Jan 15 1967
From The Space Library
Senate Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen (R-Ill.) suggested on ABC's "Issues and Answers" TV program that Government expenditures on the space program be cut to avoid a tax increase. "I've been looking at that space program, I don't mind telling you. Does it really make a difference whether we get to the moon this year or next year, or the following year? "I doubt very much whether it makes a great deal of difference. And if we reconcile ourselves to that thesis, then of course there is a place where you can make a very substantial budget cut." (W Star, 1/16/67, A5)
Prolonged pause in Soviet manned space flights had been causing considerable speculation in US. political and scientific circles, Stephen S. Rosenfeld wrote in the Washington Post. Speculation ranged from predictions that the Soviets were moving on to a new "family" of larger spacecraft to suggestions they had paused to solve serious problems encountered in prolonged weightlessness. (Rosenfeld, W Post, 1/15/67, E3)
Laser applications in industry and space were rapidly increasing, William Smith noted in the New York Times. A solar-powered laser was being developed for communication across the 50 million mi between earth and Mars, and Dr. Henry Lewis, director of RCA'S David Sarnoff Research Center, predicted the laser would also play a very important role in tracking space vehicles. Said Dr. Lewis: "The laser fits the bill with greater accuracy than radar is capable of obtaining." (Smith, NYT, 1/15/67, F1)
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