SSRT ROLLOUT                  Speech Delivered by Col. Simon P. Worden,                      The Deputy for Technology, SDIO                                                        Mcdonnell Douglas - Huntington Beach                               April 3,1993       Most of you, as am I, are "children of the 1960's."  We grew up in an age of miracles -- Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles, nuclear energy, computers, flights to the moon.  But these were miracles of our parent's doing.  For a decade and more the pundits have told us - "you've lost it!"  The "me" generation is only living on the accomplishments of the past.       You and I have even begun to believe the pessimists.  We listen in awe as the past generation tells of its triumphs.  Living history they are.  We are privileged to hear those who did it tell of it.  A few weeks ago some of this very team listened in awe as General Bernie Schriever told of his team's work - and yes struggle - to build this nation's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.       What stories can we tell?  Blurry-eyed telescopes?  Thousand dollar toilet seats?  Even our space launch vehicles hearken only of that past great time.  They are and seem destined to remain Gen. Schriever's ICBMs.  I find it hard to swell with pride that the best new space-lifter idea is to refurbish old Minuteman and Poseidon ballistic missiles.       Well - The pessimists are wrong.  The legacy is continuing.  This event is proof.  To our technological parents: We've listened to your stories.  We've caught your enthusiasm and can-do spirit.  And we've learned from your achievements - and your mistakes.  Let me honor one of you who was part of that history and the impetus behind this history - Max Hunter.  You are one of the greatest engineers of the firts great age of space exploration.  Your insight and discipline built the Thor ICBM - later incorporated into today's most successful launch vehicle - The Delta.       You told us in the 60's that a new form of launch vehicle - a single stage reusable rocket - can and should be built.  You advocated this idea tirelessly.  It was elegantly simple, as are all great breakthroughs.  You showed us how to build it.  You convinced us it could be done.  You are working by our side to weld its components into place.  Most important - you reminded us of a prime engineering principle - undoubtably one you learned from the generation before you - the generation that built transcontinental aviation in the 1920's and 30's - build a little and test a little and Max, you passed all of this on  to people like Pat Ladner who started this program for the SDI.       Douglas Aircraft didn't start with a DC-10.  They didn't even start with a DC-3.  Our grandfathers built a little, tested a little - even sold a little and made a little money - before they moved on to the next step.  They didn't take a decade or more before putting the first "rubber on the road."  Max Hunter - you didn't take ten years to build Thor, and by God we're not going to take ten years to show that low cost, single stage, reusable aerospace transportation is real.       We ended the cold war in a few short years.  It took the  same team here today but a few years to show through the Strategic Defense Initiative that the cold war must end.  We - you and us - launched a series of satellites - The Delta experiments - in about a year apiece.  This, more than anything else signaled our commitment to end the impasse between ourselves and the Soviet Union.  Those who made the decisions on both sides have underscored the importance of our work in bringing about a new international relationship.       But it is the same team which is now  putting in place the framework for an aerospace expansion that is our legacy for the next generation.  We will make space access routine and affordable.       We built this magnificent flying machine in two years.  This summer a true rocket ship will take off and land on earth for the first time.  Then we can and surely will build in the next three years a reusable sub-orbital rocket.  It will allow us to use space rapidly, affordably, and efficiently as no other nation can.  And yes - we'll make a little money off it too!       Then - and only then - we'll spend another three years to build a fully reusable single stage to orbit system.  The DC-3 of space will be a reality!  We may even be able to use some of the rocket propulsion breakthroughs of our former cold war adversaries.  What a wonderful irony if this SDI product and Russian efforts to counter SDI merge to power mankind's next step to the stars!       To be sure, we must guard against the temptations to leap to the final answer.  Robert Goddard's first rockets weren't Saturn V's!  If we succumb  to the temptation to ask  for just a few extra dollars and a few more years to jump immediately to a full orbital system - we will fail.  Max Hunter and his colleagues showed the way.  Three years and a cloud of dust - in our case rocket exhausts.  There is no short-cut.  If we expect to reshape the world again - we must do it one brick at a time.  Minds on tasks at hand!