Chapter 74: What does James Webb want to do?

"Professor Lin, you've finally come."

Seeing Lin Ran at the Redstone Arsenal, James Webb first gave the other party a hug, his attitude very enthusiastic.

He couldn't be anything but enthusiastic.

He had been appointed NASA Administrator half a month earlier than Lin Ran. Clearly, in this place where PhDs walk everywhere and masters are worse than dogs, it was very difficult for him, a former lawyer, to quickly control the situation.

And the goal given to them by this White House was to complete a manned moon landing within Kennedy's term.

Kennedy hadn't announced the moon landing plan to the outside world yet, but whether it was the White House or NASA, everyone knew this very well; this was their most important task.

The current NASA found it very difficult to give people this kind of confidence; let alone the public, even within NASA, everyone doubted whether they could do it.

"Sir, that's right. I originally thought Mr. Johnson would give me some time, but he kicked me from Washington D. C. to Alabama with one order." Lin Ran joked.

James Webb explained: "This is Johnson's style—simple and direct.

You'll get used to it."

Immediately after, he pulled a stack of documents from the drawer of his oak desk and handed them to Lin Ran:

"Professor Lin, this is NASA's important work for this year.

It includes the first space flight two months from now; if it goes smoothly, then a second suborbital flight will be conducted in July.

Also, there is a plan to launch the Ranger program this year, launching probes to the moon to take photos.

This is NASA's plan; the stack of materials below that is what I want to do.

Because NASA was only established three years ago, it's less of an agency and more of a loose alliance composed of multiple research institutions; it includes multiple research centers like Langley, Lewis, and Goddard, lacks a unified direction, and is even more loose in management.

I have roughly thought of a plan to adjust NASA's entire structure.

Finally, our current annual budget is 500 million USD, which is far from enough; I believe this budget must be increased to at least 1 billion USD to have a possibility of completing a manned moon landing by the end of the 60s.

That is my rough concept. After you look at it, I hope you will give me a reply as soon as possible after sorting it out; I am very much looking forward to your suggestions."

James Webb knew Lin Ran's scope of authority, and he didn't mind giving this great mathematician a chance if the other party could really show sufficient ability.

He was responsible for management, and the other party was responsible for control over research.

Even without Lin Ran's existence, James Webb would have given Deputy Administrator Hugh Dryden similar authority in the original space-time, letting him make decisions together with himself.

Now that Lin Ran was here, James Webb wanted to see how Lin Ran's quality was, whether he could shoulder this heavy responsibility.

After Lin Ran took this stack of materials from the other party, he nodded: "Alright, I will give you an answer as soon as possible."

Immediately after was a silence lasting half a month. During this half-month period, besides specifically understanding the suborbital flight NASA was about to conduct, Lin Ran didn't make any moves.

Of course, Lin Ran had been pulling James Webb along during this half-month, not by himself.

"Mr. Webb, for the next half-month, I need you to be with me. I have a rough idea, but you have to testify for me that I'm not playing tricks."

Lin Ran insisted on pulling James Webb along, even though the other party felt his work was overwhelming, a mess, and had too much work to handle.

What James Webb had to do was reform, restructuring the existing NASA from the bottom-level architecture. Facing Lin Ran's request, he was very confused: "What do you want me to do?"

Lin Ran explained: "Our first manned space mission is to start in May. The Freedom 7 space capsule was already transported to Cape Canaveral on December 9 last year.

It will be used as the spacecraft for this manned space mission.

The earliest planned launch time for this project was December last year, which was the first moment it was transported to Cape Canaveral.

Later they found that the reaction control system still had problems, so it was postponed to March 6, which is five days from now.

But because the launch device had a small problem, its launch has to be postponed again, requiring re-simulation testing and equipment debugging.

The current planned time is May 2, and the re-installation of the reaction control system is in five days. I need you to accompany me to see with your own eyes how they do this thing.

I have some inspiration and need to go to the scene to know.

Also, I have to prove that the failure of this plan has nothing to do with me, that I didn't play any tricks.

So the whole process requires your participation, and it's best if the White House sends another person who can be trusted to participate throughout."

James Webb immediately became spirited: "Are you implying that this manned space mission will fail?"

America really couldn't afford to fail anymore.

Soviet Russia had already sent Gagarin into space; if they failed again, the cold mockery from the other camp's newspapers would be one thing, but America's own newspapers would also mock them.

James Webb came to NASA to make NASA great, not to become a joke again.

Lin Ran explained: "How many failures has NASA experienced in the past five years?

I even counted them completely at the hearing; the number of NASA's failures can't be counted with one hand.

Added to this manned space flight, hasn't it already had two problems, postponed twice continuously from the original October to May of this year?

Is it strange for it to have problems again?

Sir, you have to hold the mindset that NASA having problems is the norm and not having problems is rare when dealing with it."

James Webb was speechless, because Lin Ran was actually right.

He had worked at NASA for over a month, and the word "failure" in the internal files he had seen was countless.

It was precisely because he had seen so many failures that he wanted to adjust the organizational structure.

Lin Ran continued: "Opportunities are often hidden in difficulties.

I vaguely feel that this might just be a great opportunity to reverse NASA's image in the public's mind.

Not only can it reconstruct NASA's image in the public's mind, but it can also make our reorganization of NASA's organizational structure smoother."

After listening, James Webb said: "Professor Lin, tell me, what should we do? I will fully cooperate with you."

"Let's go to Cape Canaveral together first to see the re-installation of the Freedom 7 space capsule's reaction control system with our own eyes."

Lin Ran knew very well that during Alan Shepard's first manned space flight in the Freedom 7 spacecraft, a key control system malfunction occurred: the automatic attitude control system failed to correct the spacecraft's roll, causing Shepard to have to intervene manually to stabilize the spacecraft.

This malfunction was an opportunity for Lin Ran, a perfect opportunity to further seize the right to speak and influence. ===== CHAPTER 75 =====