Aug 24 1969
From The Space Library
This Week published interview with science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke : Most important recent outer space discovery was pulsars-"It's possible that they might be signals from some higher civilization." Scientific surprise in Apollo Program was "its immaculate perfection. You don't expect that, no matter how carefully you prepare." Clarke was writing space exploration documentary which would show "whole span of human interest in space, back to the Babylonian astronomers and on up through the colonization of the solar system." It would include Stonehenge which was "as big a burden for the primitive economy that built it-in fact, probably a much bigger burden than the Apollo Program is for us." (Bradford, This Week, 8/24/69, 7)
Transfer of USAF MOL officers to NASA astronaut corps [see Aug. 14] was criticized in Washington Sunday Star by William Hines: "With the initial moon landing now an accomplished fact, the pace of manned space operations has slowed down to three flights per year. This means that no more than nine men can fly annually, and with 54 astronauts now on board, this, in turn, means an average of six years between flights." Though pace might accelerate in time and future space stations would increase annual number of crew assignments, "the glamor and glory of being an astronaut-particularly a nonflying one-no longer compensates for the enforced idleness imposed by the modified flight schedule." (W Star, 8/24/69, D4)
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