MANAGEMENT ISSUES

As Silverstein at NASA headquarters had arranged things, JPL reported to him for the Ranger spacecraft, deep-space tracking and control, in-flight operations and data processing. The procurement of the launch vehicle would be managed by the Office of Launch Vehicle Programs. This was directed by Donald R. Ostrander, who, as a Major General in the Air Force assigned to NASA, was well qualified to liaise with the military and its contractors. Ostrander delegated the task of procuring Agena and Centaur stages to Wernher von Braun in Huntsville. By dividing the spacecraft (JPL and the Office of Space Flight Programs) from the launchers (Huntsville and the Office of Launch Vehicle Programs), this arrangement provided considerable scope for confusion and conflict.

On 29 December 1959 Associate Administrator Richard Horner created the Space Exploration Program Council with himself in the chair. It was to seek to improve the management of space flight projects, and to reconcile the inevitable differences that would arise between headquarters and the centres managing individual projects. Its members were Abe Silverstein, Donald Ostrander, and Wernher von Braun (launch vehicles), Harry Goett of the Goddard Space Flight Center (satellites in Earth orbit) and W. H. Pickering (deep-space missions). At its inaugural meeting on 10 February I960 it discussed an internal review sent to Ostrander on 15 January that warned of potential difficulties in the procurement of the Agena B, and how this might affect Ranger. It was decided that Silverstein’s technical assistant, William A. Fleming, should chair a steering committee. This Agena B Coordination Board was formed on 19 February, and drew its membership from von Braun’s team in Huntsville (which was in the process of transferring to NASA, and in July would become the Marshall Space Flight Center), the Goddard Space Flight Center and JPL. The Council also decided that a NASA project engineer should be assigned to the plant in Sunnyvale, California, where the Missile and Space Division of Lockheed manufactured the Agena. In Huntsville, Hans Heuter was made head the Light and Medium Vehicle Office, which was to manage procurement of the Agena B and Centaur stages, and Friedrich Duerr became its Agena Systems Manager. However, whilst von Braun’s team would plan and supervise procurement, the fact that the Air Force did not want an independent line of authority leading to its supplier meant the Ballistic Missile Division would implement procurement from the contractor. The Air Force Space Systems Division in Inglewood, California, of which the Ballistic Missile Division was a part, was commanded by Major General Osmond J. Ritland. In April 1960 Major John E. Albert was assigned to assist NASA in procuring the Agena B, which meant he had responsibility for all Air Force technical matters relating to Ranger. He would work with Duerr in Huntsville for the launch vehicle and Burke at JPL for the interface between the Agena and the Ranger spacecraft. Duerr sent Robert Pace to Sunnyvale as the resident project engineer. Lockheed appointed Harold T. Luskin to work with Albert and Pace. The final contract, which was agreed only on 6 February 1961, was for nine Agena B vehicles. In terms of a production line that was making Agenas for several Air Force programs, this was a small order – and it was treated as such by the company until NASA complained. As Huntsville was

responsible for NASA’s launch operations, in addition to procuring the Atlas-Agena В it had to obtain ground support equipment and the systems required to track the vehicle in its ascent to orbit.[12]

In March I960, as the Army Ballistic Missile Agency was being incorporated into NASA, Donald Ostrander’s Office of Launch Vehicle Programs created the Launch Operations Directorate to manage NASA launches in Florida. In essence it was an expansion of the Army’s Missile Firing Laboratory, and being based at Huntsville it answered to von Braun. Kurt H. Debus, Director of Launch Operations, was keenly aware that he was responsible for activities he could not actually control, because in reality NASA was merely a tenant at the Cape and as such was limited to monitoring the preparation and launch of the vehicles by the 6555th Aerospace Test Wing. His counterpart on the Air Force side was Major General Leighton I. Davis. That same month, the Office of Space Flight Programs set up its own office at the Cape to coordinate the on-site activities of the flight project teams.

On 1 September I960 Richard Horner resigned from NASA. He was succeeded as Associate Administrator by Robert C. Seamans. Noting criticism that the Agena В Coordination Board had proved ineffective at resolving disputes, Seamans ordered a review. On 19 October, Albert Siepert of the Office of Business Administration submitted A NASA Structure for Project Management. On 19 January 1961, the day before he left office with the other Eisenhower political appointees, Keith Glennan endorsed the recommendations. In this new scheme, Silverstein’s office would set budgets for flight projects, establish objectives and review progress. The Marshall Space Flight Center, reporting to Ostrander’s office, would provide launch vehicles and launch operations in support of a project manager at a field centre. In the event of disputes, Seamans would personally decide the issue. The Agena В Coordination Board was dissolved. This revision gave JPL direct authority and responsibility for Ranger. NASA named Burke as its Ranger Project Manager, thereby giving him greater authority than he had when he was simply JPL’s Ranger Spacecraft Project Manager.

When James E. Webb became NASA Administrator in February 1961, he argued that although the Air Force might procure the rockets for NASA, the agency should be wholly responsible for preparing and launching them. On 17 July the Air Force conceded that in due course NASA could install its own launch groups to supersede the 6555th Aerospace Test Wing.[13]