Early STG Decisions

The second meeting of the STG principals took place on March 22, 1969. With respect to NASA’s request for additional funding in the FY1970 bud­get, the STG principals accepted the advice of the Staff Directors Committee, which recommended:

• that high priority be accorded to funding for preserving the option of continued Saturn V production, but that the production rate be subject to review;

• that augmented lunar exploration capability be provided, with the pace of future lunar missions also to be subject to further study;

• that the amount of FY1970 funding for these two purposes be a matter of negotiation between NASA and BOB;

• that no additional funding for space station and space shuttle studies should be approved; and

• that no immediate presidential statement on the future of human space flight was desirable, although a broad policy statement by the presi­dent as astronauts returned from the first lunar landing might be worth considering.

The STG members also agreed that NASA and DOD should study their sepa­rate requirements for a new space transportation system, and then jointly determine whether a single system could satisfy those requirements. This set in motion a process that three years later would result in the decision to make a large space shuttle the central initiative of the post-Apollo space program.7

The STG principals discussed whether their deliberations should be con­strained by any a priori limits on funds available for future space budgets. DuBridge noted that “he and many others would indeed want to have a vigorous program of five or six or even seven billion dollars annually. But realities must be kept in mind.” Vice President Agnew stated “very strongly” that he opposed such constraints, and BOB Director Mayo, reserving for his organization the initiative with respect to budget decisions, agreed, say­ing that “it would be bad to constrain the planning by imposing funding restrictions at the outset. These would have to be introduced later.”8 This decision not to set in principle an upper limit on the post-Apollo NASA bud­get would allow NASA later in the STG process to come forward with the totally unrealistic proposal for early missions to Mars, an undertaking that would require during the 1970s a NASA budget well above that which had enabled Project Apollo.

NASA’s Paine was not happy with the tone of this meeting. During the session, he distributed a three-page plea saying “to put it bluntly, the U. S.

manned flight program is going to go out of business, unless some decisions and steps are taken to keep it going.” Paine told the other STG members that the “dichotomy” between “science and the practical applications of space” and “manned space flight. . . makes no sense to me,” since both were only “means for accomplishing various goals.” He found it “ironic” that “at the moment of its greatest public triumph, our manned flight program is declin­ing and in need of help.” Paine argued in support of his request for immedi­ate presidential endorsement of a space station that “continued development of manned space flight capability is essential to maintaining a national posi­tion of power in space.”9

Paine also suggested that there was a need for “a new banner to be hoisted” around which the NASA human space flight team could rally. He was joined in this call by Vice President Agnew. NASA had been courting Agnew since his STG role had been announced, and had invited him to the Apollo 9 launch on March 3, making him the guest of honor at a lun­cheon following the lift off. During his time with the vice president at the launch, Paine was at his enthusiastic best. This experience convinced Agnew, if he needed convincing, of the importance of a vigorous space effort. At the March 22 STG meeting, Agnew argued that, “in his very strong opinion,” the United States needed “an antidote to earth-based problems,” and that dramatic space accomplishments could provide such a counterbalance. He raised the question that would permeate much of the STG’s deliberations. “Where was the Apollo of the 1970s?” he asked. Could it be that the United States should undertake a manned expedition to Mars?10