Q. Mr. President, it has been the stated policy, as you said earlier, for this Government to restrict outer space for peaceful objectives only.
Will not the proposed H-bomb explosion 500 miles up jeopardize this policy and objective?
THE PRESIDENT.
No, I don't think so.
I don't think so.
I know there's been disturbance about the Van Allen belt...
but Van Allen says it's not going to affect the belt....
May 9th, 1962
The term "cosmic rays" became taboo in serious scientific discourse - in spite of the fact that the cosmic rays and the enormous belts of non-ionising radiation characterising the Earth's magnetosphere had gone absolutely no-where in the interim.
Even Stan Lee and Jack Kirby could appreciate their great scientific import and potential for great risk:
"But it is a matter which we are--I've read the protests and it is a matter which we are looking into to see whether there is scientific merit that this will cause some difficulty to the Van Allen belt in a way which will adversely affect scientific discovery. And this is being taken into very careful consideration at the present time. So that I want you to know that whatever our decision is, in regard to the Van Allen belt, it will be done only after very careful scientific deliberation, which is now taking place--during this past week--and will go on for a period. In regard, generally, what we are attempting to do is to find out the effects of such an explosion on our security, and we do not believe that this will adversely affect the security of any person not living in the United States."
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