CHAPTER X 



International Scientific Cooperation, 1959-79 



One warm and sunny day in 1965, two U.S. Congressmen, on a 

 junket in Africa, drove a jeep up to a small grade school in a remote 

 rural village in Ethiopia. During "gym" period, they joined the 

 students in a vigorous game of volleyball, after which the pupils 

 without any shyness began shooting questions about America. 

 When they discovered that the Congressmen were members of the 

 Science Committee, the queries came thick and fast: "Who will get 

 to the Moon first? Will Alan Shepard go? What about 'Gordo' 

 Cooper?" 



Two things struck us about this encounter. The students were 

 far more excited to hear about space than racial problems, arma- 

 ments, or color television, and they knew the names and nicknames 

 of American astronauts. But like the competitive excitement of the 

 volleyball game, they were far more interested in who would win 

 the space race than to hear us paint the glowing picture of how 

 Earth resources and communications satellites would improve their 

 lives and lead to better international cooperation. 



During its first decade, the committee, like the mythical Janus, 

 somewhat ambivalently looked in two directions: To beat the Soviet 

 Union to the Moon and to lay the foundations for peaceful coopera- 

 tion with all nations, including the Soviets. 



PEACEFUL EXPLORATION OF OUTER SPACE — 1958 



So it was when the Select Committee on Astronautics and Space 

 Exploration was first formed in 1958 as a direct answer to the launch 

 of Sputnik, one of the early accomplishments of the select committee 

 was the passage of a concurrent resolution for the peaceful explora- 

 tion of outer space. On June 2, 1958, the House of Representatives 

 unanimously passed House Concurrent Resolution 332, sponsored by 

 Select Committee Chairman John W. McCormack. It was an eloquent 

 resolution, pledging the United States, through the United Nations, 

 to work for an international agreement banning the use of outer 

 space for military purposes. It also affirmed that the United States 

 should seek "an international agreement providing for joint ex- 



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