Word: webbe
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Conflict. One was James Webb, head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A former Director of the Budget under Harry Truman, Webb, 56, has a cautious eye where money is concerned. He claims to be satisfied with the progress of the $20 billion moon-flight program. Says Webb: "We have not slipped our target dates...
...Webb is flatly contradicted by the director of NASA's Manned Space Flight Program: Brainerd Holmes, 41 (TIME cover, Aug. 10), a brilliant, aggressive electrical engineer with a hard-bitten talent for ramming through tough projects. The moon program, Holmes feels, is already four to six months behind schedule -and the reason is that Webb is dragging his feet. Webb and Holmes have vastly different ideas about the urgency of putting an American on the moon. Says Webb: "The moon program is important, but it's not the only important part of our space program." Retorts Holmes...
...Effect. According to Holmes, the moon program ran into trouble in late summer, when various space contractors informed him that the scheduled programs would cost about $400 million more than the original estimates. Since Congress was still in session, Holmes asked Webb to request a supplemental appropriation for the project, which already was funded at $2.2 billion for fiscal 1963. Webb refused, apparently because he figured that asking for that much extra money might anger Congress in a deficit budget year, thereby imperiling the entire space program...
What is more, Webb declares: "I am not willing to transfer millions of dollars from other NASA programs into manned space flight." Thus, Holmes has no choice but to cut back his program. Last week the signs of that cutback were obvious in space centers across the U.S.: » In St. Louis, at McDonnell Aircraft Corp., makers of the Mercury and Gemini space capsules, strict limits have been set against overtime work. » In Maryland the Martin Marietta Corp. has laid off 225 men who were working on the Titan II booster, the rocket that will launch Gemini...
...Dilemma. The White House still wants to push on to the moon with "the utmost urgency," says one Administration official. But such are the differences between Webb and Holmes that the whole program is in danger of bogging down...