26 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



and the provision was reworded to require authorizing legislation 

 only for the period until June 30, I960. Ford thundered: 



It is my opinion that this one-year trial run will prove the unsoundness of fol- 

 lowing the Senate position. 



Keating chimed in: "I am sure it will." The chairman of the Committee 

 on Appropriations, Representative Clarence Cannon (Democrat of 

 Missouri) concluded, "The effect of it is to leave the whole matter for 

 the next Congress." 



With very little fanfare, it might be noted, Congress in 1959 

 quickly reintroduced the requirement for annual NASA authorizations 

 and the measure went through with no objection. But just as Lyndon 

 Johnson consistently and effectively supported the space program 

 from the very start, and furnished strong executive leadership as 

 President, so it must be noted he furnished the House Committee on 

 Science and Astronautics with one of its most powerful weapons for 

 effective oversight. 



REPORTS OF THE HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE 



By year's end in 1958, the House select committee had turned out 

 an impressive series of detailed studies and reports which received 

 wide and favorable recognition. Perhaps the most popular was the 

 space primer, entitled "Space Handbook: Astronautics and Its Appli- 

 cations," prepared by the Rand Corp. in accordance with policy 

 guidance and with the editorial assistance of the committee staff. 

 The Space Handbook with illustrations was a 252-page product 

 which covered space environment, trajectories and orbits, rocket 

 vehicles, propulsion systems, propellants, internal power sources, 

 structures and materials, flight path and orientation control, guid- 

 ance, communication, observation and tracking, atmospheric flight, 

 landing and recovery, environment of manned systems, space stations 

 and extraterrestrial bases, nuclear weapons effects in space, cost factors 

 and ground facilities, observation satellites, meteorological and navi- 

 gation satellites, balloon satellites, bombing from satellites, scientific 

 space exploration, and astronautics in the U.S.S.R. and other coun- 

 tries. The handbook was so popular it was reprinted in paperback. 



One of the earliest publications of the select committee was "The 

 National Space Program," a 236-page document in layman's language 

 which was published May 21, 1958, and was written primarily by 

 Frank B. Gibney, a committee consultant. 



Among other studies and reports completed by the select com- 

 mittee were the following: 



International Cooperation in the Exploration of Space. 



Survey of Space Law. 



The International Geophysical Year and Space Research. 



