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7345033
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Exchange of remarks in a telephone call between the President, James C. Fletcher, and James Martin [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7345033
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document
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Exchange of remarks in a telephone call between the President, James C. Fletcher, and James Martin [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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7345033
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20
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1976-07-20
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7
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1976
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Digitized from Box 29 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 20, 1976
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
EXCHANGE OF REMARKS
IN A TELEPHONE CALL
BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT
AND
JAMES C. FLETCHER
NASA ADMINISTRATOR
AND
JAMES MARTIN
PROJECT COORDINATOR
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
THE OVAL OFFICE
9:21 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Fletcher?
MR. FLETCHER: Hello, Mr. President. Jim
Martin and myself are on the line.
THE PRESIDENT: It is nice to talk to you,
Jim Martin.
Let me congratulate Dr. Jim Fletcher, the
Administrator of NASA, and you, the Viking Project
Coordinator, for the just wonderful and most remarkable
success in this historic mission.
I also think it appropriate to thank the
thousands and thousands of dedicated scientists, tech-
nicians and other NASA personnel involved across the
country, as well as those from universities and private
industry who gave such invaluable assistance over the
long period of development and production.
I think it is amazing to think that in the span
of a single lifetime, the exploration of air and space
has grown from the dreams of a very, very few individuals
to such a massive cooperative reality. We have gone
from a flight of a few seconds and a few hundred feet
for a year-long journey to Mars, crossing some 440 million
miles.
Unfortunately, your search for a safe landing
forced you to delay the Viking's landing beyond the
scheduled July 4th date, but by an extraordinary co-
incidence, today is another historic anniversary. Seven
years ago, July 20, 1969, we received a transmission from
the moon telling us, "The Eagle has landed."
MORE
Page 2
Today's landing, like that one, represents
the realization of a dream that is many, many centuries
old. In a sense, it is even more significant for today
we are touching another planet, one that has long
excited mankind's imagination and this mission offers
the possibility of a momentous discovery in the history
of mankind -- the existence of life elsewhere in the
universe.
If the experiments of Vikings I and II do
not reveal living organisms, they will learn other
secrets of the universe. They will tell us a good many
things about our own planet, opening up new possibilities
for exploration and should produce knowledge that will
improve the quality of life right here on earth.
Our achievements in space represent not only
the height of technological skill, they also reflect
the best in our country -- our character, the capacity
for creativity and sacrifice and a willingness to
reach into the unknown.
To both of you Jims, and your associates, I
have designated today, July 20, 1976, as Space Exploration
Day and I strongly encourage all Americans to follow the
progress of our Viking missions and to reflect on our
journey into the unknown.
Now, either one of you two Jims, could I ask
a few questions?
MR. FLETCHER: Carry on, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: As far as I can tell, what
kind of shape is the spacecraft in?
MR. MARTIN: This is Jim Martin.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Jim.
MR. MARTIN: Mr. President, the spacecraft
seems to be extremely healthy. All the telemetry indica-
tions we have tell us it landed softly and safely. It
is just taking beautiful pictures.
THE PRESIDENT: Just a few moments ago, before
I came on the line, I saw some of the pictures and it is
almost impossible to visualize that that quality of
photography could be transmitted from 400-some million
miles back to the United States and have such a clear
resolution.
MORE
Page 3
What kind of movement, if any, do we anticipate
and, if there is any movement on Mars, how will it
appear?
MR. MARTIN: Well, Mr. President, if there is
real fast movement, like an animal, I am afraid it will
appear as a blur. If there is slow movement, like a
rock rolling along, or a slow cloud moving by in the
distance, we will probably see that go by.
Right now, all we are seeing is the landscape
with what may be blue sky in the distance. We have
only black and white at the moment, and we can't quite
see what is on the landscape at the moment but, if any-
thing moves slowly along on the landscape, we would
see it.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you have other pictures
which will be more definitive in a more localized area?
MR. MARTIN: Yes, we plan to take, over the
next two or three days, a series that will be right out
in front of the lander where we hope to dig a sample
about eight days from now. We will look for a safe place
to dig dirt that we will then put into the biology
experiments and into the organic analysis experiments.
MORE
Page 4
THE PRESIDENT: Is there any time limit on how
long you can take pictures of this quality?
MR. MARTIN: No, we believe from all of our
testing that we should be able to take pictures through the
primary mission, which extends to about the middle of
November. There is nothing really to wear out. This is a
line scan camera, facsimile camera. It takes a line at a
time, that is why it takes quite a while to take a
picture.
We will only get about three or four pictures a
dav, but they should all continue to be of good quality.
THE PRESIDENT: How long does it take, once the
picture is taken, to get the necessary resolution back to us
here on earth?
MR. MARTIN: The first picture you saw, which
included the footpad, took about five minutes to take on
Mars, and then it is transmitted by a relay radio up to the
orbiter flying overhead. Then the orbiter sends the picture
to earth and it takes about four times as long. So, it
took 20 minutes to send back the first picture from the
orbiter and then this bigger picture that is coming in now
with the panorama will take about 40 minutes, with some
factor.
THE PRESIDENT: Apparently everything is going
extremely well, your spectrometers, your so-called cookers,
as they are called, everything is going A Okay.
MR. MARTIN: Everything is really fine. We, of
course, haven't and won't operate some of the instruments
for a few days. We did measure the constituent composition
of the atmosphere as we came down through it and all
indications are that the instruments worked just fine. We
don't know yet what the atmosphere is, but we will know in
a few hours.
THE PRESIDENT: When do you anticipate that
Viking II will go through a same process?
MR. MARTIN: Viking II arrives at the planet on
August 7, and we will put it into orbit on that day. Right
now our plan is to land it on September 4.
THE PRESIDENT: Have you picked the place where it
will land or not?
MR. MARTIN: Not yet, Mr. President.
MORE
Page 5
MR. FLETCHER: No, Mr. President, we are still
looking for two choices, one south of the Equator and
one up closer to the polar cap, about 45 degrees north
latitude.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the two of them then will
be there simultaneously and operating from different
locations?
MR. MARTIN: Yes, that is one of our hopes because
we have a seismometer on board, and if we can measure a
Mars quake with both landers, then we can locate quite
precisely where it is on the surface of the planet.
THE PRESIDENT: Do we have any plans for Viking III,
et cetera?
MR. FLETCHER: Mr. President, we are thinking very
hard about that right now. I just got a big bunch of applause
on that question.
THE PRESIDENT: I suspected there might be approval
among all of you for such a landing and such a project.
MR. MARTIN: Mr. President, the time is ready for
Vikings III, IV, V and VI.
THE PRESIDENT: Give everybody my very best, Jim
Fletcher and Jim Martin, and thank all of those there with
you and transmit to all of the others, whether they were in
our colleges, universities, and NASA, wherever else they
were, for a job well done, and let me express to each of
you and all of the group my very best wishes for a great
job. We are all very proud of you.
MR. MARTIN: We appreciate those kind words, Mr.
President.
THE PRESIDENT: Good luck.
END
(AT 9:32 A.M. EDT)