Jan 20 1976
From The Space Library
Dr. Wernher von Braun, who had retired in 1972 as Deputy Associate Administrator for Long-Range Planning at NASA Hq, said in a Washington Star interview that he had been brought to Washington in 1970. to "lend clout to NASA's ability to get its appropriations." His assignment had been to present to Congress the program of a manned expedition to Mars; "so many national problems" had arisen that Congress would not commit itself to another multibillion-dollar space program, and the reusable Space Shuttle was the only element of the concept that survived. Dr. von Braun recalled that NASA's resources were cut to about a third during his last 2 yr at NASA, and the new organization with which he was associated-the National Space Institute-was created to "reach large numbers of people" and broaden public support of basic science, "where it is much more difficult to predict the payoff." "Remember," he added, "nuclear energy, which ultimately was used in the hydrogen bomb, was discovered because some astrophysicists were interested in what keeps the sun hot." (W Star, 20 Jan 76, A-1)
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