Jun 4 1969
From The Space Library
President Nixon addressed Air Force Academy commencement in Colorado Springs, Colo.: "A nation needs many qualities, but it needs faith and confidence above all. Skeptics do not build societies; the idealists are the builders. Only societies that believe in themselves can rise to their challenges. Let us not, then, pose a false choice between meeting our responsibilities abroad and meeting the needs of our people at home. We shall meet both or we shall meet neither. "This is why my disagreement with the skeptics and the isolationists is fundamental. They have lost the vision indispensable to great leadership. They observe the problems that confront us; they measure our resources and then they despair. When the first vessels set out from Europe for the New World these men would have weighed the risks and they would have stayed behind. . . . "Our current exploration of space makes the point vividly, here is testimony to man's vision and man's courage. The journey of the astronauts is more than a technical achievement: it is a reaching-out of the human spirit. It lifts our sights; it demonstrates that magnificent conceptions can be real. "They inspire us and at the same time they teach us true humility. What could bring home to us more the limitation of the human scale than the hauntingly beautiful picture of our earth seen from the moon? "When the first man stands on the moon next month every American will stand taller because of what he has done, and we should be proud of this magnificent achievement. "We will know then that every man achieves his own greatness by reaching out beyond himself, and so it is with nations. When a nation believes in itself-as Athenians did in their Golden Age, as Italians did in the Renaissance-that nation can perform miracles. Only when a nation means something to itself can it mean something to others. "That is why I believe a resurgence of American idealism can bring about a modern miracle-and that modern miracle is a world order of peace and justice." (PD, 6/9/69, 797-802)
In Huntsville interview, Dr. Wernher von Braun, MSFC Director, said accomplishment of first lunar landing would not necessarily mean U.S. was first in space race. ". . . whether the Russians have this particular objective in their program, I just don't know." It was no longer possible to decide in simple terms who was ahead. ". . . today the space program has so many facets that it may be impossible for all eternity from now on to be ahead of them in all fields. And . . . impossible for them to be ahead of us in all fields." It was still possible for U.S.S.R. to reach moon first if July launching date for Apollo 11 was delayed. Russians now had rocket more powerful than Saturn V, which would allow direct lunar flight. "If this rocket is flown in the very near future-which it might-they may still have a chance of landing a man on the moon in the latter part of 1969." As for Soviet unmanned lunar landing, Dr. von Braun said, "I think the Russians very definitely have the capability as far as their equipment is concerned to soft land enough payload on the moon to take a sample of lunar soil and fly it back to earth." (UPI, NYT, 6/6/69, 18)
Tass released reports which revealed that neither Venus V (launched Jan. 5) nor Venus VI (launched Jan. 10) had reached Venusian surface intact in May. Data radioed from two spacecraft suggested terrain was very uneven, with height differences of more than 50,000 ft. Reports also conceded that Venus IV, which purportedly had landed on Venus Oct. 18, 1967, had not relayed data from Venusian surface, but had apparently been crushed during descent by extreme atmospheric pressure. "The pressure might have pushed in the upper lid of the instrument department and affected the instruments of the radio complex," Tass said. Data suggested that Venus V had descended over deep basin where temperature was almost 1,000°F and pressure was 140 times that on earth. Venus VI had descended over plateau where temperature was 750°F and pressure was 60 times that on earth. Since spacecraft had not been designed to withstand pressures greater than 25-27 times that on earth, they had not sent data from below 12 mi. (Sullivan, NYT, 6/5/69; W Post, 6/5/69, A25)
ComSatCorp announced selection of General Telephone & Electronics International as contractor for construction of earth station for satellite communications near Talkeetna, Alaska. Contract price was $3,558,000. (ComSatCorp Release 69-32)
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