Dec 3 1972
From The Space Library
Kennedy Space Center technical writers, members of International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, agreed to accept 44% pay increase, ending threat of strike that might have delayed Apollo 17 launch [see Nov. 5]. (Auerbach, W Post, 12/4/72, A20)
NASA controllers expected Pioneer 10 (launched March 2) to pass behind Jupiter satellite Io because of Sept. 19 course correction. Brief firing of spacecraft's thrusters had increased velocity by 0.227 mps (0.745 fps) so that Pioneer 10 would arrive at Jupiter 17.2 min earlier than originally planned. Spacecraft was expected to make its closest approach to planet at 9:23.5 pm EST Dec. 3, 1973, when Io would pass between spacecraft and earth. Io would then be about 531 700 km (330 400 mi) from spacecraft. Scientists could measure Io's atmosphere, if any, as Pioneer 10's radio signals passed through it. (NASA Release 72-231)
Apollo 17 launch date postmarks would be available from Kennedy Space Center and Manned Spacecraft Center, Washington Sunday Star & Daily News reported. Deadline for obtaining splashdown postmarks from recovery ship U.S.S. Ticonderoga had passed. Titusville, Fla., Post Office would accept covers to be postmarked at KSC for 18-hr period beginning 8 am Dec. 6. (Fairies, W Star & News, 12/3/72)
New York Times said it had asked more than 20 scientists and scholars with no part in space program to assess probable place of space exploration in "broad sweep of history and in the evolution of man and man's perception of himself and his universe." British historian Arnold J. Toynbee and American anthropologist Dr. Margaret Mead had seen space experience as "turning point in human history."
Univ. of Michigan biophysicist Dr. John R. Platt had said that "the great picture of earth taken from the moon is one of the most powerful images in the minds of men today and may be worth the cost of the whole Apollo project." He saw photo as "a great landmark in exploration-to get away from the earth to see it whole." Soviet poet Robert Rozhdestvensky had said: "Man has become . . . more perceptive to what worries other people. He has no possibility of hiding away .. . of escaping reality and shutting himself up in the narrow world of his own." French anthropologist Dr. Claude Levi- Strauss had said: "I never look at TV except when there's a moon shot, and then I am glued to my set." Dr. Garrett Hardin, ecologist of Univ. of California at Santa Barbara, had said it was time to pull back from further manned space exploration for several centuries. Space program "can only be called 'spiritual' in both the good and had senses." Technological spinoffs of space program "could surely have been achieved with an expenditure of much less." Dr. Daniel J. Boorstin, Director of Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of History and Technology, had said greatest thing about space exploration was "that we don't know what its payoff will be. This symbolizes the American civilization. The people who settled America had no idea what the payoff would be. They settled it before they explored it." Nobel Prize winning biologist Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi had said Apollo flights demanded that word "impossible" be struck from scientific dictionary. "They are the greatest encouragement for the human spirit." Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director, Dr. Alvin M. Weinberg, said successes in space and nuclear energy had given people "the feeling that essentially any technological problem can be solved. This has created within the technological community and within the public at large a kind of technological euphoria." (Wilford, NYT, 12/3/72, 1)
Apollo program accomplishments were praised by Dr. Wernher von Braun, Vice President for Engineering and Development with Fairchild Industries, Inc., and former NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Planning, in New York Times article: "Two developments stand out in my view: (1) The remarkable advance in sophistication of flight techniques and capabilities of the crews, and (2) . . . the eye opening increase in both the extent and results of the scientific activities of manned lunar exploration." After completion of Apollo 17 mission would come realization "that we have only begun the exploration of the moon. As the analysis of Apollo lunar data and specimens proceeds, it will dawn on us what an enormous treasure trove awaits mankind just offshore from our planet. It will also occur to the scientific community that a base on the moon is just as important as a base in the Antarctic." (NYT, 12/3/72, 68)
Astronauts' image was discussed in New York Times Magazine article. Of 73 pilots and scientists selected for astronauts corps only 39 remained active, and corps faced future cuts. Three astronauts had died in Jan. 27, 1967, Apollo spacecraft fire; five others in aircraft and auto accidents. Of 25 who had left corps, "many have followed the conventional paths of glory into business and Government," But "in the behavior of others there is more than a touch of the eccentric, and a large dose of trouble, almost a mythological element: the wandering hero back among his tribe, after stealing the sacred fire and grappling with terrifying demons, condemned to ask tough questions." World might regard some astronauts as "Byrds and Lindberghs of our time. As space program emphasis shifted, "they may be an endangered species. For the hotshot pilot seems destined to be replaced in the space stations of the near-future with scientists given training of shorter duration for their flight duties." Astronauts had been "wandering heroes who tried to unite us with their vision of earth as a small ball floating in an oceanic universe, with all men as passengers. But they weren't really poets, and they flew at a time of bitter earthly quarrels, with many resentful of the price tag on their odyssey." Like most heroes, "they were magnified versions of all of us, men of great daring and courage whose competitiveness was no doubt fierce, whose outlook was often corporate and even corny, whose ingenuousness was at times profound. But their image as a comforting symbol to Middle America did them an injustice." (Muson, NYT Magazine, 12/3/72, 37, 142)
Economists agreed that end of Vietnam war would have no major impact on U.S. economy, New York Times reported. Defense funds expected to be freed by coming of peace had already been spent as war wound down slowly. Many defense contractors in aerospace and communications expected to pick up business with war's end. Some of top 10 still had war-related business, but amount was small in relation to total sales. Many contractors were "seriously seeking to diversify into nondefense-related operations." (Shabecoff, NYT, 12/3/72)
Columbia Univ. sociologist Dr. Amitai W. Etzioni suggested "most hopeful epitaph for Project Apollo" in New York Times article: "This was the last gasp of a technologically addicted, public-relations-minded society, the last escapade engineered by an industrial-military coalition seeking conquests in outer space, while avoiding swelling needs on earth." (NYT, 12/3/72, 64)
London Sunday Times article said man was withdrawing from lunar exploration, "not because of the hostility of the lunar surface or of interplanetary space, but because of indifference back at home." U.S. had "vindicated her technological honor following the deep felt humiliation of being beaten into space by the Russians: the payoff in terms of international prestige has not come up to expectations; the hope that space had vast military potential has proved an illusion." (Silcocc, London Sunday Times, 12/3/72, 33)
Newspaper editorials commented on U.S. space program. Baltimore Sun on post-Apollo space program: "While it is tempting to contemplate what improvements could be financed here on earth from the billions being spent in space, it is well to bear several factors in mind. One is the decline in space spending from a $5.25 billion peak in 1965 to the present plateau of $3.35 billion a year. Another is the Nixon administration's decision to proceed cautiously on the rush-rush manned Mars expedition advocated by Vice President Agnew three years ago. Still another is the American-Soviet agreement on a rendezvous-and-docking mission for mid-1975, a concept once relegated to political science fiction. Finally, there is the very real prospect that experiments and programs conducted from space shuttles will be of use in improving the environment on earth. More accurate weather forecasting, air pollution studies, better communications-these are some of the more obvious opportunities. These trends surely justify reasonable financial support to continue a desired momentum in space technology." (B Sun, 12/3/72)
New York News on last Apollo mission: "The Apollo program is being phased out before its time, a victim of what we consider false economy, and the horizon is barren of any prospect for manned exploration beyond the boundaries of Earth orbit. Even unmanned probes will be few and far between as things look now." (NY News, 12/3/72)
Chicago Tribune on future space program; Cost of Skylab, Viking, and space shuttle programs would be far less than amount put into space since 1958. "The national priorities have been reordered and, we believe, properly so. Future space exploration should be a part of, but should not dominate, our national effort to improve the lot of Americans." (C Trib, 12/3/72)
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