of the program, at a cost of under $6 million, suggested that, with a more powerful engine and the addition of upper stages, the Viking rocket could be made a vehicle capable of launching an Earth satellite. In October 1952, the General Assembly of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) adopted a proposal to undertake simultaneous observations of geophysical phenomena over the entire surface of the Earth. The International Geophysical Year (IGY), set for 1957–58, would involve the efforts of a multitude of nations in such farflung regions as the Arctic and Antarctica. In January 1955, Radio Moscow announced that the Soviet Union might be expected to launch a satellite in the near future. This announcement galvanized American space efforts; in the same month, the National Academy of Sciences' IGY committee established a Technical Panel on Rocketry to evaluate plans to orbit an American satellite. On 26 May 1955, the U.S. National Security Council also endorsed a satellite program. On 8 June, United States Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson directed Assistant Secretary Donald A. Quarles to coordinate the implementation of a satellite program, with the United States Department of Defense providing the rocket and launch facilities, and the civilian IGY National Committee producing the satellite and its experimental package, the National Science Foundation being intermediary between the two agencies. A committee, under the chairmanship of Homer J. Stewart of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was developed to manage the project to weigh and choose between the available satellite orbiting options. They were Project Orbiter, an Army plan to use a slightly modified Redstone (a ) range surface-to-surface missile developed the prior year) combined with upper stages to put a satellite into orbit, which could be tracked optically., and the NRL plan to develop an orbital capability for the Viking (Project Vanguard). On 28 July, confident that a satellite could be lofted during the IGY, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's press secretary, James Hagerty, announced that a satellite would officially be among the United States' contributions to the IGY. The Soviets responded four days later with their own announcement of a planned IGY satellite launch. By 9 September, the Stewart Committee had chosen Vanguard over Orbiter, citing the Navy's impressive planned Minitrack communications technology and network as well as both the civilian nature and the greater growth potential of the Viking/Vanguard rocket. The contract authorizing the construction of two more Viking rockets to