National Aeronautics and Space Council file

OFFICIAL USE ONLY EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT NATIONAL AERONAUTICS and SPACE COUNCIL WASHINGTON MEMORANDUM FOR July 18, 1963 Mr. Robert F. Packard Office of International Scientific Affairs Department of State Washington 25, D. C. SUBJECT: Thoughts on the Space Alien Race Q…

OFFICIAL USE ONLY - 2 - of two stars would be an extremely rare event, it followed that there would be very few other planetary systems in the universe and, in- deed, perhaps this was the only one. Religious belief said, further- more, that life was a gift bestowed by God. This w…

OFFICIAL USE ONLY - 3 - probably existed on our other planets. Some of the discussions about life on Mars at the turn of the century seem to indicate a strong urge to want to find intelligent life elsewhere. Today, the situation is completely reversed, and although intelligent li…

OFFICIAL USE ONLY - 4 - to spill around to this side. (2) The infra-red scans which show hot spots. These would be interpreted as indications of cities or at least mining camps. (3) The fact that no lunar or planetary probe of signi- ficance has been successful, in spite of major…

OFFICIAL USE ONLY - 5 - throughout the whole system. Since the earliest known remains of man have recently been dated at approximately one million seven- hundred thousand years, a sustained drive for merely two hundred thousand years may not be unreasonable. Of course, if we were…

OFFICIAL USE ONLY - 6 - the moment to prepare for these possibilities (the only body of writing on the subject available in an emergency is science fiction), because no one of consequence is going to take this rubbish seriously unless it happens. At that point, our policy will be…