Jun 8 1969
From The Space Library
NASA's Echo II comsat, launched Jan. 25, 1964, reentered atmosphere at 60.3° north latitude and 148.1° east longitude, north of Siberian Sea of Okhotsk after orbiting earth more than 28,000 times. Launched as passive comsat and air-density research satellite, 532-lb, 135-ft-dia, laminated mylar plastic and aluminum balloon had been used as reflector for bouncing radio transmissions between ground points and for geodetic studies. (NASA Release 69-90)
New York Times Magazine profile quoted NASA Administrator, Dr. Thomas O. Paine : Late President John F. Kennedy's decision to try to put man on moon by end of 1960s was "bold act that is standing the test of time damned well," Dr. Paine had said. "Our ability to function now in a new environment a decade after Jack Kennedy is going to be a very challenging test for us. Do we understand that environment? Can we achieve a new consensus without the Pearl Harbor, of a Russian lead in space? We're not really talking about the space program anymore. The space program is finished. You wouldn't speak about Columbus's voyage as the sail-powered water craft program. What Columbus's journey was all about had nothing to do with water. It was the extension of man's dominion, new life styles, new forms of government, new societies." Dr. Paine believed U.S. had no choice but to push ahead. "A nation that turns down a challenge like this is a nation that's on its way out." (Buckley, NYT Magazine, 6/8/69, 34-63)
William Hines in Washington Sunday Star criticized NASA'S Lunar Receiving Laboratory and plans to protect U.S. from lunar contamination: ". . . there is ample doubt that (1) the quarantine will really be air-tight and (2) it will make very much difference if the contamination shield leaks a little." He also commented that, earlier, "great lip service was paid to the necessity for avoiding contamination of the moon and other celestial bodies by lifeforms from Earth. The rationale was pragmatic, not moral, and purely anthropocentric: If we contaminate the surface we won't be able to say with certainty whether the lifeforms we eventually find are native or imported. This line is still being hewed to-after a fashion-in the case of Mars, but for the moon the game has proved too costly to be played with strict attention to rules." (W Star, 6/8/69, C4)
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