May 30 1969
From The Space Library
NASA's Biosatellite III, scheduled, to carry monkey on 30-day earth orbital mission June 18, was damaged when unexplained pressure blew top off spacecraft at KSC. Accident, which severed electrical wire harnesses and caused minor structural damage, might delay launch. (AP, W Star, 5/31/69, Al; 6/1/69, A8)
Science magazine published letter from Rep. Joseph E. Karth (D-Minn.), Chairman of Subcommittee on Space Science and Applications of House Committee on Science and Astronautics, clarifying his views on cost effectiveness evaluation of Earth Resources Satellite system. He reiterated opinion he stated in Dec. 1968 Earth Resources Satellite System report: "Precise determination of cost effectiveness at this early stage . . . is not possible. . . . The magnitude of the economic benefits simply cannot be calculated in the absence of the type of data which the system is designed to produce." Conclusions of studies already completed had constituted "strong evidence that precision was not possible. Yet, I am reassured by the fact that all such studies . . . have concluded that the potential economic benefits will exceed the costs of such a system by a substantial margin and some predict that benefits will someday be measured in billions of dollars annually. It is my personal conviction that an operational MS system will ultimately prove highly cost-effective." Karth said he considered it "NASA's responsibility to experiment with new space systems that appear to have potential, and to conduct the necessary research and development which will lead to a firm foundation for a subsequent determination as to whether operational systems should be built. In this context, I believe cost effectiveness is not an appropriate standard to apply in advance to NASA's experimental work, though it is certainly applicable when the time comes to decide whether to go forward with an operational system?' (Science, 5/30/69, 1009)
In Science editorial, Kenneth V. Thimann said: ". . . there is no doubt that some of our most thoughtful young people see science as a destructive force. Some of this disillusionment stems from a preoccupation with the failings of science, and especially the failings of technology." But people complaining had forgotten past history of far worse air and water pollution and malnutrition. "On the contrary, the record of steady progress can give us confidence that the residual blemishes and pockets will indeed be wiped out as the power of science and technology is increasingly brought to bear on them." In some fields "scientist wields almost unlimited power for good." International Rice Research Institute, with staff of 16 Ph.D.s, had apparently changed "whole nutritional future of Asia in a scant 5-years" by doubling or even tripling rice yields. Discovery of penicillin and streptomycin had saved countless lives. (Science, 5/30/69, 1013)
There was "growing conviction that Soviet authorities have taken administrative measures to punish the noted physicist Andrey R. Sakharov," said Bryce Nelson in Science. Washington, D.C. sources had said Sakharov was summoned for verbal criticism after July 11, 1968, publication in New York Times of his essay "Progress, Coexistence, and Intellectual Freedom." Discipline was thought to have been performed in early 1969. Fragmentary accounts in Western publications indicated he had been deprived of work as consultant to ministry, removed from position as chief consultant at State Committee for Atomic Energy and from work in restricted physics institute at Chernogolovka, barred from research institute at Dubna, and possibly expelled from Soviet Academy of Sciences. (Science, 5/30/69, 1043-4)
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