Dec 6 1972
From The Space Library
NASA's M2-F3 lifting body, piloted by Cecil Powell, completed 25th flight from Flight Research Center after air-launch from B-52 aircraft. Objectives of flight were to evaluate command augmentation system; to obtain stability and control data at mach 1.1, mach 0.8, and mach 0.7; and to check out pitch-reaction augmentation system. All objectives were achieved. M2-F3 reached 19 800-m (65 000-ft) altitude and mach 1.3. (NASA proj off)
International Business Machines Corp. outlined variety of computers used in launching and tracking manned spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center for Judge David N. Edelstein, who was hearing Justice Dept. antitrust suit against IBM [see Nov. 23]. Judge and party would leave KSC for Goddard Space Flight Center Dec. 7 to examine computer operations there. (Today, 12/7/72)
Newspaper editorials commented on close of Apollo program with Apollo 17 launch. Los Angeles Times: "Thanks to the marvels of satellite communications, 3,000 European doctors were able recently to `attend' a medical meeting in San Antonio via television. A computer designed for the space agency is helping Detroit design safer steering linkages in cars and trucks. A technique for clarifying spacecraft photos of the moon is being used by hospitals to provide much sharper x rays. The thousands of men and women who have participated in the Apollo program, and the American people who supported it, have all cause for great pride in Apollo. It has been one of the best investments this country ever made, one of the most rewarding adventures it ever undertook." (LA Times, 12/6/72)
Christian Science Monitor: "To the layman, what has been learned about the moon and space has been an extension of our knowledge of the universe, not a radical departure. In this light, it is comforting to think that the Apollo program, remarkable though it has been historically, may illustrate that even the farthest reaches of today's unknown may prove to be no more than the captive of tomorrow's familiar." (CSM, 12/6/72)
New York Times: "Even as the world awaits this final launch, debate continues about the wisdom of the entire Apollo project. Some consider the moon landings the most brilliant scientific achievement in history; others still look at the whole venture as a waste of resources needed for urgent requirements here on earth. Yet one fact about the venture is beyond dispute: in the years 1969-72 men landed on another celestial body for the first time and showed they could live and work in the bizarre and literally inhuman conditions on that foreign planet. Long after most other developments of the twentieth century are for-gotten, future generations will recall this as the century in which men broke the bonds of terrestrial gravity and began their cosmic destiny," (NYT, 12/6/72, 42)
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