With the 1970 lunar touchdown already in its sights, NASA's Office of Manned Space Flight seeks to make the United States pre-eminent in space. A Nation Goes to /r&(/iS ".Note/ is the kime to take longer strides-time for a peat new American enterprise-tirrle,fir this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achieuernent a~hichin many zoaj)s may hold the key to our,future on earth. I belieup thal this nation should comrnit itself to achieving the goal, befire lhis decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. It will not be one man going to the moon . it will be an entire nation." -President John F. Kennedy ive years ago the United States the men and machines that will make took its first tiny steps toward it possible to undertake a wide range F the moon when Commander of space missions beyond the initial Alan Shepard became the first Ameri- moon touchdown. Indeed, as Dr. can to be rocketed into space. And George Mueller comments, "manned the entire nation-indeed the whole lunar flight serves as the focal-point world-witnessed his flight, sharing of a program whose principal goal is in the tension and the triumph. To- to give the United States world lead- day, at the halfway point in the ten- ership in all elements of space activ- year program to land a man on the ity. The Gemini and Apollo-Saturn moon and return him to earth safely, programs are equipping this nation the United States manned space pro- with the ability to carry men and in- gram has both lengthened and quick- struments into hitherto inaccessible ened its stride. And the distance from regions of space for hitherto unachiev- the earth to the moon doesn't seem able periods of time." quite that far anymore. I In developing the elements and I Dr. George E. Mueller capabilities for this decade's manned Associate Administrator lunar landing, NASA has marshalled Office of Manned Space Flight Dr. Mueller, Associate Adminis- every part of the country. Dr. Mueller first Americans into space and laid a trator for NASA's Office of Manned directs this competent crew by means solid foundation for the technology of Space Flight, bases his appraisal on of a geographically dispersed program future manned space flights. It dem- the remarkable progress that has been office structure which penetrates di- onstrated the effects of space on man, made in the tri-lateral manned flight rectly through the functional organi- and proved that men could increase program-Projects Mercury, Gemini zations of the field centers and the the reliability of spacecraft controls. and Apollo. Together the three con- prime contractors, to the subcon- NASA logged its first manned space stitute the greatest single engineering tractors and the vendors. It has been flight success on May 5,1961, the day enterprise in this nation's history. The said that Dr. Mueller's techniques of Astronaut Shepard rode his Freedom manned space flight program is car- managing so vast a research and de- 7 space capsule on a 19-minute sub- ried out by some 300,000 men and velopment program may, in the long orbital mission, 1 16 miles high into women. They work in NASA'sWash- run, prove to be one of the most valua- space. Another Mercury milestone ington, D.C. office, at three field cen- ble assets derived from the program. was achieved the following February. ters-the John F. Kennedy Space The first phase of the tri-lateral Astronaut John Glenn became the Center in Florida; the Manned Space- manned space flight program, Project first American in orbit, completing craft Center near Houston, Texas, and Mercury, set the stage for the sophis- three global circuits. The following the George C. Marshall Space Flight ticated space maneuvers of today and spring Gordon Cooper completed a Center at Huntsville, Alabama-and tomorrow. Using experimental one- 22-orbit mission of 34 and one-half at some 20,000 industrial plants in man vehicles, Project Mercury put the hours, triumphantly ringing down the curtain on Project Mercury. Dr. Mueller was a witness to, rather than a participant in, NASA'smanned flight program at the time of the Mercury space spectaculars, although he was deeply involved in other aspects of aerospace technology. During the five years before he joined NASA in 1963, he was associated with Space Technology Laboratories, Inc., serv- ing successively as director of the electronics labs, program director of the "Able" space program, vice presi- dent of space systems management, and finally vice president for research and development. In this last posi- tion, he had overall responsibility for the technical operations of the com- pany. While at STL, Dr. Mueller headed the design, development and testing efforts of the systems and com- ponents for Atlas, Titan, Minuteman and Thor ballistic missiles. He also played a major role in the develop- ment of Pioneer I, the United States' first successful space probe, and had overall responsibility for several other space projects, including Explorer VI and Pioneer v, and for the establish- ment of the Air Force satellite track- Gemini Twin Ed White maneuvers 120 miles above the Pacific Ocean, connected to Gemini ing network. 4 spacecraft by an umbilical cord. Extravehicular activity, operational term for walking in space, is a basic technique required for manned space flight capability. Mercury's Dividends Dr. Mueller adds thisfootnote to the story on the path to the moon, and forged ments of the Gemini program and the of Project Mercury which had jut con- ahead with the second phase, Project early successes of Apollo-Saturn- cluded when he became Associate Adminis- Gemini. achievements which can only be de- trator for the Ofice of Manned Space Flight: Named for the twin-star constella- scribed as spectacular in light of the "Originally, NASA assigned only two broad tion of Castor and Pollux, Project stepped-up pace of the United States mission objectives to Project Mercury-jrst, Gemini called for a two-man space- manned space flight schedule. In the to investigate man's ability to survive and craft system to conduct orbital flights spring of 1964 the first unmanned test perform in the space environment; and sec- around the earth for up to two weeks' flight of the Gemini-Titan 11 space ond, to develop the basic space technology duration. Twelve flights were sched- vehicle was flown. By spring of this and hardware for manned space JEight pro- uled for the Gemini series-ten of year Gemini astronauts had logged grams to come. But the dividends Mercuy them manned. One of NASA'sprime more than 1,300 man-hours in space, paid went beyond those basic goals. Thty objectives was to determine man's and traveled some 11 million miles- include the development of a NASA manage- performance and behavior during that's almost fifty times the distance ment system to carry forward more advanced prolonged orbital flights, including from the earth to the moon. manned spacejight ventures; exploration of his ability to pilot and control his Other mission objectives have been the fundamentals of spacecra) re-enty; spacecraft. Other mission objectives fulfilled. Last year, during the third raising a family of launch vehicles from ex- were orbital rendezvous; docking or revolution of an extended earth orbital isting rockets that led to new booster designs; joining two spacecraft, and maneuver- flight, Gemini 4 Astronauts James expansion of the aerospace industry through ing the joined spacecraft as one unit; McDivitt and Ed White carried out NASA contracts; setting up an earth- astronaut activity outside an orbiting the first extravehicular activity in the girdling tracking system, and training a spaceship, and a series of scientific ex- manned space flight program. White cadre of astronauts for future space explora- periments. left the spacecraft to walk in space, tion programs." Dr. Mueller and his capable becoming a human satellite orbiting Small wonder, then, that NASA was manned space flight crew are justifi- the earth at an altitude of 120 miles. encouraged by this successful first step ably proud of the stand-out achieve- Command pilot McDivitt remained Mueller, is that in every case, the men re- turned in excellent physical and mental health. From the medical point of view the jights show that well-trained men can live and work in space for extended periods of Itime, and the condition of weightlessness does not appear to cause any serious after- efects. 7he astronauts' state of health is measured continuously, bbefoejight, during jight and after their return. The overall appraisal of NASA'smedical team is that jights lasting a month or more are feasible. Talented Management Another noteworthy aspect of the Gemini program is the talented man- agement Dr. Mueller gives it. A little more than a year ago, the program- - was behind sdhedule, and there was .. ... - "rave concern about the possibility of cost overruns. "We instituted a new kind of contract administration," Dr. Mueller remarked, "one in which the profit of the Gemini program con- tractors is ,tied to their total perform- Astronaut David Scott's camera captures orbiting Agena target docking vehicle as Gemini trol. I think the operation of these 8 spacecraft hovers about 190 feet away. Michael Collins and John Young maneuvered contracts has constituted one of the near this same rocket during the Gemini 10 mission in July. finest examples of the proper working of the free enterprise system." at the controls with the difficult task trol equipment." Docking in space The manned space flight program of keeping the spacecraft in a stable was added to the plus side of the mis- has a valuable asset in the person of attitude so that White would have a sion objective ledger in March of this George Mueller (pronounced Miller).