Chapter 87: Nasa Finally Takes The Lead For Once
“Mr. President, the Cape Canaveral Launch Site will launch Pioneer 5 on the 10th of next month.
James Webber invites you to attend the ceremony. Do you have plans to go?”
Lyndon Johnson came to Kennedy’s office to ask.
Kennedy’s pen tip glided across the surface of the documents on the desk, sunlight slanting in through the windows of the Oval Office, leaving a mark on his tie.
Lyndon Johnson could smell the lingering cigar scent wafting from the file cabinet.
For this White House, they had just suffered a crushing defeat against the Soviet Union.
That was the infamous Bay of Pigs Invasion.
No need to go into too much detail here.
In short, it was seen as a major blunder, blamed on the White House’s shortsightedness and lack of execution ability in Latin America, leading to widespread criticism from both domestic and international sources.
And precisely because of the failure of the Bay of Pigs, the failure of NASA’s Freedom 7 launch in May was hardly worth mentioning.
Compared to the Bay of Pigs, Freedom 7 was somewhat more presentable.
After reading the report, Kennedy’s eyes lit up, his distinctive Boston accent ringing out in the office: “Can NASA ensure they will definitely capture photos of the lunar surface?”
Lyndon Johnson’s reply was very cautious: “They think they can.”
Kennedy thought for a moment: “I’ll go personally to Cape Canaveral to watch the launch. If it’s successful, I’ll celebrate with them.
If they can bring back photos from the Moon, I guarantee NASA’s budget next year will double as James Webber hopes.
Also, before success, have the White House Press Secretary keep a low profile in interviews, and we’ll promote it heavily after success.”
Kennedy was equally cautious.
Mainly because NASA had too many failure cases.
September 10, 1961
Florida, Cape Canaveral
The observation platform three kilometers from the launch tower was filled with the smell of tobacco.
Kennedy’s gesture of holding a cigarette with three fingers upright looked like some prayer ritual in the glaring sunlight.
“Thirty seconds”
The countdown from the broadcast shook morning dew from the palm leaves.
White House bureaucrats were all gathered here.
No reporters, only the team of photographers led by the White House Press Secretary to record all this.
If successful, these precious photos would be provided to the media for promoting a great victory for the White House.
Lyndon Johnson felt the vibration on the handrail of the observation platform; below it was buried a speaking tube straight to the control room.
The entire Cape Canaveral Launch Site had already been thoroughly checked from top to bottom by some IA.
The aftermath of the Freedom 7 insider incident was far from over.
Lyndon Johnson saw sweat beads rolling over Director Webber’s forehead across the NASA badge—this veteran bureaucrat had specially changed into NASA’s newly developed silver spacesuit today.
“Randolph, are you confident?” James Webber stood beside Kennedy, while Lin Ran stood beside Lyndon Johnson.
Having worked together for half a year, Lin Ran was very familiar with Lyndon Johnson’s style, and Lyndon was equally familiar with him.
Lin Ran said firmly: “Of course, we’ve made full preparations. This time, success is the only possibility; failure is not.
Mathematicians pursue rigorousness, the perfect alignment of theory and reality.”
“Trajectory matches the prediction perfectly!” The sudden cheer from the control room exploded through the loudspeaker.
Launch Center’s new Director Robert Seamans watched the green dot on the monitor screen perfectly overlap with the prediction line Lin Ran had drawn in red ink in his memory. Even after witnessing the other’s miracles countless times, he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly:
“Professor Lin’s mathematical foundation is truly too profound.”
At the launch site viewing area, the launch center’s messenger walked to Lin Ran and said a few words, then Lin Ran stood in the middle and said:
“Everyone, the Pioneer 5 probe has successfully entered the predetermined orbit. It is expected to reach the Moon at seven o’clock tomorrow evening.
When the Pioneer probe reaches the Moon, NASA will notify the White House and Congress immediately.”
Polite applause rose at the scene.
One day later, Kennedy, already back at the White House, received a report from White House Chief of Staff Kenneth O’Donnell after dinner:
“Mr. President, the Pioneer probe has successfully landed. We can announce this good news to the world.”
Kenneth O’Donnell usually worked in the White House West Wing, which also had an office reserved for Lin Ran, then returned home in the evening.
Today was an exceptional situation. To wait for news from NASA, and to notify the President immediately upon NASA’s news, Kenneth O’Donnell stayed overnight at the White House.
Kennedy nodded: “Good, have Pierre Salinger hold a press conference and announce this good news to the outside.
Also, the photos? Are there photos!”
He valued this more.
For so many years, satellites were launched first by the Soviet Union, probe moon landings were done first by the Soviet Union, and far side of the Moon photos were also achieved first by the Soviet Union.
America had always been in a passive position of chasing.
If the Pioneer probe could successfully transmit moon photos, NASA would finally take the lead for once.
“There are photos, but not the lunar surface photos they hoped for. The camera equipment’s lens was aimed at the Moon’s sky, and the mechanical device responsible for position correction malfunctioned during the hard landing.
Thus, only photos of the Moon’s sky were transmitted back.”
Kennedy said excitedly: “That’s enough!
The first photos ever taken from the Moon by humanity—this is America’s great victory.”
As long as you add enough qualifiers, you can always find a first.
Just like Pioneer 5: even if deviated 60,000 kilometers from the Moon, it was the first human spacecraft to deviate by 60,000 kilometers.
But taking photos on the Moon does have some real value.
“Tomorrow morning, I want to see it on the front-page headlines of all media: America’s great victory in the space race.
Newspapers that don’t report it won’t be invited to White House press conferences in the future.” Kennedy added.
Tonight, from Washington to Chicago, from New York to San Francisco, wherever there was a newspaper company, lights were blazing.
Everyone rushed to grab the front page for the next day after getting the White House press release and photos.
Newspapers already printed had to be entirely adjusted.
“The successful landing of the Pioneer probe marks a huge breakthrough in algorithm optimization. The gravitational perturbation model, launch angle prediction, and application of IBM computers allowed NASA to achieve the goal without hardware modification. This success lays the foundation for subsequent moon landing programs and proves the infinite potential of scientific computing in aerospace.”
The White House press release was relatively formal. Time Magazine urgently produced a special issue on the space race to catch this wave of heat the next day.
The cover prominently featured a misaligned eye contact of headshots of Lin Ran and Korolev.
And four chapters
