Jun 1 1969
From The Space Library
Special Task Force report submitted to President Nixon Jan. 8 but not released by White House called for NASA revamping and shift in space priorities, John Lannan said in Washington Sunday Star. Panel, chaired by Univ. of California at Berkeley physicist Dr. Charles H. Townes, included Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr." Secretary of the Air Force, then NASA Deputy Administrator; Dr. James A. Van Allen of Univ. of Iowa; Dr. Harry H. Hess, chairman of NAS-NRC Space Science Board; and Dr. Walter Orr Roberts of National Center for Atmospheric Research. Report recommended continuation of $6-billion space effort, with $2 billion for DOD and rest for NASA; disapproved of any commitment to large orbiting space station; and urged commitment to unmanned planetary probes. It considered NASA'S present structure inappropriate for post-Apollo Program and urged bringing "an outstanding scientist into its top administrative ranks." It was desirable to avoid manned versus unmanned operations argument and to focus on search for most appropriate role for human being in entire system. NASA organization was not "adapted to this approach." NASC should be chaired by President rather than Vice President. Panel advocated lunar exploration and gave high priority to use of space for commercial and civil benefits. It urged space spending at 1/2% to 1% of GNP and proposed U.S. intensify efforts toward international cooperation in space, Lannan reported. (W Star, 6/1/69, Al)
NASA'S Mariner VI spacecraft (launched Feb. 24) was 21,731,091 mi from earth and would fly past Mars July 30. Mariner VII (launched March 27) was 19,526,893 mi from earth and would fly past Mars Aug. 4. Both spacecraft were operating normally. (JPL Release 521)
Atomic scientist Dr. Edward Teller thought nuclear explosion on moon would be scientifically useful, Associated Press reported after New York interview. Vibrations would be source of seismographic measurement for study of moon's interior. "The best information on earth" came from nuclear explosions, "because the energy-generating event is confined very sharply both in space and in time.' Factors making moon extremely inhospitable to life-absence of air and water-were highly desirable to researchers, since "change that has taken place billions and billions of years ago is still visible today." Dr. Teller also favored development on moon of research station powered by nuclear reactor that heated lunar rocks to high temperature and liberated oxygen for breathing purposes. There was probability rocks also contained water, which reactor could reduce to hydrogen and oxygen for making rocket fuel to power short-range rocket trips on moon and soft-landing interplanetary spacecraft. Moon's environment might lead to advances in low-temperature physics and surface chemistry in electronics, which could result in development on earth of smaller, more efficient, and more sophisticated electronic equipment, particularly for information-storing and information-reordering. (Nicholson, AP, W Star, 6/1/69, Al)
Retiring Chief Justice of Supreme Court Earl Warren said at Lincoln Univ. commencement in Oxford, Pa." "We're going to be on the moon -perhaps by July, they tell us. But it would be better if our universities taught us how to live in our great cities." (AP, W Post, 6/3/69, A9)
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