Message to the Congress Transmitting Report "U.S. Aeronautics and Space Activities, 1967."

To the Congress of the United States:

This report details a year--and climaxes a decade--of American progress in space.

On January 31, 1958, a 31-pound EXPLORER I was fired from a JUPITER C rocket with 150,000 pounds of thrust. Ten years later, on November 9, 1967, a 280,000-pound APOLLO payload was launched into orbit by a SATURN V rocket with 7.5 million pounds of thrust.

In the time spanning those two events, the United States has placed 514 spacecrafts in earth orbit. Twenty-eight others have been sent on flights to the moon or distant planets.

The technology amassed through those expeditions has justified this nation's commitment to conquer the challenge of space. It has encouraged us to lift our eyes beyond our initial goals and plan for the decade ahead.

The fruits of that technology have not been limited to space exploration alone. The knowledge built through our space program has benefitted our earthbound lives. It has:

--revolutionized communications throughout the world;

--given us better weather information and more accurate navigational and geographic data;

--brought improved medical instruments and techniques, advanced education, and added to our store of scientific knowledge;

--spurred the development of more sophisticated aircraft and improved flight safety;

--strengthened both the security of this nation and our leadership in the search for a peaceful and secure world.

We can look with confidence to an expansion of these benefits as our space program moves into its second decade.

Our accomplishments thus far point to the path of progress ahead: fuller observations of the earth, increasingly productive manned flights, and planetary exploration.

The year 1967 itself began with a major tragedy. Three of our gallant astronauts died in a fire while testing the APOLLO capsule on the launching pad. Even as we saluted these men for the contributions they had made, we moved to improve the spacecraft as well as the safety procedures surrounding its use.

But though the year was shadowed by that disaster, its accomplishments significantly advanced our progress. The SATURN-APOLLO flight in November was the greatest launch triumph to date. As the result of our success in photographing lunar landing sites, we have for the first time a complete mapping of the moon.

It is most heartening to me that our space program moved forward in a spirit of international cooperation, giving new hope that the conquest of space can contribute to the establishment of peace. Eighty-four nations participated in cooperative space activities with us. The Outer Space Treaty went into effect, after Senate approval. The United Nations unanimously recommended a procedure for the emergency rescue and return of astronauts and space equipment. I shall shortly be sending that treaty to the Senate.

It is with pleasure that I transmit this record of achievement to the Members of Congress, whose judgment and support have been essential to our aerospace progress.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House

January 30, 1968