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

Exploring the Unknown 137
[Signed]
George M. Low
Program Chief
Manned Space Flight
cc: Dr. Dryden
Dr. Silverstein
Mr. North
GML:lgs
Document I-23
Document Title: George M. Low, NASA, Memorandum for House Committee on
Science and Astronautics, “Urgency of Project Mercury,” 27 April 1959.
Source: Folder 18674, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History
Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
From virtually the beginning of the Mercury program, its leaders at the Space Task
Group believed that it should receive the nation’s highest priority. This status ensured ready
cooperation from other federal entities and streamlined procurement and other regulations.
Only programs and projects deemed critical to national defense received this designation.
In 1958 numerous spaceflight efforts such as the Minuteman and Polaris ICBM development
efforts, the Vanguard program, and satellite reconnaissance were already on what was
officially named the DOD Master Urgency List. Admittance to the DX, the part of the DOD
Master Urgency List associated with the highest industrial procurement priority, required
the approval of the National Security Council, but it had already delegated authority to the
Secretary of Defense to approve DX status on space projects. Space Task Group leaders, therefore,
had to convince Secretary Neil H. McElroy of the significance of Project Mercury. This
did not prove an easy task. While senior officials agreed that Mercury was important, key
officials at the White House, Congress, and NASA Headquarters regarded both the development
of a one-million-pound-thrust rocket, which eventually became the Saturn I, and space
science efforts as equally important. However, a priority list is only useful if some items have
less priority than others. Why should Project Mercury receive this special designation?
When NASA Deputy Administrator Hugh L. Dryden initiated the request for DX
status to the DOD on 14 November 1958, he specifically requested that both the “manned
satellite and the one-million-pound-thrust engine” be added, but because of disagreements,
especially within the National Aeronautics and Space Council (NASC) created by the same
act that has chartered NASA, consideration of this proposal was deferred until a united
position could be crafted. It took several months of discussion during the winter of 1958
to 1959 before consensus could be achieved, and only on 27 April 1959, did Eisenhower
approve DX status for Mercury. This memorandum prepared by George Low explains to
the Congressional committee overseeing NASA the agency’s policy with respect to balancing
urgency and astronaut safety.
April 27, 1959
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