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T O P I C R E V I E WBMckayWas Senator Edward Kennedy a friend, a foe or neutral about the space program and NASA?pupnikProbably leaning towards foe. NASA tended to be an easy target for him when he wanted more social spending. He was also one of the loud voices about scaling back NASA in the late 60's/early 70's. Fra MauroDefinite foe.randyI agree. Definite foe.Robert PearlmanInterestingly, Ted Kennedy's election to the Senate and NASA's history are intertwined in the form of the Electronics Research Center in Cambridge, the only major NASA center to be closed. The Electronics Research Center was at the heart of political controversy from the start. The conception, siting, and shutting down of the ERC is an engaging political tale. President Kennedy and Webb kept the project out of the budget process until after Ted Kennedy's successful first election to the Senate. His campaign slogan had promised that he could "do more for Massachusetts." After the President belatedly put the ERC project in the budget process, Congress rebelled. In addition to Republican members, Representatives from the Midwest and other regions feeling swindled out of the NASA largesse repeatedly fought efforts to fund the ERC. The issue split the Congress along both party and regional lines (Murphy). As a result, the ERC had the most deliberated and defended existence and siting of any NASA Center. Had the ERC remained open, who knows, Sen. Kennedy may have become an advocate for NASA, at least where it applied to the ERC's activities, just as Sen. Mikulski became a steadfast supporter of the Goddard Space Flight Center and Space Telescope Science Institute.Go4LaunchSen. Kennedy and then-wife Joan were guests at the Apollo 8 launch.BlackarrowIs it true or apocryphal that Ted Kennedy declined an invitation to the launch of Apollo 11, which would probably have been followed by a visit as a guest of honour to Mission Control, because he was going to a party on Martha's Vineyard, where he met a girl called Mary Jo...?
The Electronics Research Center was at the heart of political controversy from the start. The conception, siting, and shutting down of the ERC is an engaging political tale. President Kennedy and Webb kept the project out of the budget process until after Ted Kennedy's successful first election to the Senate. His campaign slogan had promised that he could "do more for Massachusetts." After the President belatedly put the ERC project in the budget process, Congress rebelled. In addition to Republican members, Representatives from the Midwest and other regions feeling swindled out of the NASA largesse repeatedly fought efforts to fund the ERC. The issue split the Congress along both party and regional lines (Murphy). As a result, the ERC had the most deliberated and defended existence and siting of any NASA Center.
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