A SIGNIFICANT milestone in cooperative international space efforts was achieved yesterday with the successful launching of the Italian San Marco satellite.
This marks the first time a launch crew of any nation other than the United States or the Soviet Union has put its own scientific payload into orbit.
My congratulations to the Italian people for their initiative and perseverance in the San Marco project. It is a source of particular satisfaction to me that I participated in the signing of the Italian-American agreement for this project in Rome in 1962.
I look forward to continued success in the next phase of the San Marco project when the Italian Space Commission will attempt the difficult operation of launching a similar satellite from an ocean platform near the equator.
Note: The U.S.-Italian agreement which led to the launching of the San Marco satellite was effected by an exchange of notes at Rome, September 5, 1962. The U.S. note was signed by Vice President Johnson, the Italian note, by Minister of Foreign Affairs Attilio Piccione. The agreement is printed in Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS 5172; 13 UST 2120).
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the Launching of the Italian San Marco Satellite. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241290