“Tough as the technical issues were, program mismanagement would initially be a bigger problem. The project became a joint ARPA-U.S. Air Force effort in 1958. In 1959, (the new) NASA assumed ARPA’s role. One year later, NASA shifted Centaur management to its new Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), but Wernher von Braun’s team, already busy with Saturn development, gave Centaur little attention, actually stalling funding at one point.
“The failure led to a congressional investigation by the House Subcommittee on Science and Astronautics. The Subcommittee focused on what it called ‘weak’ program management caused by the joint USAF/MSFC arrangement.”
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Sd Kyle’s
Atlas Centaur LV-3C Development History
SpaceLaunchReport.com
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