Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Statement by the President in Support of the Administration Bill Relative to Space Science and Exploration.

May 14, 1958

IN MY MESSAGE to Congress on space science and exploration I recommended that space science activities sponsored by the United States Government be conducted under the direction of a civilian agency except for those projects primarily associated with military requirements. I recommended that we have a civilian agency because of the clear evidence that space exploration holds promise of adding importantly to our knowledge of the earth, the solar system and the universe, and because it is of great importance to have the fullest cooperation of the scientific community at home and abroad in moving forward in these fields. Moreover, a civilian setting for the administration of space science and exploration will, in my judgment, emphasize the concern of our nation that outer space be devoted to peaceful and scientific purposes.

In recommending that we have a civilian space agency and that there be created a new National Aeronautics and Space Agency into which the present National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics would be absorbed, I made clear that the Department of Defense should continue to be responsible for space activities peculiar to or primarily associated with military weapons systems or military operations. The bill sponsored by the Administration (S. 3609 and H. R. 11881 ) embodies these objectives.

I strongly support and endorse this bill in the conviction that it provides most effectively for the advancement of space science and technology by our Government. for purposes of clarification, three minor but important modifications in wording have been suggested in this bill. These changes make dear that activities peculiar to or primarily associated with weapons systems or military operations will be the responsibility of the Department of Defense, that the majority of members of the board of the new agency should be from within Government, and that at least three members of this board should be from the Department of Defense. In any unresolved question about the allocation of projects to the new agency, the President, in accordance with normal procedure, will decide.

The program and the organization which I recommended are designed to contribute to (1) the expansion of human knowledge of outer space and the use of space technology for scientific inquiry, (2) the improvement of the usefulness and efficiency of aircraft, (3) the development of vehicles capable of carrying instruments, equipment, and living organisms into space, (4) the preservation of the role of the United States as a leader in aeronautical and space science and technology, (5) the making available of discoveries of military value to agencies directly concerned with national security, (6) the promotion of cooperation with other nations in space science and technology, and (7) assuring the most effective utilization of the scientific and engineering resources of the United States and the avoidance of duplication of facilities and equipment.

Note: The President's message to Congress on space science and exploration appears as Item 64, above.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Statement by the President in Support of the Administration Bill Relative to Space Science and Exploration. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/233395

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