(NAS); several members of AMSOC were also members of NAS. The proposal resulted in a $15,000 grant in June 1958 for a feasibility study of Mohole, and Willard N. Bascom, an ocean engineer, oceanographer, and geologist, became the Executive Secretary of AMSOC.

On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite that initiated the Space Race and a revolution