CONQUEST OF SPACE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29001, 16 September 1959, Page 17

CONQUEST OF SPACE

Man Now “On Threshold” Man has been brought to the threshold of the conquest of space by the launching of rockets and satellites—particularly by the Soviet Union’s success in sending a rocket to the moon.

This was the opinion of Mr A. L. Cullington, superintendent of the Magnetic Survey of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, who gave an address at last evening's monthly meeting of the Canterbury Astronomical Society. He spoke about the role of space travel and the future progress of astronomy. Mr Cullington said it would be only a matter of time before man launched himself out into space. One of the greatest possible developments would be the forming of satellite observatories where other planets could be observed beyond atmospheric effects encountered by observers on earth.

“To conquer space, man must go out into space,” said Mr Cullington. “It is certain that in the near future flights around the moon, Mars and other planets will be possible. Another possibility is the building of a space observatory rotating around the earth. This would enable the puzzles of the planetary system to be solved, as well as problems of the universe itself.” Such a satellite’s motion would be from west to east, in the same direction as the earth rotates, and it would be necessary to launch it to such an altitude that the time it took to revolve around the earth would be equal to one day. “Before man can go into space by rocket great research effort is still required and many problems have to be solved. The most important, of course, is the rocket’s return journey to earth,” said Mr Cullington.