"Don’t Expect Too Much”

Press, Volume C, Issue 29503, 3 May 1961, Page 15

"Don’t Expect Too Much”

(hi.Zr Association— Copy rig ntt CAPE CANAVERAL, May 1. The director of the National Aeronautics Space Administration (Mr James Webb) cautioned America tonight not to expect too much from the first manned space flight and not to be disheartened by any space failures.

"Our Srst manned space flight is an important milestone in the progress of our space effort,” Mr Webb said “But we must keep the persnective that each flight is but one of the many milestones we must pass.

“Some will completely succeed in every respect, some partially, and some will fail.”

In bis statement. Mr Webb pointed out that Americans have free access to news of all space tests while the Soviet Union was able to keep secret all but its successes

“I think the press and the public should be aware tha*. this frequently places a serious psychological burden on the United States,” he said. “The recent Soviet flight was already successfully in progress before announced and neither details nor the scientific data collected are yet available." Mr Webb said

In Washington today Senator John William said he had asked the United States Government to put off the astronaut launching until "some future undisclosed date" to avoid a widely publicised blow to American prestige if the attempt should fail.

He told the Senate: “We are witnessing another tre-

mendous build-up of a project which, if successful, will represent a great step forward in American space exploration, but which, if a failure, will be looked upon as another American fiasco.” He said he did not believe any consideration was being given to "what effect this tremendous build-up will have upon the American prestige should the attempt be a failure.”