Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1965 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1965 3
anywhere from 30,000 tons to 2.6 million tons, with an explosive force
of 20 million tons of TNT. Both the size of the meteorite and its
velocity on impact would be factors in producing a crater. (Sullivan,
NYT, 1/3/65,6E’l
January 3: Semyon A. Kosberg, 61, one of the Soviet Union’s leading designers
of airplane engines, was killed in an automobile accident. He
had been given the title “Hero of Socialist Labor” and had won a Lenin
prize for his designs. (NYT, 1/5/65, 12)
Writing in Pravda, I. Akulinichev, Dr. of Medical Sciences, said:
“. . . Of course, the question of lunar laboratories is now only
at the level of scientific planning. . . . To bring this possibility closer
to our times, it is necessary to accomplish manned flights to the region
of the Moon. Further, we need to solve reliably the question of methods
to use for a successful lunar landing of a spacecraft and the return
of the cosmonauts to Earth. In my view, the first lunar laboratories
will initially study the possibilities of the prolonged sojourn of man on
the Moon. Scientists will investigate ways of using the lunar conditions
for assisting the normal life activity of people. . . . Finally, the
scientists will study the conditions of orientation on the Moon and the
possibilities of the navigation of interplanetary spacecraft.”
In the same issue of Pravda, Soviet Academician B. Konstantinov
wrote: “In this New Year’s article, I wish to dwell on the possibility of
international cooperation in the use of solar energy. . . . What appears
most attractive is the conversion of solar energy into electricity.
In the foreseeable future, man may solve this problem; along with
this, it is conceivable that the problems of controlling the weather and
climate will also be solved.” (Pravda, 1/3/65,4, ATSS-T Trans.)
Januury 4: Gemini GT-3 spacecraft arrived at NASA Kennedy Space Center
far fix! flight prepiritin~s hefore the nation’s first two-man flight this
spring. (KSC Release 3-65)
According to Dr. Harold B. Finger, Manager of AEC-NASA Space Nuclear
Propulsion Office ( SNPO) , NASA would not spend any further funds on
Project Orion (nuclear-pulse propulsion project). The decision was
based on the fact that such a system could not be used while the nuclear
test ban treaty was in effect. In addition, NASA felt there were more
urgent projects on which to spend the money. (M&R, 1/4/65, 9)
Dr. Barry Commoner, professor of plant physiology at Washington Univ.
in St. Louis and chairman of the AAAS Committee on Science in the
Promotion of Human Welfare, told Aviation Week and Space Tech-
nology that the question of the probability of finding life on Mars had
not been “fully and fairly aired,” and that an “overbalance of the
positive viewpoint has been presented to Congress and the public by
NASA officials.” Dr. Commoner said that if asked his views on
Voyager as a tax-paying citizen, his feeling would be that “the value of
pursuing a program to find life on Mars at this time is not worth the
$1.25 billion to be invested because the problem of finding life there
has not been adequately explored.” He had made similar charges in a
speech at the AAAS meeting last December in Montreal.
Dr. Homer E. Newell, NASA Associate Administrator for Space
Science and Applications, was reported by Aviation Week and Space
Technology as listing six major points in defending NASA’s position