1 _ 4 



HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



Representative Thomas Pelly Republican of Washington) took 

 the position, even though he finally voted for the bill, that "a great 

 many thinking people are questioning whether the projected date of 

 landing a man on the Moon could not be delayed to better advan- 

 tage.'' Pelly was one of the opposition Congressmen whom Teague 

 persuaded to visit Cape Canaveral, where Rocco Petrone took him in 

 hand Petrone quickly discovered that Pelly was upset because so 

 much of the space budget was being concentrated in Florida rather 

 than in the northwest or the Seattle area which he represented. So 

 Petrone made sure that Pelly rode up the elevator to the top of the 

 Vehicle Assembly Building, where he could see the huge crane marked 

 "Colby Crane Corp.," and Pelly knew immediately that there was a 

 hometown flavor to it. "Those cranes were built by the Colby Crane 

 Corp., and I happen to know they were built in Seattle," Petrone 

 explained. 



Miller and Teague effectively lined up their supporters for the final 

 vote, assisted by some strong statements by freshmen Congressmen. 

 For example, Representative Don Fuqua (Democrat of Florida) painted 

 the challenge of the future in these terms: 



Space is the challenge of our time. We stand on the threshhold of advancements 

 such .is the world has never seen. As Columbus charted new worlds, as the Wright 

 brothers ushered in a new era, so the American people today, united in a gigantic 

 effort, are charting new worlds of scientific advancement. 



When the roll was called, the members of the Science Committee all 

 returned to the reservation and voted for the bill. But some powerful 

 opposition reared its head for the first time. The chairman of the 

 Committee on Rules, Representative Howard Smith (Democrat of 

 Virginia) voted no, as did the Republican whip and former member 

 of the select committee which established NASA, Representative 

 Leslie Arends (Republican of Illinois). Nevertheless, theMiller-Teague 

 forces carried the day on August 1, 1963, by a majority of 335—57. 



JOINT U.S.-U.S.S.R. EXPEDITION TO THE MOON? 



Before the end of 1963, NASA got into some more funding 

 trouble on Capitol Hill as a result of President Kennedy's recommenda- 

 tion, in a September 20, 1963 address to the U.N. General Assembly, 

 that there should be United States-U.S.S.R. cooperation in space. 

 President Kennedy was more specific, advocating the possibility of a 

 "joint expedition to the Moon." The President asked: "Why should 

 the United States and the Soviet Union, in preparing such expeditions, 

 become involved in immense duplications of research, construction and 

 expenditures?" 



