Oct 19 1969
From The Space Library
Boeing Co. President T. A. Wilson was quoted in Washington Post interview as saying 747 airliner was biggest financial gamble his firm had ever taken. Huge aircraft would compete with Lockheed 1011 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10, which were smaller but less expensive to purchase and operate, with three engines instead of four. While airlines were seeking ways to retrench, Boeing Co. was building 747 in plant bigger than vertical assembly building for Saturn V at KSC. To date, Boeing Co. had announced 183 orders for 747-not enough to recoup its expenses with aircraft price at $20 million each. McDonnell Douglas had orders for 97 DC-10s and options on 104 orders. Lockheed had 181 orders for 1011s. (Wilson, W Post, 10/19/69, B5)
John N. Wilford said in New York Times: "Even though the Soyuz flights accomplished less than American observers had expected, they served notice that the Soviet Union may have forged ahead in space-station development while the United States was concentrating on the Apollo moon flight preparations." But if U.S.S.R. had meant missions as beginning of first space station, "they fell far short." There were "no link-ups of vehicles, no transfers of crews between ships and no test of the effects of long-duration weightlessness. None of the three ships was placed in an orbit high enough for the prolonged flights being considered for space stations." Mission accomplishments could prove useful for construction of future space stations. "They proved that they were able to launch three manned spacecraft in three consecutive days, which the United States has not done. Such precision launchings are necessary for space station deployment" Missions also had demonstrated first welding in space. "It will probably be necessary to weld together sections of a space station, rather than rely solely on the mechanical clamps used for present docking operations, and to make repairs by welding during flight." (NYT, 10/19/69, E9)
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