NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR The President The White House Washington D C Dear Mr President WASHINGTON 25 D C JU 2 9 196 · DECLASSIFIED Authority E O J Jl2 SEC 5 A and ' D By b - j' ' N ARS Date - I I - tf National Security Action Memorandum No 285 requested fur ther recommendations for cooperation with the Soviet Union on outer s pace matters a ppropriate to the Soviet attitude as of May 1 Action was de f erred p ending d iscussions which were scheduled to be gin i n late May in Geneva between Dr Dryden and Academicia n Blagonravov These discussions ended June 6 Their immediate product was a Second Memo randum of Understanding and a protocol providing for 1 further implementation of the existing bilateral agree ment and 2 new cooperation in the pre paration and publi cation of a major review of s pace biology and medicine in the US and USSR with some consideration of future prob lems in this field The following briefly summarizes Soviet performance and attitudes thus far 1 Meteorological Satellite Cooperation--The Soviet delay so far in proceeding with this project is attributed by the Soviet side to technical factors and this is be lieved quite plausible A separate protocol on the subject signed in Geneva shows Soviet interest in prompt establishment of the long-agreed communications link be tween Washington and Moscow for exchange first of con ventional weather data and in early 1965 satellite data A strong Soviet bid to abandon the earlier agreement for equal sharing of the cost of this link was dropped in the face of US insistence on mutuality and adherence to prior commitments 2 Satellite Communications-- The initial experiments with the passive satellite ECHO II were completed in early C C'UP 4 •- - r c e a t 3 yea · _ _ s d e classified ' · 12 rs --eoI'iFIDENTIAL 2 March The Soviet experimenters have submitted an unu sually comprehensive and apparently useful report which NASA is now evaluating The Soviet side wished to defer discussion in Geneva · of further experiments although Dr Dryden had proposed additional work with ECHO II as well as joint experiments with the active repeater communications satellites TELSTAR or RELAY _ 3 Geomagnetic Mapping by Satellite--Work is pro ceeding independently in each country Exchange of data obtained by certain ground-based observatories in support of the satellite projects has begun 4 Space iolo and Medicine--A proposal for co operation in this fie was made by the Soviet group apparently in belated respo se to President Kennedy's first letter to Chairman Khrushchev on space cooperation in March 1962 The procedure for joint preparation of a comprehensive two or three-volume review of past Soviet and American work in space biology and medicine with some attention to future problems was structured in accordance with an American counterproposal The result offers a first step along the path delineated in our report to you last January 31 on future cooperation with the Soviet Union Consistent with that report the biology and medicine agreement for the first time opens the way to cooperation· in an area related to manned space f light moreover since the So viet Union is to provide reports or studies of its past work in this field we shall have the desired opportunity to test the information supplied by the Soviet Union in the course of this project a gainst our ind ependent infor mation Soviet acceptance of each of the points put forward in this counterproposal a gain suggests increas ing Soviet interest in reaching at lea st· limited a gree ments The project is to be d irected by a Joint Editorial Board of American and Soviet e x perts who will d etermine the detailed substantive content o f the pub lica tion com panion a rticles on e a ch subject a re to be prepared inde pendently by Soviet and America n a uthors covering the work in their own count ries I t may b e h o pe d that t h is d evice will stimulate greater effort on the Soviet side to pro duce serious and comparable work The final product will be published in English by the United States and in Rus sian by the Soviet Union with each country funding its own share of the work The Joint Editorial Board is to be chosen by next Octo ber 1 and is to complete all planning work including the selection of authors and their instruction by Decem ber 1 of this year Manuscripts are to be completed by the middle of 1965 with publication foreseen during 1966 The Soviet group had also proposed that the US and the USSR engage in a joint program of research in closed ecological systems of critical importance to long duration manned space flights This proposal in fact contemplated a program of independent research in each country but directed at common objectives Dr Dryden's team concluded that the prospects for proceeding pru dently and meaningfully with such a joint research program could be evaluated with more confidence in Soviet objectives after observing their performance in the proj ect for exchange of past results and further plans in the overall field of space biology and medicine This deci sion is also consistent with the tactics laid out in the earlier report 5 Review--The agreements reached in Geneva are undergoing review here and in Moscow Barring second thoughts they should go into effect after a confirming exchange of correspondence during July • _ In general the areas of cooperation upon which agreement has already been reached appear to represent the degree of involvement with the United States which the Soviets are willing to undertake at this time Further projects of comparable character may however become negotiable in the near future For example in private conversation with Academician Blagonravov Dr Dryden sought to deter mine the current Soviet attitude toward cooperation in manned flight programs such as was proposed by President Kennedy and reiterated by Ambassador Stevenson on your 3 CONFIDEI'tTIAL 4 behalf last fall Blagonravov responded by expressing generalized interest in the NASA program for soft landing · of instrumented packages on the moon although he was · clearly not prepared to take the lead in suggesting any specific possibilities for cooperation · In the circumstances and assuming that the Soviet side will demonstrate a desire to fulfill its existing com mitments on the matters which come up for action in the next several months we feel that the United States should adopt as positive an approach toward the next confrontation between Dr Dryden and Academician Blag onravov as national program requirements will permit The sessions of ·the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in New York next October will provide the next opportunity for uch meeting At that time we believe we should be prepared l ' to encourage the Soviet side ta expand upon its interest in the lunar soft-landing program 2 to have concrete and realistic proposals of our own in this area and 3 to encourage and respond to any new initiatives which may be forthcoming from the Soviet Union at that time Be yond this any more far-reaching overtures by the United States at the present time would appear to go beyond the Soviet's current state of readiness Respectfully yours