SOVIET QUICKENS RACE FOR SPACE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74-00297R001600100002-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 28, 2014
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 13, 1960
• Content Type: MEMO

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/03/28: CIA-RDP74-00297R001600100002-5
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_
SOVIET QUICKENS
RACE FOR SPACE
?
!K!evt Test Plan StrengthenS
'v:Varnings of U. S. Experts
=Boosters Are Key
By RICHARD WITHIN
The 'Soviet Union's imPending
..e'sts of a huge new rocket in
the Central Pacific,- lend added
sithstance to the warnings of
many space experts here that
tile United States' position in
, the space 'race is getting worse.
It has been generally ac-
knowledged that it would be 1961
!before this country could hope
, to launch payloads equal in size
and weight to thoSe the, Soviet
Union has already launched. .
The Soviet Union now signi-
fies its intention to be well
down. the road by the tithe the
United States draws abreast of
the milestones put down by the
first three sputniks and the
:first three moon shots. ?
! . What is handicapping the
;United States is simply the Size
t of main-stage rockets available
for space missions.
. The largest rocket booster
currently in operation here is,
the Atlas, which generates a
thrust of abmt 360,000 pounds.
600,000 Pounds ?
Official - estimates ? put the!I
thrust of the main-sta,,ge ',rocket.
used in the latest Soviet space
missions at somewhere betweeni
600,000 and 800,000 pounds.
The United States hopes tel
bridge this gap in -1961 by;
mounting a new Centaur, using
high-energy liquid hydrogen for
fuel, atop an Atlas.
By 1963 or 1964, the National:
Aeronautics and Space Admin-
istration hopes to,have?perfected"
the 1,500,000 - pound -. thrust
Saturn.
This is designed te put really:
sizable vehicles into space?a-
30,000-pound satellite in a 3002.
mile-high orbit ora 7,000-pound
payload on the moon. ,
But, if the Soviet announce-.
ment of plans to test new rocket!
giants can be taken at. face
value, not even . the Saturn is,
likely, to overcome the Soviet.
lead.
Important Points \
At least two notes. of caution t
must be sounded, however, inl
any attempt to assess the sig-1
nificance of the latest Soviet
move.
_
?
First, sheer.' size of rockets;
and the vehicles they can cata-
pult into orbit or beyond is on1.3q
one measure, though an impor-
tant one, of a country's capa-
bilities. The United States com-
petes favorably in other fieidsd
such as guidance and data re-
covery. And there is some!
feeling that. this country has-
acquired mord. useful scientific!
data.
Second, the Soviet announce-I.
ment? could be intended more
.as propaganda than .as a firth
indications of concrete accom-,
Location Unknown
plishments in . the' offing. Itsi . '
, .
timing on the day .of President, The location of the base from
Eisenhower's messa,ge to Con- which the Soviet Union might,
gress?a message that made a launch new rocket giants is, not!
I great 'point of United States iknown? ' .
,
;strides in rocketry,--is not like- I . Only two launchine?b sites for'
jly to hare been pure accident. Soviet, intercontinental ballistic
! Still, the Soviet announce- missiles have been positively
ment cannot help but confirm, identified. One is at. Kapustin
the fears of a wide majority Yar, near Stalingrad. The '
of this nation's space experts other is at Tyuratam near the
that the Soviet lead in space. Aral Sea. . .
Will. grow rapidly larger unless The distance . from the ' Aral
this country speeds the pace of?'1Sea site to the Pacific farget
its own. program, i zone delineated in
In ?the last month or two, !announcement, is about 7,000
more and more responsible sci- Valles.
urging....
entists have been urging the 1 To date, the'.two. sides have.
Administration to admit it is irecorded the following major
in a space race and to turn on laccomplishments in the space, .
the steam. ' 11 race:
These sentiments will be: . THE SOVIET UNIONThree.
echoed in numberless debates. earth satellites; : three-- lunar
before Congress. -'? probes, the laSt of-which took
. Gloomy Prospects . pictures of the Aretolore-
are taken; unseen -side of 'the' oon ' and
Whatever steps
theY will not slow up inimedi- I relayed ? them ? .baCk ? to . earth.
'
The second Soviet lunik actually.
ately in visible accomplishments.
a
Base
hit the moon. The second sput-
nik accomplished the : first
Indications re that, for the
Western world, 1960 .may be launching of a large animal, the
1dog Laika:
.
sputnik year's in -terms of space' (least : THE UNITED' STATES?At:
the gloomiest. of the three post-:
accomplishment. .. , '. .thirteen artificial .satel-'
At -the moment, for instance,. llites, including five Explorers,
three Vanguards,' project Score,i
there is only a minimal, 1960
and four to six Discoverers
'program for shots to the vicin- . Cor-1
ity, of the moon. -Mars will be, biting of two of them has not;
erified))
in a favorable position on Octa been ..... uneauivocallv.. V
1 for interception by a vehicle1
launched from 'Earth. But that'
date evidently ,will have to bei
skipped by:' this country. - f
The ,United States does , plan'
a number of space shots with,
vehicles ...performing practical
military and 'nonmilitary mis-
sions. Among them are test
versions of reconnais'Sance,
missile - warning, .communica-
tions and navigation satellite's. -
But it is questionable wheth-
er they will have the kind of,
proPaganda impact the Soviet
Union manages to obtain by
sending up heavier and heavier
rocket vehicles. , . ?
s Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/03/28: CIA-RDP74-00297R001600100002-5