EPILOGUE: SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS 1Q15 



During rhc 1960's, although Chairman Miller remained an almost 

 uncritical supporter of NASA, numerous committee members spoke 

 their own minds and engaged in open internecine warfare on various 

 issues. At the start of the space program, there were deep splits within 

 the committee over such issues as solid versus liquid propellants, how 

 much emphasis should be placed on the development of nuclear 

 rockets — the Nerva program — and whether or not to build an Elec- 

 tronics Research Center. The propellant battle was won by the liquid 

 advocates, the Nerva fight roared on into the early 1970's and only 

 ended when its No. 1 tub thumper — Senator Anderson — left the Senate 

 in 1972, and the opposition forces finally won their point in the closing 

 of the Electronics Research Center after President Nixon took office. 

 Karth, Wydler and a determined group of Republicans fought the 

 building of ERC in Cambridge, Mass., lost the early battles to superior 

 forces, but won the war when ERC was shut down and turned over to 

 the Department of Transportation in 1970. 



The committee basked in the glory of the string of successful 

 Mercury and Gemini flights of the early and midsixties. When 

 tragedv struck on the launching pad as astronauts Grissom, White, 

 and Chaffee were killed in the 1967 hre, Teague helped rescue the 

 program through the thorough, fair, and constructively searching 

 investigation he chaired on the causes of the fire and steps which had 

 to be taken to protect the future safety of the astronauts. Astronaut 

 Frank Borman, a member of NASA's review board on the Apollo fire, 

 reflected in 1978 on the committee probe: 



The investigation was tough, impartial, and a positive factor in the ultimate 

 success of the Apollo program. 



Chapter VII 



In the early 1960's, Karth and his subcommittee set a high 

 standard for hardnosed oversight investigations of the management, 

 scheduling and performance of such programs as the Centaur launch ve- 

 hicle, Ranger and Surveyor lunar probes, and Advent military com- 

 munications satellite. He also furnished leadership for NASA's 

 planetary programs, and applications such as Earth resources satellites. 

 Hechler's subcommittee helped focus NASA's attention on aeronautics, 

 the need to build a reservoir of basic and advanced scientific research, 

 and the necessity for training a younger crop of future scientific talent. 

 As the 1960's progressed, Pelly, Wydler, and Goldwater pitched in to 

 stress aeronautical research and development, and bring more sense 

 and coordination into the multiagency programs in this field where 

 the United States had once maintained world superiority. Hechler, 



