Word: boosterism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Definite choices for honoraries include Ralph McGill, publisher of the Atlanta Constitution and a great Harvard booster; McGeorge Bundy, a great Harvard and Yale supporter who will probably be honored by both institutions; composer Elliott Carter '30; George Beadle, who as Chancellor of the University of Chicago has honored some of Harvard's sons; Buell Gallagher, recently named University of California Chancellor, President Bunting of Radcliffe; Charles A. Coolidge '17, senior fellow of the Corporation; and possibly Adiai Stevenson or Allen Dulles...
...third powerful influence on space policy will be the President's Science Advisor, Jerome B. Wiesner, but just where that influence will be exerted is not at all clear. The report of the task force which he headed urged the strengthening of big booster projects, manned space flight, and commercial applications of space technology. But it also heavily emphasized the military aspects of the space program...
...which one will determine the governments' space policy is not yet clear. The selective strengthening of the space program will not lead to the demise of non-spectacular, non-military scientific research projects if the selection is done wisely. Efforts must be made to leapfrog the Soviets in big boosters, by working on "far-out" ideas. A clear choice must be made between the Rover, Nova and Saturn booster projects, and that choice must be pushed hard, with work done on more than a 40-hour-a-week basis. Adequate deterrent power is an necessity, of course, but unnecessary obeisance...
From the lack of a big booster have flowed many familiar U.S. troubles. Everything that the U.S. fires into space, including the man-carrying Mercury capsule, must be built as light as possible. Structure and equipment are inevitably delicate, pushed to the peak of performance. The Russians have plenty of payload to play with. They can use rugged, dependable and comparatively heavy parts. Their spacecraft can afford the luxury of parallel electronic circuits, one ready to take over if the other fails. Many of the Russian achievements in space, including their accurate control systems, can be explained by the weight...
...Russians recognized the great opportunity, used their big booster rockets to score their long series of propaganda triumphs in space. Now it is increasingly difficult for the U.S. to catch up. But despite its defeats, the U.S. can and will continue to do sound scientific research in space. It has been doing this for years, learning more with small, numerous and deftly instrumented spacecraft than the Russians have with their monsters. Such work impresses scientists, and adds immeasurably to the world's store of knowledge, but the great world public probably could not care less about such discoveries...