Jan 30 1971
From The Space Library
President Nixon sent individual messages from Caneel Bay, Virgin Islands, wishing success to Apollo 14 astronauts Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell, and Stuart A. Roosa on eve of launch. Message to Shepard said: "The courage and determination you have displayed in coming back against such great odds to fly again have earned our unanimous admiration at home and abroad. That this important mission should be entrusted to our Nation's first man in space makes us especially proud and confident in its success." (PD, 2/8/71, 151)
LRV had run into development difficulties that had boosted estimated cost more than 60%, Thomas O'Toole said in Washington Post. Cost was now estimated at $41 million, $12 million more than $19 million stipulated in October 1969 contract let to Boeing Co. and General Motors Corp. Overrun was due "almost entirely to overtime paid to the two companies to make sure the Rover will be ready to fly with Apollo 15 when it takes off for the moon July 25." Trouble with electronic controls and independent harmonic drive and other problems had delayed testing of LRV until Dec. 14, 1970, almost three months late. (W Post, 1/30/71, A3)
Threat of military superiority was "inherent" in Soviet space program, New York Daily News said. "For it was the development of a Russian rocket for intercontinental bombardment that led the way to the technological race in space in the first place. We certainly had nothing like it on Oct. 4, 1957, when the Russians startled the world with the orbiting Sputnik and came along a month later to launch Sputnik II, a 1200-pound [500-kg] vehicle carrying a live dog.... " U.S. Saturn rocket had no military usefulness; "one doubts that the Russians can say the same about their spacecraft launching vehicles." (Greene, NY News, 1/31/71)
Smithsonian Institution commissioned at Fort Pierce, Fla., the Johnson-Sea-Link, five-man submersible research vessel designed to operate in water to depth of 900 m (3000 ft). First of its kind, 8-m (25-ft) vessel could remain under water for up to 48 hrs. (AP, W Star, 1/30/71, A9)
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