[115] Coordination in the Field of Life Sciences, (Bioastronautics, Biomedicine, Space Medicine, Bioscience, Biotechnology, Human Research)

The earliest efforts (1961) toward coordination in this field were carried on by the "NASA-DOD Coordinating Committee for Life Sciences" which operated under the MSF Panel of the AACB.

While an informal agreement had been reached between NASA and the DOD in August 1962 giving NASA responsibility for all U.S. space bioscience programs, including animal flights, strong differences of opinion continued to exist (as reported to the AACB on March 16, 1962) regarding the extent to which NASA should rely on the Military Services for R&D in the areas of bioastronautics and space medicine. The principal military activity in these areas was centered at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, Headquarters of the Aerospace Medical Division (AMD), AFSC, where extensive laboratory facilities and a large, competent staff were located. Many in the Air Force felt that space biomedicine was simply an extension of aeronautical biomedicine and that NASA's program in this general field would duplicate the work being carried on at Brooks and several other Air Force laboratories. I recall that during my courtesy call on General LeMay, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, on January 3, 1963, he stated with great emphasis that he felt NASA should rely entirely on the Air Force for meeting its needs in the field of bioastronautics.

Mr. D. Brainerd Holmes, Chairman of the Manned Space Flight Panel, informed the AACB on January 7, 1963, that his Panel had concluded that the NASA-DOD Committee for the Coordination of Life Sciences was unnecessary and should be dissolved. However, the recommendation to this effect was not approved by the Co-chairmen, pending further study. They asked the SSR&T Panel to consider reconstituting the Life Sciences Sub-committee under that Panel and to submit recommendations.

A charter and membership list establishing a Life Sciences Subpanel under the SSR&T Panel was approved by the AACB on June 27, 1963. This new Sub-panel superseded the committee on Life Sciences under the MSF Panel. Very briefly, the Terms of Reference stated that the Sub-panel would review and coordinate the Life Sciences activities of NASA and the DOD; identify problems requiring solution; exchange information as to current and planned activities; exchange performance data from experiments; recommend procedures for the cross-use of' facilities; periodically review the Life Sciences requirements of the DOD, NASA, industry, and universities to provide information for budget planning purposes: and sponsor combined seminars and/or working groups to obtain definitive, authoritative monograph of' the state-of-the-art in the various ;disciplines of' Life Sciences. .

[116] On August 7, 1963, OMSF and AFSC approved a jointly prepared "Proposed Plan to Implement the NASA/AF Coordination of the FY 1964 Space Medicine-Bioastronautics Design, Development, and Test Program to Support Approved Flight Program Requirements.'' This agreement, limited in its application to R&D required in support of the Dyna-Soar, Gemini, and Apollo programs, was a good step forward. However, it was not until October 1963, when a NASA group headed by Dr. Seamans and including myself spent two days at Brooks AFB reviewing the entire NASA and Air Force programs in bioastronautics and reaching general accord as to their coordination and the elimination of unnecessary duplication, that real progress in dealing with this matter across the board appeared to have been made.

In the months that followed, it became evident to NASA top management that a more cohesive effort was needed in NASA Headquarters in the field of Life Sciences. OMSF, OART, and OSSA all had varied interests and responsibilities in the field, and a closer integration of the activities of these Program Offices was needed. The major interface with the DOD in Life Sciences was in the area of manned space flight, and the Director of Space Medicine,^* OMSF, had been the lead point of contact in NASA for coordination of the Life Sciences aspects of the manned space flight programs of the two Agencies. However, a need was felt for a single organization or entity in NASA Headquarters to represent NASA in the total external interface in the areas of space medicine and bioscience.

To this end, Defense Affairs was designated as the coordinating office in preparing a directive to establish an organization and procedures within NASA for effecting internal coordination in the field of Life Sciences and for representing NASA in the coordinating effort in Life Sciences carried on under the aegis of the SSR&T Panel of the AACB. Attached is a copy of the directive on the subject, signed by Dr. Seamans on July 9, 1964 (Attachment X).

At the meeting of the AACB on March 3, 1965, Dr. Bisplinghoff reported that the Life Sciences Sub-panel of the SSR&T Panel had completed its initial review of approximately 4,000 NASA and DOD work units and that only six cases of undesirable overlap or duplication had been found.

[117] Biosatellite Program - DOD Participation and Recovery Operations

Before the establishment of the Office of Defense Affairs, both NASA and the Air Force had manifested an interest in undertaking a biosatellite program, and apparently the Air Force had proposed a six-launch program to DOD. At a luncheon meeting on July 19, 1962, Mr. McNamara and Mr. Webb had agreed that:

(1) DOD would not fund the proposed USAF biosatellite program nor any portion of it;

 

(2) If such a program or some modification of it were to be supported, NASA would fund for it and assume program responsibility;

 

(3) NASA would utilize DOD resources especially bioastronautics resources, to the maximum, and would not duplicate these in undertaking the program;

 

(4) DOD would, in the event NASA decided to go forward with the program, charge NASA only the incremental costs of DOD's effort, and not prorated overhead costs.

In 1963, a NASA Biosatellite Program was activated, with the first flight scheduled for late 1965, five additional flights to follow at three-month intervals. (Actually, prolonged delays occurred in the program, and the first flight was not launched until December 14, 1966.) Steps were taken to reorient on-going NASA and USAF contractor and in-house studies to support the planned project and to utilize existing DOD resources to further program objectives. Coordinating mechanisms were established to insure that the objectives and needs of both NASA and the DOD were met in the NASA project to the maximum extent practicable. Mr. Richard Green of Defense Affairs was very active in setting up and monitoring the entire coordinating-process related to this project.

The operational plan for the Biosatellite Program called for deorbiting the spacecraft after a varying number of days in orbit, depending upon the mission, and the delivery of' the ejected capsule to a shore-based laboratory within a maximum of six hours from de-orbit. The Air Force agree-l to provide, on a reimbursable basis, an airborne recovery system and to conduct the recoveries; to provide airborne terminal tracking: of the reentering capsules; to make available space at Hickam AFB for a NASA receiving laboratory; and to deliver the recovered capsules to the laboratory. The primary mode of retrieval would be by aerial recovery, with a back-up capability in event of a water landing. The Air Force also agreed to prepare an operational recovery plan, conduct the development and qualification tests of the recovery system, an:] conduct crew training [118] peculiar to Biosatellite recovery. A NASA-USAF agreement, dated June 30, 1964, for "Support of the Recovery Phase of Biosatellite Project" was negotiated by Dr. Smith J. DeFrance, Director, Ames Research Center, and Maj. Gen. Ben. I. Funk, USAF, Commander, Space Systems Division, AFSC, and approved by General Ritland for AFSC and myself for NASA. Ames and SSD were given responsibility for carrying out the NASA and USAF obligations incurred under the terms of the Agreement. A Public Information Annex to the Agreement was also signed by Ritland and myself.

On the scientific and technical side there was very close coordination between OSSA and the Office of the DCS/Bioastronautics and Medicine, AFSC. The Air Force participated actively in the planning of the project and the preparation of experiments.

By letter dated September 24, 1965, Dr. A. H. Flax, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (R&D), forwarded to Dr. Seamans a proposed Memorandum of Understanding covering USAF participation in the Biosatellite Program, which had been jointly prepared by NASA and USAF representatives. This proposed agreement would have established a joint Steering Group to oversee the program. Specifically, the Steering Group would have been responsible for managing USAF participation in the Biosatellite flight series and charged with developing "a comprehensive plan for the execution, staffing, and funding of the Biosatellite Program."

DDR&E objected to the proposed agreement, probably fearing it could lead to DOD funding commitments, and requested that NASA withhold action. From my point of view, the proposed agreement virtually would have established joint direction of a project totally funded by NASA. I informed Flax by letter of November 17, 1965, that because of various programmatic considerations within the DOD we believed it would be advisable to continue to defer action on the formal agreement for the near term. At the same time, I indicated NASA's desire to continue to work informally or through the AACB with members of the Air Staff and AFSC to coordinate our mutual biosatellite program interests.

Three biosatellite flights were flown. The first failed to deorbit after working satisfactorily for three days. Its recovery through orbit decay was calculated and extensive provisional arrangements were made, with excellent Air Force and DOD support, for possible recovery, but the capsule was lost. The capsule from the second flight was recovered as planned by air-snatch. The third flight capsule made a water landing but was recovered in good time. The remaining three flights of the program were canceled.

[119-121] Attachment X. Memorandum: Subject: Coordination in the Life Sciences Field. July 9, 1964.

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