And there are other concerns as well, also earthly, but asked more often by persons who feel the space program is not, if I may use a current catch word, relevant. These are the people who often ask whether we are not spending too much on space and not enough on urgent problems at home. When so many are unemployed, they say, and when hunger, sickness, urban decay, and other problems are crying out for solution, how can we spend all those billions on space?

Others feel we worship the god of technology at the expense of compassion for our fellow men. They affirm, with the deepest sincerity, that we should turn away from the "dehumanizing" pursuit of science and technology.

These questions arise from mankind's noblest emotions love, compassion, and concern for fellow men. Many persons feel strongly that the human needs and the problems of a troubled society must come ahead of the "spectacular" feats of landing men on the moon.

They do not deny it was exciting to see astronauts walking on the moon for the first time, but now that it has been done, why do it any more? Think of all we could do with the money in feeding the hungry, finding a cure for cancer, or even conquering the common cold!

I think all persons of good will everywhere agree that these are valuable, important, and indeed urgent goals to pursue. But the assumption that science, technology and space exploration are irrelevant seems to me to be an incredibly myopic point of view. Far from worshiping technology, we look upon it as a tool to achieve human goals. And space exploration, which involves technology over the widest possible range of disciplines, can help alleviate some of the very problems critics hold to be most important to society and the individual.

Still, those of us whose lives are inseparably caught up with technology may have a tendency to take certain things for granted. We know of its capabilities and its benefits, and we assume that everyone everywhere shares in this knowledge. Unfortunately, that just does not happen to be so.

Therefore, I ask you to bear with me as I recount some of the new tools of space technology that will begin to see widespread use in the seventies. Although there will be many items with which this audience has more than passing familiarity, I mention them because I believe it is extremely urgent that the general public be given an opportunity to gain a similar familiarity.

Many of our most urgent problems today are global in nature. If we are to maintain earth as a livable dwelling place for mankind, we must learn to view it as a whole. We must understand that our existence depends on a delicate balance of nature, and that this balance includes not only all of mankind but of all living things. We must know the intricate relationships and reactions between this planet and a dynamic solar system, particularly the sun. To obtain this knowledge and understanding is one of the prime objectives of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space program. It requires a sustained effort to develop the science and technology and the space vehicles to reveal what man's limited senses and capabilities cannot perceive unaided. In this perspective, we can see that our vision has been broadened to encompass nothing less than the conservation of the whole of earth for all of mankind.

Our preliminary observations, made as early as the manned Mercury orbits in 1962, and the earlier Television and Infrared Observation Satellite (Tiros), weather satellites, led to the concept of instrumented spacecraft capable of locating and monitoring the earth's resources, including not only its geology, land areas, and seas, but its atmosphere as well. The growth of the world's population with its attendant increasing demands for food, potable water, shelter, transportation, and communications, means that all nations must ultimately join in managing the use and replenishment of our natural resources. An expanding population also poses its own pollution and waste problems by overburdening the natural ability of the ecological system to absorb them without upsetting its balance.

In both instances, the space program offers capabilities directly aiding in the solution of these problems by means of instrumented spacecraft that can identify and monitor resources and pollution synoptically on a global basis.

We cannot navigate our way through the sea of problems and obstacles to achieve mankind's broad objectives without the aid of new instruments and tools and vehicles. We have learned yet another lesson from space flight in both manned and unmanned spacecraft: what we can see with our unaided eyes is only about 1 percent of total reality. The other 99 percent of the electromagnetic spectrum is invisible, and cannot be sensed by human beings except by instruments designed for the purpose. When we realize that our earth's environment is so directly and vitally affected by radiations and particles from outer

If all continues to go well, we expect to be learning a great deal about Mars during the next 3 months from Mariner IX (launched May 30, 1971), which went into orbit around the Red Planet November 14, 1971. As it circles the planet, the spacecraft will map 70 percent of Mars' surface, and televise back to Earth a record of the planet's topography. Mariner IX is a very sophisticated spacecraft, and it will give us about 12 times more planetary data than all previous Mariner missions combined.

However, I must also mention that the Soviet Union is making even more extensive efforts in planetary exploration than we are. Two very large Russian spacecraft are arriving at Mars very soon after ours. Each of the two is nearly five times as large as Mariner IX, which suggests that the Soviets may be planning a soft-landing of instruments on the surface. If they do so, they will be accomplishing a feat that we will not be able to duplicate for 3 more years.

This does not mean that we need to push the panic button, but it is well to remind ourselves that the Soviet Union is moving strongly ahead in space.

Last year, and so far this year, they have made three times as many successful launches as we have. It is true they suffered a tragic setback with the loss of three cosmonauts returning to earth from their Salyut orbiting laboratory. But the laboratory itself was successful, and again, this was an endeavor we will not be able to attempt until 1973. One final point on this subject is that, although their gross national product is only about half as large as ours, they are spending as much on space research as we are. Thus, in relative terms, they are making a space effort that is roughly twice ours.

That is one of the reasons it is so important that we get the maximum return from each space dollar. To do this, we are proposing a Space Shuttle, which is essentially a two-stage launch vehicle with one or more stages recoverable and reusable. Part rocket and part airplane, it takes off vertically and lands like an airliner horizontally, under piloted control. The upper stage will take up to orbit as much as 50 000 lb of payload for as little as $100 per pound less than one-tenth of the current figure.

NASA is making a strong effort to develop the spacecraft and systems, the techniques and operational experience whereby space can be used in the service of mankind. A large part of the effort is shared by many countries and people throughout the world.

In each of these areas there is a potential for improving the conditions of life. One of NASA's most exciting space technology applications is the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS). It promises to aid in food production and the efficient management of valuable resources.

This satellite is designed to take inventory and monitor the condition of forests and crops, detecting disease and insect infestations, locate natural resources of fresh water and minerals, spot pollution of waterways and the air, supply data on oceanography and geography, even aid in urban planning among its many diverse tasks.

The first satellite is due to be launched next year, the second in 1973 for a period of testing sensors, techniques, and data interpretation before operational vehicles and systems can be built and turned over to user agencies. For the following generation of satellites NASA will continue to experiment and develop the technology further.

Intercontinental color television programs via satellite have become commonplace, but these are only the beginning of what will be done in coming years. Even so, satellites have already greatly reduced the cost of telephone and teletype services, including those of competing undersea cables. Techniques for spot broadcasting to selected sites, such as isolated communities, are now being developed. We also envision conferences by participants sitting in their own offices in different cities, together with the images in color of other conferences. The same would be possible for medical consultation between doctors in separate countries. The possibilities are nearly endless. The idea is to "move electrons around instead of people."

Ironically, the undeveloped countries without large investments in wires and cables stand to reap the full benefits of advanced satellite communications before their more technologically sophisticated neighbors. We and our more advanced fellow nations have heavy commitments in outdated communications systems, such as the telephone. These tend to act as a drag on attempts to replace them with more advanced equipment.

India will be one of the first countries in which some of these possibilities will be demonstrated. There is an understanding between NASA and the Indian Government to work with that country in demonstrating nationwide coverage of educational television via satellite. Starting about the calendar year 1973, we plan to make time available to the Indian people for about 4 to 6 hours a day using the UHF channel on our Application Technology Satellite (ATS-F).

At Madras, Bombay, Ahmadabad, Delhi, and Calcutta, the Indian Government will install relatively large receiving stations to rebroadcast to receivers in metropolitan areas. But in outlying districts, which will be chosen all over the country, more moderate-sized receivers will be used for distribution to viewing sets in the communities.

Approximately 5000 receivers over the whole country will be emplaced for this experiment, and the Indian Government has estimated that it may eventually serve as many as 20 million people.

The potential impact of educational television on this scale is obvious. It is equally obvious that the same techniques could be applied to increase the general educational levels of the other countries very rapidly particularly some of the new and emerging nations around the world.

Another familiar satellite service are the meteorological cloud-cover scanners that have been operating since 1960. Satellites and weather are inherently global systems. It was in the spring of that year that NASA placed this revolutionary new tool in orbit to monitor the world's weather systems. Over the years since, the space agency has improved the technology and developed more advanced weather satellite systems. Every nation in the world can benefit from the U. S. meteorological service simply by installing an automatic readout station and signaling the satellite overhead to transmit photographs of the cloud cover. More than 50 countries are using the system to view the daily weather patterns over their territories and adjacent lands.

Again, present weather satellite service, like communications, is in its early stages. The goal is to perfect long-range forecasting of up to 2 weeks or more. Currently we can track large storms and give timely warning to prevent loss of lives and restrict property damage. Satellite tracking of the huge storm, Camille, saved hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives in the Gulf States in 1969.

I have omitted mention of space program "spinoff" and the economic effects of developing large research and development programs. These are not inconsequential. Whole areas have been raised economically and in their level of education by NASA's programs. Those of you who are here know that Huntsville is a case in point. As an old Huntsville resident myself, I seem to recall that this modern and progressive city was once famed mostly as the watercress capital of the world.

Space research has advanced medical science by probing into various fields of physics, biochemistry, and others. One of our scientists, for example, specializing in space radiation, devised and demonstrated a theory that helps explain the source of uncontrolled malignant growth and indicates shortcuts to the development of chemical countermeasures against cancer. Thousands of medical and other developments useful to man can be cited. Space research is especially valuable in this respect because it must press forward on all frontiers of knowledge, and advances in one often bring advances in other fields.

In summary, then, this nation must continue responding to new challenges in the years ahead and not in simplistic terms of "either/or." We must press forward both in the space program and here on earth. These are not mutually exclusive, but mutually supporting enterprises.

Many benefits are now being realized, but we can expect far greater returns as increasingly sophisticated devices go into service. Data from space regarding our earth, its oceans, its resources, and its agriculture will be obtained and applied in the words of the Space Act of 1958, "for the benefit of all mankind."