INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION, 1959-79 



371 



Dignitaries from 16 foreign nations were present at the fifth anniversary of the interna- 

 tional tracking of space vehicles, held at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, January 31, 

 1963. From left, front row, are Secretary of State Dean Rusk, NASA Administrator James E. 

 Webb, Chairman Miller and (second from right), Representative James G. Fulton (Republican 

 of Pennsylvania). 



INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS AND THE TRACKING NETWORK 



The urgent necessity to build and operate worldwide tracking net- 

 works for manned space flight, as well as for orbiting satellites and 

 deep space probes, speeded up American negotiations with many- 

 nations on all continents throughout the entire period. Congress lib- 

 erally funded these efforts, as well as dispatching committee members 

 to inspect progress and help smooth the relationships with leaders of 

 foreign governments on whose soil the tracking stations were being 

 built. Committee members took pains to underscore the fact that, 

 unlike the tracking stations designed for the Department of Defense, 

 the central purpose of the exercise was exclusively civilian and scien- 

 tific in nature. At the same time, the committee was constantly on 

 the alert to assure that there was full coordination and no duplication 

 with DOD tracking facilities. Evidence of this fact is revealed in the 

 history of NASA's tracking networks, in which William R. Corliss 

 observes: 



At NASA budget hearings before Congress, questions abov: duplication of facil- 

 ities (between NASA and DOD) are as inevitable as the cherry blossoms outside. 



