Cost Of Triumphs In Space Counted

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32011, 11 June 1969, Page 8

Cost Of Triumphs In Space Counted

(By FRANK OLIVER, N Z P A. special correspondent) WASHINGTON. The nation has started to recover its breath after the superlative achievements of Apollo !10 and everyone now I firmly believes that on | July 20, Neil Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 111 flight, will be the first 'human being to set foot on the surface of the moon. There seems nothing now to prevent it. But when the astronauts returned from the Apollo 10 mission to a joyful and heartfelt welcome they found the country, or at least parts of it, debating about how much longer the United States can afford such great triumphs How many more such triumphs can the nation afford? asks one headline. The “New York Times” says this demonstration of what a great country can do is a reminder of its failure to make comparable application of its capacity to the solution of problems here on earth Another headline says space successes contrast with failures on earth. $24,000m Bill By the time Neil Armstrong steps on to the moon’s surface the United States will have footed a bill amounting to $24,000m for the Apollo programme. The Secretary of State (Mr William Rogers) has just returned from a world-girdling journey during which he emphasised to all and sundry that the United States had a lot of problems at home and could not spend unlimited sums overseas. The question being raised is whether it can spend unlimited sums in space. Many feel that as the President coi s to grips with those manifold domestic problems it would get harder and harder to pry enormous sums for space from Congress. Men On Mars The aim of those passionate . about space exploration is for men on Mars as the next objective, and no one has yet dared put a figure on what that could cost. After the Russians put up their first Sputnik, everyone in this country wanted dramatic space achievement for America. And as one writer ihas said they wanted excellence in education to sustain .those achievements. The space achievements are real and have painted a glorious chapter in history for [American science and technology and the bravery of men ■who allow themselves to be I shot a quarter of a million

body of opinion that feels that after the men of Apollo 11 have landed on the moon and brought back samples of its rocks and soils for examination there will be a popular surge towards “calling it a day” and cutting down drastically on these huge expenditures for space. Three Presidents Some observers wonder why this attitude has not been demonstrated before. The space programme and putting men on the moon has had the support of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, the support of Congress and of the bulk of the nation’s press. The public more or less went along although those dealing or attempting to deal with the problems of hunger, bad housing, slums

and ghettoes- sometimes miles into space. The excellence in education is still far from general and there is a thought that priorities were somewhat mixed up. Public support of the programme sprang partly from the competitive spirit. People did not want the Russians to remain first in space and certainly not be first on the moon. Also the space programme created a vast expansion of industry connected with the programme and this spelled increased employment

There was also a thrill of man’s achievement in exploration, just as Americans were thrilled when Peary reached the North Pole and Lindbergh made the first solo flight across the Atlantic. Everyone has taken sheer delight in the achievements of Apollo, but this does not prevent some people wanting now to be convinced about what comes after the landing on the moon, when so much of the vast cost could do such a vast amount of good here on earth, in the valleys that still crater the earth, as one writer puts it, meaning lack of decent housing for all, inadequate diets for many, and lack of medical benefits for many. Worth The Cost Those who favour continued high spending for exploring the Cosmos argue that the benefits to mankind in thousands of ways are well worth the Cost. It may be so but these benefits have not yet been spelt out. These benefits are what is known as “spin-off.” “Spin-off,” said one wit not so long ago. “is like having a crash programme to get to the moon and developing the Teflon frying-pan

along the way as a kind of mistake. You never know what’ll be next.” That may be a little unfair for the sake of dramatic emphasis but there are a lot of people who wonder just what “spinoff’ from the Apollo programme has done and will do for the betterment of mankind generally. It begins to look as if the public will have to be persuaded about “spin-off” benefits. Maybe an economy-minded Congress will too, before general support is forthcoming for space adventures beyond earth's lovely satellite. There is a tendency in the press and among the public

to accept the fact that there has been beneficial “spin-off" (which unquestionably there has been), but that now it is time to divert some money that has gone into space projects into domestic needs, such as a mere s3ooom to take care of hunger and malnutrition, a mere sloom to restore distribution of milk in schools, building the millions of new bouses required, cleaning up the slums, abolishing the Negro slum areas, and straightening out the snarled transport systems that have slowed big cities to a walk or even a crawl. One finds in the press references to “us poor groundlings" and the necessity for large-scale programmes to make the cities liveable and the races willing to live together in them. After Landing However, the real debate on such issues will come after the moon landing for which all now seems to be in order. When the landing module touches down on the moon’s surface, Armstrong will go out of the hatch, feet first, into a sort of porch where he will set a $7.7m television camera working, through which' he will be seen by millions on earth as he puts foot on the moon’s surface. He will scoop up some lunar soil and rock and fill his pocket in case the lunar module has to rise quickly again. If it does not, he will move about, and be seen from earth moving about, to collect about 301 b of soil and rock. He will also put up a seismometer by which men on earth can get data on the internal rumblings of the moon and also radio-isotope heaters so his instrument can perhaps survive the 14-day lunar night when the temperature goes down to 279 below. Armstrong may go 300 ft from the lunar module, but probably not more than 100 ft. learning how to get around, probably hopping about like a kangaroo. After 15 minutes he will be joined by his companion Aldrin. Altogether the first men on the moon will be there for almost two hours and earthmen will watch their every movement from a quarter of a million miles away.