Space: The High Ground

Since men first started slinging stones at one another, the most tried and true of all military maxims has been: take the high ground. Today, that high ground exists even beyond the earth’s atmosphere.

Last week, as Russian Cosmonauts Popovich and Nikolayev sang patriotic songs while whirling about in outer space (see WORLD), they provided new evidence that the Soviet Union is deadly serious about seizing control of the new high ground.

American reaction to the Soviet spectacular ranged from grudging admiration to scoffing irrelevance. President Kennedy congratulated the Russians for their fine “technical feat. ” NASA Director James Webb insisted that Americans would still be the first men on the moon. Dwight Eisenhower, who recently deplored “the mad effort to win a stunt race ” to the moon, seemed removed from the troubling reality: “I don’t admit there is a[space] gap. I’m a little tired of that word. I’ve heard enough of it. ” A Different Feeling. But much more will be heard. The official U.S. position is that the benefit of space exploration will come from extending man’s scientific frontiers; despite the advice of the nation’s military leaders, the Government’s top civilian officials have been denying that space travel has any realistic military application. Obviously, the Russians feel differently. While they are eager to make use of all the scientific and propaganda by-products of their space exploits, they leave no doubt about their military hopes.

Thus, last week. Soviet Defense Minister Rodion Malinovsky crowed: “Let our enemies know what techniques and what soldiers our Soviet power disposes of. ” Beyond question, President Kennedy has taken a much more serious view of the space competition than did President Eisenhower. In his May 1961 speech to Congress, the President committed the U.S. to the moon race, added $500 million to NASA’s budget for that purpose. In the current fiscal year, total space expenditures will run to about $5.5 billion. For advanced man-in-space projects, Kennedy has boosted funding from $6,000,000 in 1961 to $863 million in 1963.

A New Definition. Despite increased commitment, it is still the unhappy truth that the Saturn C-1 booster— the U.S.’s answer to Russia’s big rocket—is still in its test stages. And it is all too symbolic of an American attitude that even last week, while Popovich and Nikolayev were holding the high ground, a handful of striking electricians at the Huntsville, Ala., Space Center stopped Saturn construction dead.

The U.S. space program has been described by Government officials as a “maximum orderly effort.” If it is, then maximum needs a new definition. The space program could certainly use more money. But much more important, it requires a new direction of purpose. Scientific advancement is fine; so is the international prestige that comes with space achievement. But only at its peril can the U.S. forget that old maxim about the high ground.