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The price tag is high, but the U.S. can well afford its leap into space. A study by the National Planning Association projects a gross national product of $470 billion by 1960. On that basis, the U.S. could spend $54 billion annually on defense and count it as only 11.5% of G.N.P., far less than the 14.7% Korean war rate. Living standards could still rise faster than during the last decade. A second N.P.A. study assumes defense spending of $64 billion annually by 1960. Again, it would take only 13.6% of the predicted national product, and the U.S. could enjoy the same annual increase in living standards it has today, though taxes might rise temporarily.
Brains & Frying Pans. The new age of space promises entire new industries working not just for the military but for the benefit of all. Even in its earliest stages, the U.S. space program absorbs the efforts of more than 50,000 companies spread across the length and breadth of the U.S., from giant planemakers to tiny, ten-man electronic plants producing magnetic memory-drums for missile guidance systems. Atlas missile contracts alone spread through 5,000 U.S. companies, calling forth new ideas and better skills everywhere. Yesterday's $2-an-hour production line worker can be trained for a job in electronics that pays $5 an hour —or, if he has a bright idea, he can set up shop himself and build his own million-dollar business.
In Skokie, Ill., two bright young scientists named Leonard and Albert Sperry started out during World War II with an idea for electronic information-gathering systems for civilian and military customers. Today, the Sperrys' Panellit, Inc. builds monitoring devices for the Army's Jupiter ballistic missile, is at work on a portable atomic reactor, and produces a series of central control systems for atomic submarines, oil refineries and electric utility plants. Estimated 1957 sales: $9,000,000, up 25% from 1956. In the same way, Chicago's Cook Electric Co. made full use of a dozen new developments in electronics, atomic isotopes, plastics and ceramics, will see sales grow from $24.6 million in 1956 to $30 million or better next year. Says President W. C. Hasselhorn: "We compare our philosophy with that of a motion picture studio, where the stars are the main assets, and the talents the principal source of income. Our stars are scientists and their talent our income."
Inevitably, the fruits of the space race will filter down to every corner of U.S. life. The same electronic brain that guides a missile can run a factory machine or operate a household gadget; the superhard nose-cone ceramic for an ICBM makes a fine lining for a blast furnace, a good construction material, or a housewife's frying pan. The nation's radio and TV sets will have tiny, shockproof tubes that never wear out; there will be rocket airliners, rocket freighters and rocket mail ships.