Aug. 1, 1964 - U.S. space scientists told President Johnson today that Ranger 7 has paved the way for a manned landing on the moon and that to back off from the project would be to yield leadership of the scientific world.
The scientists, Dr. William Pickering, director of the California Institute of Technology’s jet propulsion laboratory at Pasadena, and Homer Newell, assistant administrator for space science application at NASA, flew to Washington today to give Johnson a firsthand report of Ranger 7’s spectacular success. They showed him closeup photos of the moon’s surface.
Calling the feat “the greatest achievement since Galileo turned his telescope on the heavens,” Newell said it was desirable that the U.S. land a man on the moon “as quickly and as effectively as possible.”
“If we do not,” he said, “we will lose the leadership of the scientific world.”
Johnson, speaking from a background including his tenure as chairman of the Senate Space Committee and, while Vice President, as chairman of the President’s National Aeronautics and Space Committee, told the scientists that leadership in our civilization is very important.
“In effect,” he said, “the British dominated the seas and led the world, and we have dominated the air and have been the leader of the free world since we established that dominance. Now, the one who leads in space is going to have that position. Space is the next domain where leadership must be exercised.
“If we had lacked imagination and ingenuity, we could have stayed with the oxcart and the single-engine airplane. But if we are to preserve what we have, we must move on.”
The most unexpected thing that was learned from the photos, Newell told the President, was that there was not a 30 to 1,000-foot layer of dust that would have been harmful to a man landing on the moon.
Newell and Pickering told Johnson that the Sea of Clouds destination of Ranger 7 was an ideal spot for a manned landing. Explaining reports from Pasadena yesterday that a more desirable site would have to be chosen for a landing, Newell said the treacherous area referred to amounted to only 1% of the Sea of Clouds. About 99% of the area would be fine, he said.
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Comments