Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-04-03
Organizing for Space

The President now has placed be-
fore Congress an impressive and much
needed plan for organizing and admin
istering, on high-priority basis, IAN
imaginative and well-conceived space
program" Not the least of the plans
virtues is that it would establish civilian
control over all our country's projects
In this field, excepting only those "pecu-
liar to or primarily associated with"
weapons systems and military opera
tionS.
AS recommended by the President,
this control would be exercised through
great new Federal body to be called
the National AeronauticS and Space
Agency. Comparable in authority to the
Atomic Energy Commission, the NASA
would absorb the existing National Ad-
viSory Committee for Aeronautics, and
it would carry on and vastly expand all
the committees current work 1t would
do so with a far-reaching program
aimed at such detectives as ~ increas-
ing human knowledge, (2) improving
aircraft, (3) developing vehicles for ex-
ploration in the universe around us, az
maintaining Americas role as a leader
in aviation and spatial ventures, (5)
promoting cooperation with other ma
tions engaged in the same sort of ac-
tivitieS, and (6) assuring the most effec-
tive utilization of our scientific resources
in these undertakings.
In urging that all this, and more
6a fnk ~
tary arm of the Government, the Presi-
dent has cogently explained that civilian
control is especially desirable in order
to get the fullest cooperation from the
scientific community at home and
abroad, and also to emphasize our coun-
try'S concern that outer-Space develop
ments be devoted to peaceful purposes
serving the well-being of peoples every
where. He has made clear, however,
that the new agency-just as the NACA
has been doing-would, as part Of its
day-by-day operations, maintain close
liaison with the Pentagon and conduct
research of Importance to our national
security in the regions far above us. AS
for the Defense Department, 1t would
be fully represented on the NASAs spe-
cial advisory board, and itswould con-
tinue to be responsible for the develop
ment of satellites, rockets and kindred
equipment having direct military sig
nif1cance.
OF course. as in other areas Of scien-
tiflc and chronological progress, develop
ments in space can have both military
and peaceful applications Simultaneous
ly, and so 1t is not completely simple
thing to determine what undertakings
In this field should be transferred from
the Defense Department to the proposed
new agency. But the problem is al
ready under review, and by the time the
NASA comes into being there should
be no great difficulty in deciding which
projects should be handed over to it
and which left under the Pentagon's
direction. Meanwhile, as the President
has said, work must go forward-with-
out any loss Of momentum-on all
phases of our country's present interim
program. This includes the satellite
launchings, the lunar probes" and
similar ventures now being planned by
the Army, Navy and Air Force.
In all probability, as 1t completes
It's passage through committee hearings,
the, Presidents plan will undergo some
notifications. However, since its SUBJ
stance seems so sound, it commends it
self to Congress for favorable vote at
the earliest possible date Certainly,
the sooner we have such action, the bet
ter prepared our country will be for an
efiicient and orderly advance upward
and outward on a timetable that will
make us power second to none in
space.