Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in ... - The Black Vault

Exploring the Unknown 559
tasks to be performed on the moon by Apollo crew members. This group, under
the chairmanship of Dr. Sonnett, will include scientific consultants as well as
representatives from appropriate NASA groups.
Dr. Sonnett has asked the OMSF to present a briefing to this group at its
first formal meeting, establishing a context and the ground rules within which
they are to perform their task. One of the topics to be covered is the possible use
of one or more professional scientists as crew members on lunar missions.
To assist in the preparation of this briefing, it would be helpful if you
furnished this office with memoranda, no later than April 16, directed to the
following two questions:
1. Is there any fundamental reason which would prevent the use of one
or more professional scientists as crew members?
2. What serio us practical problems would result if such personnel were
included in the selection [and] training program?
It is assumed that the NH [Aerospace Medicine] memorandum will cover
these questions from the viewpoint of medical selection, and that MS
[Spaceflight & Flight Missions] will consider the problem in terms of
background skills and training requirements.
Joseph F. Shea
Deputy Director for Systems
Office of Manned Space Flight
Document II-22
Document Title: Owen E. Maynard, Spacecraft Integration Branch, NASA
Manned Spacecraft Center, Memorandum for Associate Director, “Comments on
Mr. Frank Casey’s visit to J.P.L. to discuss Ranger and follow-on programs which
could provide information pertinent to Apollo missions,” 1 February1962.
Source: Folder 18675, NASA Historical Reference Collection, History Division,
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
Since the beginning, it had been clear to those planning for human missions to the Moon
that they would need information from robotic lunar missions. Those missions were under
the management of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a Federally-Funded Research and
Development Center operated for NASA by the California Institute of Technology. JPL’s
mission designs were aimed at answering scientific questions, not providing support for
human spaceflight missions, and JPL was rapidly developing within NASA a reputation for
excessive independence from the rest of NASA. This was proven after a visit to JPL to see
if the lunar hard landing Ranger missions and potential follow-on robotic missions (which