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From: eich@uiuccsb.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: Medals for cosmonauts - (nf)
Message-ID: <4470@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 12-Dec-83 22:32:29 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.4470
Posted: Mon Dec 12 22:32:29 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 16-Dec-83 01:42:04 EST
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#R:sri-arpa:-1412400:uiuccsb:15700008:000:1176
uiuccsb!eich    Dec 12 19:30:00 1983

But the Mercury astronauts did get Distinguished Service Medals from
the Commander-in-chief.  See Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff.

Which of our armed forces were engaging in infighting, secretiveness, etc.
against one another in their pre-NASA space programs?  The Manned Rocket
program was run by the Air Force (formerly Army Air Corps).  Starting 
with the X-1 in the late 40's through the X-15 all military space research
and testing was done at Edwards under Air Force auspices.  The Navy and
Marines contributed pilots, but nothing else as far as I know.  What
secretiveness there was aimed not at other military branches, but at
the Soviets.

Moreover, the successor to the X-15, the X-20 Dyna-Soar, was moving along
nicely until the wave of Sputnik hysteria, which really crested when the
Soviets orbited a man before John Glenn, rendered the winged rocket approach
political unfeasible, and gave NASA carte blanch to (literally, as it turned
out) go for the moon.  McNamara canned the X-20 just as Chuck Yeager was
taking off in his final NF104 test flight.  No convincing technical reason
was given that I know of; politics dominated.

Brendan Eich
uiucdcs!uiuccsb!eich