May 26 1963

From The Space Library

Eight U.S. scientists issued statement supporting U.S. pro­gram to land men on moon and countering recent criticism that instruments would be more valuable than men in lunar exploration. "This criticism raises important issues which underlie the United States space effort." Statement cited "overwhelming" Congressional approval of President Kennedy's proposal for a manned lunar landing within this decade, presented on May 25, 1961. "Was this support tendered for scientific reasons primarily, or was it motivated by a broader concern with national interests and national goals?" Project Apollo cannot be assessed on scientific merits alone, but even if it could be, "situations are bound to arise in which the human performance is indispensible." Further­more, "the momentum and significance of the lunar program are derived from its place in long-range United States plans for exploration of the solar system," at heart of which is role to be played by man. The eight scientists were: Dr. W. Maurice Ewing, Director of Lamont Geological Observatory ; Dr. Robert Jastrow, Director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Dr. Joshua Lederberg, Chairman of Genetics Dept., Stanford Univ. School of Medicine; Dr. Willard F. Libby, Director of UCLA Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics; Dr. Gordon J. F. MacDonald of UCLA Institute; Dr. Lyman Spitzer, Jr., Di­rector of Princeton Univ. Observatory; Dr. Harold C. Urey, Prof. of Chemistry, Univ. of Calif.; and Dr. James A. Van Allen, Chairman of State Univ. of Iowa Physics Dept. (Sullivan, NYT, 5/27/63,4,13 )

D. D. Wyatt, Director of NASA Office of Programs, received honor­ary doctorate in engineering from Univ. of Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy. In commencement address, he told grad­uating class: "If you think you can rest on what you have already learned you will find yourself overtaken and pushed aside by the eager young graduates of tomorrow. Engineering, the applica­tion of the sciences, is no more static than the sciences themselves, and they are bursting at the seams of discovery .... "No area of human activity better focuses and dramatizes the meaning of today than does this boldest, most challenging arena of space . . . ." (Text)

Dr. Wernher von Braun, Director of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, was awarded 1963 American Citizenship Award at 11th annual German-American Day festival, North Bergen, N.J. (Marshall Star, 5/29/63,7)

Reported that Russian trawlers and other Soviet vessels regularly appeared off of NASA's Wallops Station to observe rocket launchings. (Perkinson, Balt. Sun, 5/26/63)

May 26 1963