Russians To Attempt Flights To Planets

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28792, 13 January 1959, Page 9

Russians To Attempt Flights To Planets

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 1030 p.m.) MOSCOW, January 12. The Soviet Union will attempt manned flight to other planets in the next stage of its ventures into space, the Soviet Communist Party newspaper, “Pravda,” said today.

“Pravda” Said that the Soviet artificial asteroid had opened the door for mankind to enter “the era of immediate penetration of the universe.” The next stage, “Pravda” said, “must be the further exploration of cosmic space around the sun, the investigation of the planets of the solar system and manned flights to other planets.”

“Pravda’ made the statement in a technical description of the Soviet cosmic rocket with photographs and plans. This contained data on the rocket’s flight, its last stage, the container with scientific instruments and the artificial sodium “comet.”

The photographs showed the container with scientific instruments, the instrument frame with equipment and -power supplies, pennants on board the rocket and the pentagonal elements of the spheric pennant. “Pravda” said that the scientific equipment installed on board the rocket functioned normally. Many records of measurements had been obtained and were now being sifted and generalised. A preliminary analysis showed that the results of the investigations were of great scientific importance. These results would be published as they become available, “Pravda” said.

The report gave details of the contents of the rocket’s container which, it said, would be detached from the final stage when the rocket’s engine system ceased to work.

Inside this container was apparatus for measuring its own inner temperature and pressure, the gas constituents of inter-planetary substances, corpuscular radiation of tfie sun, and the magnetic field of the earth—as well as for detecting the magnetic field of the moon.

The report gave no detailed information on the power and design of the rocket, the American Associated Press said.

Tass, quoted by Reuter, said in its decsription of the cosmic flight that the rocket was launched vertically, reached the vicinity of the moon in 34 hours, and began to orbit the sun at about 20 miles a second on January 7 or 8. Tass quoted “Pravda’s” details of the rocket and container and said that the two pennants inside the satellite were inscribed with the Soviet Union’s coat of arms and the date—January, 1959. These had been specially treated to make sure the inscriptions lasted for a long time.