270 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



with outlining future goals, asked Teague for his views, Teague 

 responded: 



I know of one major contribution that can be made. That is the development of 

 space vehicles that can be used repeatedly, with basic characteristics in common with 

 transport aircraft. In view of the potential in this area, I believe the reusable space 

 transport should stand very high on our list of priorities. 



It was not a new idea for Teague. As early as 1966, in a report of 

 the Subcommittee on NASA Oversight which he chaired, entitled 

 "Future National Space Objectives," Teague had included this 

 recommendation: 



Immediate planning for a new generation of spacecraft capable of recovery at 

 low cost and which are ground recoverable is a requisite to attaining lower total 

 mission cost. 



SPACE TASK GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS 



The Space Task Group, chaired by the Vice President, included 

 Dr. Lee A. DuBridge, Science Adviser to the President; NASA Admin- 

 istrator Thomas O. Paine; and Secretary of the Air Force and former 

 NASA Deputy Administrator Robert C. Seamans, Jr. Reporting to 

 the President in September 1969, the Space Task Group presented a 

 smorgasbord of manned and unmanned space projects, with a series 

 of options which virtually afforded the opportunity to move in almost 

 any direction at varying speeds. Throwing in everything but the 

 kitchen sink, the Space Task Group did mention that through con- 

 centrated effort, a manned mission to Mars would be possible by 1981. 



Without congressional or public support for such a mission, 

 the Mars project appeared doomed. Some committee members, notably 

 Representative Thomas N. Downing (Democrat of Virginia) mentioned 

 that if the unmanned probes to Mars confirmed the possible existence 

 of life on the red planet, "then it was an entirely new ball game" and 

 a manned mission would receive strong support. As no such evidence 

 developed, congressional support for a manned Mars mission collapsed 

 and attention was directed toward other areas. 



The Space Task Group included among its multiple recommenda- 

 tions "a reusable chemically fueled shuttle operating between the 

 surface of the Earth and low earth orbit in an airline-type mode." 

 Other optimistic suggestions for "a space tug, or vehicle for moving 

 men and equipment to different earth orbits", plus a 6-12-man "space 

 station" and 50-100 man "space base" were recommended but never 

 fully implemented because of budgetary considerations. 



