GEMINI AND APOLLO 



16" 



Those few words certainly cleared the air, and from that moment forward, 

 Tiger Teague never wavered in his support for me or for the program. Those early days 

 couldn't have been easy for him, though, because I was proposing some major changes 

 in the way the manned space program was to be run. 



Dr. Mueller in 1963 proposed what he termed a "politically 

 explosive" reorganization which would take away the autonomy of 

 NASA's three operating centers at Huntsville, Cape Canaveral, and 

 Houston, being run by three very strong-minded individuals— 

 Wernher von Braun, Kurt Debus, and Robert Gilruth. Mueller sug- 

 gested to the committee that he proposed to centralize authority and 

 direct the program from above. He relates: 



I certainly couldn't predict how Wernher von Braun, Kurt Debus, and Robert 

 Gilruth would react to my reorganization plans, but it would have been naive not to 

 expect strong — and loud — opposition. 



When I told the committee what I planned to do, there was a long silence as 

 each Member considered the nasty situation which might develop. Finally, Tiger 

 broke the silence: " If that's what you think you have to do, go to it." 



BRIEFING CONGRESS ON THE SPACE PROGRAM 



High on Teague's personal priority list was his very strong 

 emphasis on providing other Members of Congress with information 

 on the value and importance of the space program. Not only were 

 Congressmen made aware of the contracts and dollars which were 

 pouring into their districts, but Teague also made sure that Members 

 were briefed on all the up-to-date details on the new plans and projects 

 which affected their areas. 



As Dr. Mueller indicated: 



The committee perceived that one of its primary functions was to provide 

 Congress with a window into the manned space program. This was no easy task 

 because the program was incredibly complex and involved the cutting edge of 

 technology * * *. 



Each year, just before congressional hearings, Teague and his subcommittee 

 would go on a fact finding trip. They would visit the operating centers and major 

 contractors throughout the country. It was a grueling trip, but it enabled Tiger to 

 find out where things stood and what was needed. The effort paid off, too; the com- 

 mittee had outstanding success in influencing Congress to vote for the needed appro- 

 priations. The appropriations proved to be reasonable, too. It must be remembered 

 the entire $26 billion manned space program was performed within the budget 

 originally set in 1961. 



Another facet of the education process which Chairman Teague 

 emphasized was to persuade Congressmen who were critical of the 

 space program to visit NASA installations, especially for the exciting 

 manned space flights. One of the sharpest critics of the NASA program 

 was Representative Ben Jensen (Republican of Iowa), a member of the 

 Thomas subcommittee which handled NASA appropriations. Tall, 

 blond-haired, inclined to be sarcastically cynical about almost every 



