Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Statement by the President on U.S. Achievements in Space

August 17, 1960

THE EVENTS of the past weeks have demonstrated beyond all doubt the vigor, capabilities and leadership of the United States in the conquest of the frontiers of science and technology and, in particular, in the exploration and utilization of space. The entire nation is proud of the impressive array of successful experiments carried out by the United States this year:

--Pioneer V, the sun satellite, which continued to receive and transmit radio messages over a period of three months and to a distance of 22,500,000 miles from earth;

--Tiros I, the meteorological satellite which took 23,000 cloud cover pictures during its operating life of three months and provided increased assurance that revolutionary improvements in the science of weather forecasting will be achieved;

--the success that has attended the efforts in the satellite-based navigation program called Transit I;

--the orbiting of Echo I, the 100-foot balloon which circles the earth at a distance of approximately 1000 miles and a speed in excess of 15,000 miles per hour serving as a reflector of radio signals from one point to another and distant point on the surface of the earth;

--the record-breaking flights of the X-15 research airplane;

--and finally, the spectacular recovery of the data capsule of the Discoverer XIII satellite.

All these are the results of a well planned and determined attack on this new field--an attack that promises very real and useful results for all mankind. Each of these satellites is destined to play an important part in broadening man's understanding of the cosmos in which he lives. While no one of them has been undertaken solely in an effort to achieve a "spectacular first" in the eyes of the world, each has resulted in just such a "spectacular first" in support of the desires of mankind for greater knowledge and understanding.

The United States leads the world in the activities in the space field that promise real benefits to mankind.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Statement by the President on U.S. Achievements in Space Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/235207

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