214 HISTORY OF Till < OMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



really getting their money's worth in effective and efficient administra- 

 tion. These oversight investigations were carried on independent of 

 the authorization hearings. Oversight investigations of Project 

 Ranger (an instrumented, hard-landing probe to the Moon), Surveyor 

 (soft landing spacecraft to the Moon, with lunar experiments) and 

 Advent (military communications satellite) were successfully com- 

 pleted under Karth's leadership. Other early investigations by the 

 Karth Subcommittee of Projects Centaur (launch vehicle) and Anna 

 (geodetic satellite) are discussed in chapter IV. 



One of the most nagging and difficult problems which the Karth 

 subcommittee faced was how to justify spending some of the lim- 

 ited funds when vou couldn't see the end result. Karth described 

 it graphically this way: 



Our scientific and technological developments which we take tor granted today 

 have their roots deep in the basic research of yesterday. I do not care if it is the auto- 

 mobile or the airplane or the telephone or the radio or TV * * * first came the 

 tedious, expensive and unglamorous basic research which provided the technological 

 breakthroughs. 



On the other hand, there were some instances beyond the intangi- 

 bles of basic research, where the subcommittee had to judge whether 

 research was necessary for a mission which had not yet been clearly 

 pinpointed for the future. A case in point was the following discussion 

 in an executive session on May 23, 1963, on the feasibility of study- 

 ing how to cope with the extreme heat of reentering the Earth's 

 atmosphere: 



Mr. Chenoweth. What is going to be the speed of the Gemini? 



Dr. Bisplinghoff. (Dr. Raymond Bisplinghoff, NASA Director of Advanced 

 Research and Technology.) 25,000 feet per second. 



Mr. Chenoweth. Now the Apollo is going to be how much? 



Dr. Bisplinghoff. It will be about 36,000 feet per second. 



Mr. Chenoweth. You could go ahead with the Apollo now? 



Dr. Bisplinghoff. Yes. 



Mr. Chenoweth. I don't understand why you need this program. 



Dr. Bisplinghoff. We need this program to develop the knowledge beyond the 

 Apollo speed. 



Mr. Chenoweth. If you were sitting in our places, do you think you'd be justi- 

 fied in voting for something problematical and something in the future that may never 

 come to pass? 



Dr. Bisplinghoff. Yes, sir, I do. I think we should invest a small part of our 

 resources into looking in the future. * * * If we come to 1970, and you ask us to re- 

 enter from one of these planets, and we have not done (the research), we are going to 

 be in a bad way. 



Mr. Chenoweth. You think there would be any great jeopardy in postponing 

 this one year? 



Dr. Bisplinghoff. Our movement toward preeminence in space would be 

 jeopardized 



Mr. Mosher. It really postpones it. It doesn't jeopardize it. 



