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

Exploring the Unknown 239
Document I-47
Document Title: Dr. Walter C. Williams, Deputy Director, NASA Manned
Spacecraft Center, NASA, “Project Review,” 3 October 1963.
Source: NASA Collection, University of Houston, Clear Lake Library, Clear
Lake, Texas.
The Mercury program officially ended with the flight of Faith 7, Gordon Cooper’s orbital
mission on 15 and 16 May 1963. Within days of that flight those working on the Mercury
began assessing their efforts and developing lessons-learned for the future. This review
culminated in a large meeting in Houston on 3 to 4 October 1963, where the leading figures
of the program discussed the Mercury project and its accomplishments. This document
presents the perspective of Walt Williams, Robert Gilruth’s assistant for space operations at
the Manned Spacecraft Center.
MERCURY PROJECT SUMMARY CONFERENCE
MUSIC HALL, HOUSTON, TEXAS
October 3 and 4, 1963
PROJECT REVIEW
Address by Dr. Walter C. Williams, Deputy Director, NASA Manned Spacecraft
Center
[Note: This review also included a slide presentation. The slides are not provided.]
I think that, perhaps, in reviewing a program such as this, the first step to
take is to look at where we started and, principally, what were the objectives and
what were our guidelines, and I think you’ll find that this group that started five
years ago, under Dr. Gilruth, stayed quite closely to these.
[Slide 1]
Let’s look at the objectives first (first slide, please). I’m not sure this is
exactly the same slide that was used five years ago, but I’m certain that the words
are. Objectives were to place a manned spacecraft in orbital flight around the
earth, to investigate man’s performance capabilities and his ability to function in
space, and, obviously, recover the man and spacecraft safely. And we hope, as we
move along in these next two days, to show how these objectives were reached.
[Slide 2]
Some of the guidelines in establishing this project are shown on the next
slide. We knew, or the team knew, that to do this program at any reasonable length
of time, wherever possible, existing technology and off-the-shelf equipment would