Power to Explore #1
"It's too damn expensive, we can't do that!"
- JFK, on reading LBJ's memo recommending a moon landing
Kennedy was not trilled with his options. After the Russians first beat the US
into space, and then humiliated his counter-revolution in Cuba, things were
not looking good. He need some way to push back, but the best that Johnson
could come up with was to suggest landing on the Moon! Space seemed the way,
but there had to be something cheaper.
Seeking alternatives, Kennedy had Johnson create a committee to propose
cheaper options for beating the Soviets. After a month of work, their results
were presented to the President in June 1961. The committee laid out three
goals for the end of the decade:
* 6-man space station
* Piloted recoverable rocket with Atlas-class performance
* Nuclear rocket with 80,000 lbs thrust
Saturn III (formerly C-3) will launch space station in 1967, and could launch
a full lunar landing mission with the help of the nuclear rocket engine. Crews
will reach the station with Apollo vehicles launched on Saturn I (C-1). The
recoverable rocket, XSLV-6, is a joint project with USAF, and will be used to
support the Dyna-Soar program*.
The estimated cost of these three goals was considered to be a tenth of the
proposed moon landing, but would develop all the technologies needed to
perform that landing. In addition, the committee was assured by Intelligence
that all three fields were areas the US could beat the USSR.
Kennedy accepted their proposals, and a week later announced them at a press
conference at the White House.
*Actually, it's to support KH-8 spysats, but Dyna-Soar is good cover.
"It's too damn expensive, we can't do that!"
- JFK, on reading LBJ's memo recommending a moon landing
Kennedy was not trilled with his options. After the Russians first beat the US
into space, and then humiliated his counter-revolution in Cuba, things were
not looking good. He need some way to push back, but the best that Johnson
could come up with was to suggest landing on the Moon! Space seemed the way,
but there had to be something cheaper.
Seeking alternatives, Kennedy had Johnson create a committee to propose
cheaper options for beating the Soviets. After a month of work, their results
were presented to the President in June 1961. The committee laid out three
goals for the end of the decade:
* 6-man space station
* Piloted recoverable rocket with Atlas-class performance
* Nuclear rocket with 80,000 lbs thrust
Saturn III (formerly C-3) will launch space station in 1967, and could launch
a full lunar landing mission with the help of the nuclear rocket engine. Crews
will reach the station with Apollo vehicles launched on Saturn I (C-1). The
recoverable rocket, XSLV-6, is a joint project with USAF, and will be used to
support the Dyna-Soar program*.
The estimated cost of these three goals was considered to be a tenth of the
proposed moon landing, but would develop all the technologies needed to
perform that landing. In addition, the committee was assured by Intelligence
that all three fields were areas the US could beat the USSR.
Kennedy accepted their proposals, and a week later announced them at a press
conference at the White House.
*Actually, it's to support KH-8 spysats, but Dyna-Soar is good cover.