Delta Force
Banned
NASA's official history states that some proposed using an existing government agency as the basis for the space program. In addition to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which was already spending 50% of its budget on space activities, there were also proposals for basing the program out of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), National Science Foundation (NSF), or one of the military space programs, especially the Army and Air Force programs.
It doesn't seem NACA would be that different from NASA as it is almost the predecessor agency, so what about basing it out of the AEC or NSF? Both of those agencies could be quite interesting choices given their involvement in other research activities.
The AEC was working on nuclear rocket engines for both military and civilian use in the late 1950s, and the Soviet Union announced a nuclear testing moratorium in March 1958, shortly before the legislation creating NASA was approved. The AEC had to come up with various ways to keep their scientists occupied during the halt in nuclear testing, and a space program could be a good way to do that. The AEC was also interested in atmospheric science and the environment for studying the effects of nuclear tests and radiation, so they would be a major consumer of any atmospheric data created. The AEC was also responsible for the manufacture, design, and ownership (all nuclear weapons were owned by the AEC/now DoE and leased to the Department of Defense) of all nuclear weapons, so assigning it responsibility for their deployment systems would help with integration as well (especially since nuclear powered rockets were thought to be the future). The AEC also had a strong engineering focus and was doing a good job with the nuclear weapons and power programs.
The National Science Foundation was of course interested in basic science and worked on and collaborated with the Atomic Energy Commission on many issues. It could be a lead agency for probes and scientific expertise for research and other programs.
Then of course the military programs already had rockets and plans for space. Maybe they could be a lead agency due to their strength in that area?
It doesn't seem NACA would be that different from NASA as it is almost the predecessor agency, so what about basing it out of the AEC or NSF? Both of those agencies could be quite interesting choices given their involvement in other research activities.
The AEC was working on nuclear rocket engines for both military and civilian use in the late 1950s, and the Soviet Union announced a nuclear testing moratorium in March 1958, shortly before the legislation creating NASA was approved. The AEC had to come up with various ways to keep their scientists occupied during the halt in nuclear testing, and a space program could be a good way to do that. The AEC was also interested in atmospheric science and the environment for studying the effects of nuclear tests and radiation, so they would be a major consumer of any atmospheric data created. The AEC was also responsible for the manufacture, design, and ownership (all nuclear weapons were owned by the AEC/now DoE and leased to the Department of Defense) of all nuclear weapons, so assigning it responsibility for their deployment systems would help with integration as well (especially since nuclear powered rockets were thought to be the future). The AEC also had a strong engineering focus and was doing a good job with the nuclear weapons and power programs.
The National Science Foundation was of course interested in basic science and worked on and collaborated with the Atomic Energy Commission on many issues. It could be a lead agency for probes and scientific expertise for research and other programs.
Then of course the military programs already had rockets and plans for space. Maybe they could be a lead agency due to their strength in that area?
