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

Exploring the Unknown
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spacecraft and planning the Apollo missions. The launch date for the first
attempt at a lunar landing was set for 8 July 1969. (II-66)
The Apollo 7 mission took place from 11 to 22 October 1968; aboard were
astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham. All objectives of
the flight were met, clearing the path for a decision to send the Apollo 8 mission
into lunar orbit.
That decision would not be made by James E. Webb. On 16 September, Webb
had gone to the White House for a meeting with President Johnson to discuss
a variety of issues, including how best to protect NASA and particularly Apollo
during the transition to the next President. (Johnson had announced in March
1968 that he would not seek reelection.) Webb knew that he was very unlikely to
continue as NASA Administrator, whether Hubert Humphrey or Richard Nixon
was elected. He and Humphrey did not get along, and as a committed Democrat
he was even more unlikely to be retained by Nixon. Webb was weary after six
and a half years running NASA at a frenetic pace, and had been a target of
congressional criticism since the Apollo fire. Webb thought that at some point
in the fall he should step aside and let Thomas Paine, a non-political person,
demonstrate that he was capable of running NASA at least through the first
lunar landing.
To Webb’s surprise, the president not only took up Webb’s offer to resign,
but decided that Webb should announce it immediately, even before he left the
White House. Obediently, Webb told the White House press corps that he would
leave NASA on 7 October, his sixty-second birthday. Webb was not able to contact
Paine or his wife before making the announcement. 66
Although momentum was great after the success of Apollo 7 to take Apollo 8
to lunar orbit, a final decision to undertake that bold step had not yet been made.
In particular, George Mueller was worried about whether the overall program
gains from the mission justified the fallout from a failure. A final review of the
mission was scheduled for 10 and 11 November. In advance of those meetings,
Mueller wrote to Gilruth, saying “There are grave risks to the program as a whole,
not just to the Apollo 8 mission, in embarking on a lunar orbit mission with the
second manned flight of the CSM. We have to face the possibility that this type
of mission could appear to the public, and to our peers in government, to be a
precipitous, risky venture where the propaganda value is the only gain.” Mueller
was concerned that the enthusiasm within NASA for flying the mission might
have had the effect of suppressing justified concerns about the risks. He told
Gilruth “the risks from a purely technical aspect are probably reasonable and
acceptable. If such a mission failed, however, the risks to the program as a whole
could be significant.” (II-62)
The 10 November meeting included the top executives of the companies
involved in Apollo. After hearing a series of presentations by NASA managers,
the executives were polled on their views of whether Apollo 8 should be approved
as a lunar orbit mission. Although there were a few questions raised, according to
66. For more on Webb’s resignation, see Lambright, Powering Apollo, pp. 200–204 and Murray
and Cox, Apollo, pp. 322–323.