Word: moonshot
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...long-range effect of the Apollo tragedy on the moonshot program is as uncertain as the precise outcome of the inquiry. If the experts find some basic design deficiency in the capsule, a year or more may pass before a shot is attempted. For the moment, that seemed unlikely. The most plausible theory is that a combination of improper procedures and some specific equipment malfunctions caused the fire. Whatever the outcome, an Apollo flight will almost certainly be delayed for six months. Meanwhile, as engineers probed the wreckage of Apollo 204, technicians on the sterilized assembly line at North American...
...fire is not a congenital weakness in the ship. Beyond that, it will take months to get the new capsule thoroughly tested and in position atop her Saturn 1-B. The earliest possible date that Apollo 204 could be rescheduled is late summer. Nevertheless, though the entire moonshot schedule will lag far behind expectations, there is no possibility that it will be canceled...
Their optimism washed over into the Apollo moonshot program. Where officials were recently talking about 1970 as the likely year for the first U.S. lunar landing attempt, last week they were talking about 1969, and Apollo Manager Joseph Shea said the first at tempt might even come in mid-1968. "That's the true implication of Gemini 4 for Apollo," said Shea. Original plans called for a landing on the 15th Apollo shot, he explained, but "now we may be able to make an attempt on the fourth, fifth or sixth launch...
Early favorite to win the SST is Boeing. Beyond the fact that Boeing has done the most research on its own, there are political considerations. North American is well fixed for years to come with its Apollo moonshot contract, and Lockheed is relatively well-backlogged with its contracts for the Polaris missile and the new Starlifter military transport. But the end is in sight for Boeing's big KC-135 flying-tanker contract, and its current orders for Minuteman missiles will run out in two or three years. Besides, it was the loser in the hot TFX competition...
After last week's misfire, an anonymous "high administration official" charged that NASA was "stupid" and "naive" in the planning of its moonshot program. He was right. But much of the stupidity and naivete lay with the high official's cohorts, who have yet to speed up the Atlas production line-still proceeding at a leisurely 50% of capacity at the Convair plants in San Diego...