Page:The Air Force Role In Developing International Outer Space Law (Terrill, 1999).djvu/62

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Pin-on ceremony for Brig Gen Martin Menter. Maj Gen Kuhfeld (left) and Brig Gen Manss (right) do the honors.

These precepts were in accord with the positions taken and advocated by the Air Force.

Even as the space policy was being finalized in 1959, parts of the military remained disgruntled with the Eisenhower administration's space-for-peace policy. In a 16 December 1959 memorandum regarding Air Force space policy to Maj Gen Harold C. Donnelly, assistant DCS for plans and programs, Maj Gen Richard M. Montgomery articulated the military's frustration with being caught between its obligation to protect the United States and complying with Eisenhower's space-for-peace policy. Acknowledging the existence of the space-for-peace policy, Montgomery stated, "the Air Force believes that there is a great potential in space from a military standpoint, and that this potential must be developed."[1]

The United States continued its effort to evolve its space policy that culminated when President Eisenhower signed NSC 5918/1, U.S. Policy on Outer Space, on 26 January 1960. This last policy statement continued to emphasize NASA's role in the US space program. In a 1961 study for NASA, RAND concluded somewhat tentatively but importantly that,


  1. Bowen, 187, cites Montgomery to Donnelly, memorandum, subject: Draft Statement of Air Force Policy with Regard to Space.

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