326 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



enthusiasm by many in Congress who have long believed that public support for the 

 national space program in the future will depend very heavily upon these practical 

 applications of space technology. 



While supporting NASA's efforts in space science, including such 

 projects as the Orbiting Solar Observatory and the Orbiting Astro- 

 nomical Observatory, Downing voiced strong support for less expensive 

 suborbital programs through the use of balloons and sounding rockets. 

 He reported and supported a big jump in Space Science funding in 1972 

 to build and equip the two Viking spacecraft which so successfully 

 orbited and soft-landed on Mars in the bicentennial year of 1976. But 

 he told his colleagues during the authorization bill debate in 1972: 



It is my conviction that the current level of funding for space applications is 

 inadequate, and I intend to urge a substantial increase in the budget. * * * NASA's 

 stated goal of increased emphasis on space applications can be achieved only if 

 sufficient financial support for this work is forthcoming. 



Downing remained as subcommittee chairman through 1972, after 

 which he was succeeded by Representative Symington. 



3 . Representative James W. Symington of Missouri 



Paraphrasing Kipling, Congressman Symington is the kind of 

 person who walks with kings without losing the common touch. As 

 President Johnson's Chief of Protocol, his experience covered not only 

 kings, but all foreign heads of state and visitors plus a good cross 

 section of American dignitaries visiting the White House. Only 

 Symington would have the common touch to grasp a fellow-Congress- 

 man's arm and plunge into a crowd of young protesters, as we pre- 

 pared, in black-tied splendor to enter the Century Plaza Hotel in 

 Beverly Hills, Calif., for a lavish dinner President Nixon was throwing 

 for the first astronauts to land on the Moon. The protesters demanded 

 that we tell them, as Symington expressed it, "Why the Moon with 

 so much left to do on Earth in housing, pollution, and education^" 

 For a full hour we talked with them and achieved the goal of com- 

 munication. Writing in his book, The Stately Game, Symington 

 relates: 



We went on to discuss space technology and its relevance to earthbound life: 

 the weather satellites, which give advance warning of impending storms; the com- 

 munications satellites, which can bring education and new knowledge into the 

 remotest parts of the world; the earth resources satellites, whose infrared sensors 

 may soon tell us far more about the subsurface of the Earth than we know today, 

 telling farmers what and where to plant and fertilize and fishermen where the schools 

 are headed. 



