In 1961, NASA realized that the Indian Ocean region was a black hole of data relating to the wind structure of the upper atmosphere which was badly needed for NASA's satellite/Apollo programs. NASA offered all countries on the littoral of the Indian Ocean help to establish rocket ranges in order to obtain such data on condition of fully sharing it with NASA. President Ayub Khan accompanied by his Chief Scientific Advisor Prof. Abdus Salam were on a state visit in the U.S at the time. Pakistan seized the offer and Prof. Abdus Salam invited Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission's (PAEC) senior engineer Tariq Mustafa to join him in meeting with NASA officials in September 1961 to finalize the arrangement and Pakistan was the first country to take up the offer.