo-oment program of six launchings, one 

unmanned and five manned. The first manne-i launching would take 

place late in CalendPr Year 1968, and the last early in 1970. The 

total cost for this program is now estimated at $1.5 billion, including 

the optical sensor programs, for both a mamed and a parallel iirmannedi. 

capability. 

• The payload vehicle for these launchings consists of the basic 

two-man YOL module and the GEMINI B recove-7 capsule which has figured 

in previous Department of Defense studies. It is proposed to launch 

into polar orbits from the Western Test Rage, using the TITAN IIIC 

booster. Some ETR launches may alSoloe included. -Orbital operations 

of 30 days' duration '-are planned. 

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e primaf:7 emphasis in the six-flight 7ro•vram will be .placed on 

the development demonstration and uSe of o:)tic;a1 reconnaissance 

systems of very high resolution, including :L manned system producing 

resolutions of on the ground. 

The-Director of Central Intelligence incacates'"It is in the 

interest of the M. to obtain. the highest'esolution of photographic coverage feasible over those areas of Intelligence interest 

designated by USIB, provided that such highc.st resolution will. of 

course have to be tsighed against -the relatf.ve factors of cost, tite, 

and relative importanze of intelligence which could be obtained in 

an optimum balance of these considerations." 

I believe that there is a vital nationa: need for reconnaissance 

photography at a resolution of The first and 

obvious need is for technical intelligence. There is also a clear 

need, particularly during times of crisis, .or high resolutionphotography of tactical objectives. Closely relEtedto'these applications 

is the potential use of high resolution p_hotograp1 to assist in the 

policing of arms control agreements. 

You will remember that in the crisis of. 1962 we exerted our 

reconnaissance capabilities to the utmost tc acquire pictures having 

the detail ana the credibility that were necessary to verify and to 

convince others of the nature of the military. activity in Cuba. In 
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Other Situations, it maybe important to. accomplish these same ends 

without the provocation of visible .overfligh:s. 

if we had_resolution capabiliV today„ it would be of 

great value in assessing such problems .as tho of Soviet 

missile silos and the %I-tura of various Poss:.ble Soviet anti missile 

deployments. Examples of its use in the future are 

a. Estimation of the operating depth for which Soviet 

and Chinese submarines are designed. • 

b. tstimation'of the use and canabLity of Chinese plants 

that may be employed for nuclear weapons procuction. 

c. Assessment of Chinese (as well ac. ovler countries) 

development of weapons delivery capability by detailed examinatioh 

of missile and aircraft plants and rocket engine test activity. 

T expect the six-flight program to give us 

a. Operational intelligence collection at 

resolution or better. 

b. Knowledge of the nature aad value of critical C=t05.-- 

butions of man to photographic reconnaissance and to other militaryrelated space missions; and of the specific differences, in an 

engineering sense, between manned and unmanned systems of large size 

and very high resolution. 

c. The optical technology and deSignsfor systems which, 

if manned, can give resolution, 

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examination of manned and unmanned sys.c,ems, am convinced that 

develontent of a back-,up system unManned :1 ut fitting :the same spacecraft desi _with a performance goal of under best con 

will be.devised which will allow unMPnnedcperatiaas with modified 

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As a result of CUT studLes„ whichhave in3luded_ comparative 

develoyment of a.nanned system can reaCh the higherfol-mance 

sooner and with a-higher prObability of intial success than a 

develoriment based on an unnlannedconfiTaraion. 

The presence of a III= in the spacecraf, contribute accuracy 

to pointing and trackiag of objects for ob„erration, will improve 

selection and transmission of. dila, simpiLy filn 'handling and 

imDrove camera adjustment and maintenance. Our studies indic-te that, 

these practical contr'butions have as good probability. of improving 

resolution; reliability, and Useability of the data enough to justify 

tune increased cost in vehicle weight and ,safety requirementS of haVing. 

Dr. Hornig has recommended that We prOceed in "parallelwith the 

ditions. This we concur in. The prograMT12I carr'finparallel 

similar optical system for unmanned use, uvl-ag the Sams booster and 

similar spacecraft, with eouipment added fcr unmanned operation. 

may well be that during the course of the e xlx; r imDzia. efforts; which 

wi iii use and greatly profit from manned gh:-, operation, tichnicues 

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sensvzs control rilschi,,e.i.a.:Ls, of :erforaance and comnarable 

cost-effectiveness. This parallel developmzIt will-also provide a 

useul backup in case inte=atonal politica problems jeopardize 

manned operation. 

The Director of the Bureau oy the Budge believes that the 

development cost of the manned system will emceed that of an unmanned 

system by 8C'JO million dol1P-,s. He queetio :ðer the value of 

the additional resolution nannei vs. unmanned) 

is worth the additional costs and the possilLe international political 

risks.. He believes that urrnned systems CL.n approach the capabilities of manned, given onotgh time: and e:fwt and recommends 

proceeding with the developrient of an unnamed syste_a only at this time. 

However, cur studies indicate: 

n. That the difference in cost of de/eloping a high resolution 

unmanned system and a mannec 7:stem that should produce results of good. resolution probably lies 

between $330 and $400 nillicn. The differerce in cost per flight 

test is compensated by the larger number of 21...e-A tests needed to 

prove out an unmanned system. 

b. That there is rz design for an unEanned system which could 

provide the same resolution 2.s, and thus be directly competitive with, 

the manned systea. • 

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c. That Li. the practical sit:Latin-Ls that are likely to occur 

• L- flight, the quality achievable with the mamaed system .adjusted in 

• flight by a•skIlled operator is likeb.to ..)e• better than 

the photograph taken by the unmanned sYstaz at the perspective 

(obliquity) necessary for good technical "die:. 

d. That the number of high resolzticn flights required to 

obtain coverage of given areas, even at th3 resolution, is 

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substant~ ally less gor tl-e as.rned. s.,..ppl-oa.ch., This difference in 

productivity is a result o2 the carJability of the man to select 

targets oZ highest fi.nterest, select altera:te targets in case of cloud 

coverage, center targets in the field of ei, adjust for relative 

• motion to improve quality and take repeateC_ pllotocraphs of areas 

where interest is very high (erected nisi e, for example). The 

difference in number of flights could be eroected c.o pay for the 

difference in develoPment costs in about 2C operational flights of the 

manned system (2 or 3 years). 

Fialiy, Tde can reconsider this matter a2-‘er the FY 1966 - 67 

program has been carried out and. if' such a c..lecision appears indicated, 

shift to the unmanned program which will bE caried in parallel.' 

The arnalamt of risk involved'. is about $150 rillion dollars. 

re plan for NAL as proposed by ,the Department, of Defense is 

specifically to meet defense needs. ProviEicn has been made for 

including experiments and technology of special relevance to certain:_ 
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m!rtary needs other than reconnaissance. reLiminary study has 

been made to determine what general scientifLc needs could be 

included. On the basis of further DoIlt-ELSA cooperative studies NAPA 

will determine which of its scientific ox, genelal tochnological 

experiments should be carried out using the capability O'1 the 

basis of non-interference with defense priwItydbjectives. 

nay judgaent is that we should now poceed to acquire the benefits 

(of an emperimentallma=ed system. I believe that the combination 

of the specific manned reconnaissance develoment., which 1 believe 

fills a natiaasaneed:for photography at 

and the other more general purposes discussed above is 

cost of the development and seri-operational launches. 

• your approval of this provan. 

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