NASA

While the U.S. satellites and the Red Sputnik whirled in space, an argument ricocheted through the U.S. defense and scientific communities. Who ought to command the U.S.'s space offensive--civilians or the military? Last week, in a special message to Congress, the President gave his answer. Its gist: civilians.

In his request for new legislation, the President placed responsibility for the U.S.'s new space-exploration program (TIME. April 7) on a new entity to be called the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, headed by a civilian named by the President and confirmed by the Senate. If approved by Congress, the new agency would form around the tried and tested nucleus of the 43-year-old National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, would operate much like the Atomic Energy Commission, for the benefit of both civilian and military customers. The Defense Department's new Advanced Research Projects Agency would continue to handle space projects "peculiar to or primarily associated with military weapons systems or military operations." Just as AEC is watched over by a general advisory committee of top scientists, so the new NASA would be guided--but not run by--a new presidential advisory committee on space.

"A civilian setting," the President summed up, "will emphasize the concern of our nation that outer space be devoted to peaceful and scientific purposes."

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