Possibility Of Disease From Moon Astronauts

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31941, 19 March 1969, Page 9

Possibility Of Disease From Moon Astronauts

(N.Z. Press Asan.—Copyright) NEW YORK.

WTien the Apollo 9 astronauts returned to earth they were greeted with a fanfare and open arms. But in August, when the first men to land on the moon come back, they will be greeted as though they have the plague, says Walter Sullivan, science editor of the “New York Times.”

Sullivan writes: The reason is the remote possibility that they might bring back something even worse than the plague. A recent tour of the new lunar receiving laboratory at the manned spacecraft centre, 20 miles east of Houston, has revealed the extraordinary measures being taken to protect the earth against extraterrestrial contamination.

Not only will the lunarlanding astronauts be brought from the aircraft carrier that picks them up to the laboratory in a special van, but provisions have been made for quarantine of their spacecraft and of the moon specimens they bring back.' At the same time, scientific advisers to the project are debating whether or not

moon dust, collected at enormous cost, will explode spontaneously when it comes into contact with oxygen, either in the returning spacecraft, or on earth. Some believe it will explode because some materials on the lunar surface may be almost free of oxygen. It is known that substances such as pure iron, nickel and cobalt, when finely, enough divided, wjll ignite spontaneously in the presence of oxygen. Iron, for example, in its finely pulverised, or pyrophoric form, will do so at room temperature in the earth’s atmosphere. In the Apollo spacecraft, with its atmosphere of pure oxygen, this would be even more likely to occur, assuming that such material exists on the moon. The astronauts are to land on the moon with two “packaged vacuums” in the form of tightly sealed, sterilised boxes. In Vacuum These will be opened on the airless surface of the moon and filled with specimens, then sealed again before the spacecraft is repressurised with oxygen. The material will be kept in a vacuum indefinitely. Special “carousels” have been installed at the receiving laboratory which can be kept in a deep vacuum. The boxes are to be opened in

them and the specimens studied. There are also small containers, called “appendages,” in which the samples, after release from quarantine, will be shipped to laboratories in the United States and abroad for further study. Each appendage contains its own bat-tery-driven vacuum pump which runs continuously during shipment The landing plan also calls for the astronauts, as soon as they step on to the moon, to collect some preliminary samples and throw them into “grab bags.” These bags—assurance in case the astronauts have to take-off suddenly—will be sealed against oxygen exposure, but will not be as secure as the vacuum boxes. Hence, in view of the current debate on spontaneous ignition, the grab bags may be eliminated. As part of the quarantine procedure the lunar material brought back to the receiving laboratory will be subjected to intensive tests to see if it contains anything hazardous to earth life. These measures grow from man’s longstanding fear that forms of life, inimical to life on earth —or infectious agents that are not exactly alive—may have evolved elsewhere. The most likely site for such evolution within the solar system is generally thought to be Mars, but some scientists have presented the admittedly far-fetched hypo-

thesis that infectious agents might exist on the moon. Such fears are not limited to the United States. Some two years ago, when plans for the American receiving laboratory were first being drawn up, a Soviet scientist told his American colleagues that a similar facility was contemplated in the Soviet Union for the quarantine of returning cosmppauts. However, no further evidence of such an intent has come to hand since. In fact, it is still not clear whether the Russians plan an early attempt at a lunar landing. 21-Day Quarantine The astronauts, when they return from the moon later this year, will be kept in quarantine for at least 21 days, part of which will be spent in the isolation facility aboard the aircraft carrier that brings them back. On arrival at the receiving laboratory, they will be transferred via a plastic tunnel, connecting the quarantine van to the laboratory. All of their liquid and solid wastes, as well as those of the dozen or so people assigned to examine and care for them, will be sterilised before they leave the quarantine facility in the laboratory. Air pressure in the facility is kept slightly below that out-of-doors so that there can be no escape of air to the outside.