Who controls the Moon controls the Earth too. The Moon is an outpost giving an unparalleled advantage for retaliation. If we had a base there, the
Soviets would be forced to launch a preventive nuclear attack on the Moon
at least two days before bombing the US soil. If they did not do so, they
would be doomed within 48 hours to suffer a devastating nuclear retaliation
from the Moon. A lunar base is a priceless strategic advantage.
16
Two months later, Lieutenant Gen. Donald L. Putt, speaking before the US
Senate Committee on Armed Services, said that:
Since the Moon’s gravity is only one sixth of the Earth’s, it should be easier
to launch missiles from there. Also, given the lack of atmosphere, one could
use in-depth silos installed on the dark side of the Moon, always invisible
from Earth. The whole planet could be observed from there with special
telescopes. In perspective, we should not consider controlling the Moon only
as a means to ensure peace between the nations of the Earth; it could be a
first step towards inhabited outposts on more distant planets controlled from
the Moon itself. This celestial body seems to be so important that we should
not allow any other nation to establish a military capacity there.
17
All these political pressures forced Eisenhower to follow up, and in 1958 he
issued a decree to transform the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
(NACA) into the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
He wanted the new agency to also supervise space activities of the armed forces,
but he did not succeed. During his farewell speech at the White House, he said he
had been defeated by the “military-industrial complex”.
18
Still today, the Pentagon
builds space systems autonomously under the authority of the President with a
secret budget, likely much greater than NASA’s.
The newly created agency had laboratories scattered over different states, as
well as nearly 8,000 employees with little or no technical knowledge of spaceflight. The administrator, Keith Glennan, told his engineers, “we are facing one of
the most challenging tasks ever pursued by humankind”.
19
He knew that the plan
to send an American into orbit before the Russians was only the first step towards
the Moon. Meanwhile, the Air Force had commissioned many aeronautic industries to carry out feasibility studies for manned spaceflights. It is likely that these
concepts influenced NASA’s programs. The project SR-181 studied a global Earth
surveillance system, the SR-182 an interplanetary exploration, and the SR-183 a
16
McCurdy, Howard E. 2011. Space and the American Imagination. Baltimore: JHU Press, 84.
17
Medaris, John. 1960. Countdown for Decision. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
18
http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/farewell_address.html.
19
Young, Hugo, Bryan Silcock, and Peter Dunn. 1969. Journey to Tranquillity. Singapore:
Times Ltd Publishing.
18 The Space Race: Moondust
Soviets would be forced to launch a preventive nuclear attack on the Moon
at least two days before bombing the US soil. If they did not do so, they
would be doomed within 48 hours to suffer a devastating nuclear retaliation
from the Moon. A lunar base is a priceless strategic advantage.
16
Two months later, Lieutenant Gen. Donald L. Putt, speaking before the US
Senate Committee on Armed Services, said that:
Since the Moon’s gravity is only one sixth of the Earth’s, it should be easier
to launch missiles from there. Also, given the lack of atmosphere, one could
use in-depth silos installed on the dark side of the Moon, always invisible
from Earth. The whole planet could be observed from there with special
telescopes. In perspective, we should not consider controlling the Moon only
as a means to ensure peace between the nations of the Earth; it could be a
first step towards inhabited outposts on more distant planets controlled from
the Moon itself. This celestial body seems to be so important that we should
not allow any other nation to establish a military capacity there.
17
All these political pressures forced Eisenhower to follow up, and in 1958 he
issued a decree to transform the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
(NACA) into the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
He wanted the new agency to also supervise space activities of the armed forces,
but he did not succeed. During his farewell speech at the White House, he said he
had been defeated by the “military-industrial complex”.
18
Still today, the Pentagon
builds space systems autonomously under the authority of the President with a
secret budget, likely much greater than NASA’s.
The newly created agency had laboratories scattered over different states, as
well as nearly 8,000 employees with little or no technical knowledge of spaceflight. The administrator, Keith Glennan, told his engineers, “we are facing one of
the most challenging tasks ever pursued by humankind”.
19
He knew that the plan
to send an American into orbit before the Russians was only the first step towards
the Moon. Meanwhile, the Air Force had commissioned many aeronautic industries to carry out feasibility studies for manned spaceflights. It is likely that these
concepts influenced NASA’s programs. The project SR-181 studied a global Earth
surveillance system, the SR-182 an interplanetary exploration, and the SR-183 a
16
McCurdy, Howard E. 2011. Space and the American Imagination. Baltimore: JHU Press, 84.
17
Medaris, John. 1960. Countdown for Decision. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
18
http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/farewell_address.html.
19
Young, Hugo, Bryan Silcock, and Peter Dunn. 1969. Journey to Tranquillity. Singapore:
Times Ltd Publishing.
18 The Space Race: Moondust