Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

166 reMeMBerINg the SpaCe age
also asking pointed questions about why so much money was going to the
Southern States and California, and why space contractors were paying their
executives such high salaries. “It would be my hope that if and when we do get
to the Moon,” he remarked, “we will fnd a gold mine up there, because we will
certainly need it.” 23 In early 1963, former president eisenhower sent a letter of
protest, printed in the Congressional Record in april: “I have never believed that a
spectacular dash to the Moon, vastly deepening our debt, is worth the added tax
burden it will eventually impose upon our citizens . . . . having made this into
a crash program, we are unavoidably wasting enormous sums.” 24 the Saturday
Evening Post in September 14, 1963, proclaimed that “the space program stands
accused today as a monstrous boondoggle.” 25 amitai etzioni summarized much
of the developing critique in a book called The Moon-Doggle (1964). 26
Objections also emerged from those opposed to NaSa’s emphasis on
human piloted spacefights. Some scientists and their allies advocated less costly
and potentially more scientifcally valuable robotic exploration. Others, such as
representative donald rumsfeld (r-Il), stressed that emphasis should be placed
on the military aspects of space—the control of the space closer to earth—and
less on NaSa’s manned explorations into far space. Such views grew out of, and
also fed, the rivalry between the military services and NaSa.
In addition, some politicians, scientists, and businesses began to question
the regional tilt of NaSa installations. In 1959, NaSa selected Cape Canaveral,
Florida, as the site to train the frst group of astronauts. It opened as NaSa’s
launch Operations Center in 1962 and was renamed for Kennedy just after his
death in 1963. Observers of Johnson’s legislative career noted that an expanded
space efort brought texas lucrative government contracts. Complementing the
center at Cape Canaveral, the Johnson Space Center (JSC), established in texas
in 1961, assumed the lead in human space exploration. the regional tilt of space
spending, pouring into the newly expanding “sunbelt,” became controversial
because of its evident political ramifcations. 27
Infuenced by the various doubts and by changing priorities, Congress
began trying to reduce NaSa budget requests after 1963. the space race
remained a useful frame that spacefight promoters could call on, but its
metaphorical power weakened, and it no longer connoted an unchallenged
agenda or an open-ended fow of appropriations.
23. house Committee on Science and technology, Toward the Endless Frontier, p. 124.
24. Ibid, p. 171.
25. Kaufman, Selling Outer Space, pp. 116-125 summarizes the critics. [quote, p. 53].
26. amitai etzioni, The Moon-Doggle (garden City, NY: doubleday, 1964).
27. house Committee on Science and technology, Toward the Endless Frontier, pp.185-190 discusses
political maneuvers behind the positioning of NaSa sites and some of the controversy.