01-May-2007, 04:08 AM
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Established Member
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 564
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by novaderrik
i'm sure the congressional delegation from the Houston area made some pretty sweet deals
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On September 19, 1961, Administrator James E. Webb of NASA formally announced that the new Manned Spacecraft Center would be built in southeastern Harris County, Texas, about twenty-five miles from downtown Houston, at the edge of Clear Lake, an inlet of Galveston Bay.qv Rice University was to transfer a 1,000-acre tract to the federal government for the construction of the center. Civic leaders and congressmen from other states doubted that Houston and environs met all of NASA's official criteria, at least any more than their towns did. They inquired about the roles of Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson,qv chairman of the high-level National Aeronautics and Space Council, and Representative Albert Thomas,qv also a Democrat and Texan and chairman of the Independent Offices Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, in the choice of the Harris County site. Webb and other NASA officials denied all charges and suggestions of political influence, pointed to Houston's obvious attractiveness in relation to NASA's criteria, and added that the planned expansion of the Cape Canaveral launch facilities, the establishment of the Michoud Plant on the Pearl River, and proximity to the Marshall Space Flight Center in northern Alabama made the choice appropriate.
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Handbook of Texas Online: LYNDON B. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER
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