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Mr. James E. Webb 

Administrator 

National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration 

Washington, D. C. - 20546 

Dear Jim: 

AUG 1965 

The draft of the Memorandum to the President on the MOL, 

revised in accordance with the plan agreed to at the Space 

Council meeting of July 9, is attached for your concurrence 

or comments. The documents referred to in the memorandum, 

namely the policy paper on public information and a proposed 

statement to the press, were sent to you earlier for your conside ration. 

I will appreciate your review of the enclosed memorandum as 

soon as is convenient. 

Sincerely yours, 

BY F - 56 -1G - 65 Ha

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own 

1 Enclosure 

cc: Dr. Robert C. Seamans 

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MEMORANuUM FOR THE PRESIDENT 

SUBJECT: Manned Orbiting Laboratory 

Your FY 1966 budget request to Congress included, and the Congress 

is in the process of appropriating, $150 million for the Manned 

Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), which was initiated in December of 1963 

when the DYNASOAR Program was terminated. When these funds were 

budgeted in December of 1964, I indicated that I would defer their 

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

program, then underway, were satisfactorily completed. 

These studies have now been completed. Based upon a thorough 

review of the conclusions I recommend the following: 

1. Approval of the MOIL 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 begin the full-scale development. 

I plan to request $330 million for the support of the program in 

Fiscal Year 1967, plus about $70 million for the related manned and 

unmanned optical development. 

2. That the MOL program proceed toward the following 

objectives: 

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

photographs of resolutions of significant targets. 

This is approximately 

graphy we are now obtaining, and approximately better than 

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better than the best satellite photo- 
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the best expected U-2 photographs or the G3 satellite system, now 

under development, from which we expect photographs in about 15 months. 

b. Development of high-resolution optical technology 

and systems for either manned or unmanned use. This technology will 

provide the resolution for manned operation of MOL, 

and be aimed at ultimately even better resolution 

It will also be aimed at bringing unmanned capabilities closer to 

those of a manned system. A parallel development of camera and spacecraft systems for unmanned operation will be 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 established. 

d. Provide an experimental program for determination of 

man's utility in assembling large structures, and in adjusting, maintaining and processing the output from complex military equipment in 

space. 

3. That the MOL 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 in the 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 concurred in by 

, is attached. 

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

to ensure that the public information programs associated with MOL 

are kept modest and low key and that the publicly announced mission 

of the MOL continues to be expressed solely as "the investigation and 

development of orbital capabilities, manned and unmanned, 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 development program of six launchings, one 

unmanned and five manned. The first manned launching would take 

place late in Calendar 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 manned and a parallel unmanned 

capability. 

The payload vehicle for these launchings consists of the basic 

two-man MOL module and the GEMINI B recovery capsule which has figured 

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

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

booster. Some ETR launches may also be included. Orbital operations 

of 30 days' duration are planned. 

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The primary emphasis in the six-flight program will be placed on 

the development, demonstration and use of optical reconnaissance 

systems of very high resolution, including a manned system producing 

resolutions of on the ground. 

The Director of Central Intelligence indicates "It is in the 

interest of the U.S. to obtain the highest resolution of photographic coverage feasible over those areas of intelligence interest 

designated by USIB, provided that such highest resolution will of 

course have to be weighed against the relative factors of cost, time, 

and relative importance of intelligence which could be obtained in 

an optimum balance of these considerations." 

I believe that there is a vital national 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, for high resolution photography of tactical objectives. Closely related to these applications 

is the potential use of high resolution photography 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 to acquire pictures having 

the detail and 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 may be important to accomplish these same ends 

without the provocation of visible overflights. 

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If we had resolution capability today, it would be of 

great value in assessing such problems.as the hardness of Soviet 

missile silos and the nature of various possible 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. Estimation of the use and capability of Chinese plants 

that may be employed for nuclear weapons production. 

c. Assessment of Chinese (as well as other countries) 

development of weapons delivery capability by detailed examination 

of missile and aircraft plants and rocket engine test activity. 

I expect the six-flight program to give us 

a. Operational intelligence collection at 

resolution 

b. Knowledge of the nature and value of critical contributions 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 designs for systems which, 

if manned, can give resolution better than 

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As a result of our studies, which have included comparative 

examination of manned and unmanned systeks, I am convinced that 

development of a manned system can reach the high-performance goals 

sooner and with a higher probability of initial success than a 

development based on an unmanned configuration. 

The presence of a man in the spacecraft will contribute accuracy 

to pointing and tracking of objects for observation, will improve 

selection and transmission of data, simplify film handling and 

improve camera adjustment and maintenance. Our studies indicate that 

these practical contributions have as good probability of improving 

resolution, reliability, and limitability of the data enough to justify 

the increased cost in vehicle weight and safety requirements of having 

a man there. 

Dr. Hornig has recommended that we proceed in parallel with the 

development of a back-up system, unmanned but fitting the same spacecraft design with a performance goal of under best conditions. This we concur in. The program will carry in parallel a 

similar optical system for unmanned use, using the same booster and 

similar spacecraft, with equipment added for unmanned operation. It 

may well be that during the course of the experimental efforts, which 

will use and greatly profit from manned flight operation, techniques 

will be devised which will allow unmanned operations, with modified 

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sensors and control mechanisms, of similar performance and comparable 

cost-effectiveness. This parallel development will also provide a 

useful backup in case international political problems jeopardize 

manned operation. 

The Director of the Bureau of the Budget believes that the 

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

system by $800 million dollars. He questions whether the value of 

the additional resolution 

is worth the additional costs and the possible international political 

risks. He believes that unmanned systems can approach the capabilities of manned, given enough time and effort, and recommends 

proceeding with the development of an unmanned system only at this time. 

However, our studies indicate: 

a. That the difference in cost of developing a high resolution 

unmanned system and a manned system that should produce results probably lies 

between $300 and $400 million. The difference in cost per flight 

test is compensated by the larger number of flight tests needed to 

prove out an unmanned system. 

b. That there is no design for an unmanned system which could 

provide the same resolution as, and thus be directly competitive with, 

the manned system. 

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c. That in the practical situations that are likely to occur 

in flight, the quality achievable with the manned system adjusted in 

flight by a skilled operator is likely to be better than 

the photograph taken by the unmanned system at the perspective 

(obliquity) necessary for good technical use. 

d. That the number of high resolution flights required to 

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

substantially less for the manned approach. This difference in 

productivity is a result of the capability of the man to select 

targets of highest interest, select alternate targets in case of cloud 

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

motion to improve quality and take repeated photographs of areas 

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

difference in number of flights could be expected to pay for the 

difference in development costs in about 20 operational flights of the 

manned system (2 or 3 years). 

Finally, we can reconsider this matter after the FY 1966 - 67 

program has been carried out and if such a decision appears indicated, 

shift to the unmanned program which will be carried in parallel. 

The amount of risk involved is about $150 million dollars. 

The plan for MOL as proposed by the Department of Defense is 

specifically to meet defense needs. Provision has been made for 

including experiments and technology of special relevance to certain 

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military needs other than reconnaissance. Preliminary study has 

been made to determine what general scientific needs could be 

included. On the basis of further DOD-NASA cooperative studies NASA 

will determine which of its scientific or general technological 

experiments should be carried out using the MOL capability on the 

basis of non-interference with defense priority objectives. 

Nay judgment is that we should now proceed to acquire the benefits 

of an experimental manned system. I believe that the combination 

of the specific manned reconnaissance development, which I believe 

fills a national need for photography resolution, 

and the other more general purposes discussed above is worth the 

cost of the development and semi-operational launches. I request 

your approval of this program. 

Robert S. McNamara 

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