Colonies On Other Worlds Expected

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32050, 26 July 1969, Page 22

Colonies On Other Worlds Expected

(N.Z. Press Association-Copyright) HOUSTON, July 25. Because of the very nature of man, he will eventually colonise worlds other than his own, according to the head of tile United States space agency, United Press International reported.

Dr Thomas Paine, Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said just after the lunar landing craft, Eagle, touched down on the moon’s surface “we have demonstrated ... a very crude and preliminary form of travel between the earth and other bodies.” Noting that his was only a personal opinion. Dr Paine said: “As we look at' the things that we have on the drawing boards, as we look at the dreams of the engineers for the future, it seems very clear to me that there are two basic factors that have to be answered. “First is whether or not we can attain the kind of costs and the kind of reliability in space flight that we how have in air travel. And I’m quite convinced that we can. “The second question is, if we can indeed travel in a practical way to the moon and eventually beyond, will men indeed wish to do so? “Will they wish to found small first research stations and perhaps eventually permanent colonies? “It seems to me that history of mankind will. So, I

, would s«y, yes, I think we 1 I have entered a new era. 1 1 “I think that the signifl- I 1 cance of the trip that is just 1 : started today, is indeed that I ' mankind is going to establish < i places of abode outside of his 1 ‘ home planet, the earth.” < Dr Paine talked with Pre- i . sident Nixon just after the , Eagle landed on the moon. 1 “His mood, as he talked to ] me, and my own mood—and 1 I you must remember that this , was just a few moments after j the report that the Eagle had i i landed in the Sea of Tran- 1 ! quillity—our mood was one > of considerable tension re- i ! lieved,” Dr Paine said. 1 t “He spoke with a great deal i ; of excitement and I would say ] r almost awe in his voice. i ! “We both, very soberly, dis- : > cussed the fact that we still i had a great deal of difficult ' : operations ahead of us in the j s mission." I i Dr Paine said that he was > impressed that this was a i world effort. “. . . As I sat there, listenf ing to the communication i checks coming in from . 1 Madrid, and as I considered ’ i the fact that the lunar tele-; vision would be coming back : I through the great Parkes an- ' s tenna in Australia, the inter- 1 - national teamwork that pro- 1 duced this effort was very 1 - much in my mind.” I “It's significant, I think, 1

that two days ago, the ■Soviet Union, at our request, passed to, us valuable orbital parameters for the Luna 15' mission in an unprecedented cooperative move, and I think this bodes well for the future of manned exploration of our sister planet,” Dr Paine said. Another N.A.S.A. ofljcial, the associate administrator, Dr John E. Naugle, speculated that by the year 1979 America would have men living more or less permanently on the moon, much as they live today in the Antarctic. He foresees large permanent astronomical observatories with astronomers from all parts of the world taking part in the work*—four to six instrument landings on Mars, and at least a start for an unmanned spacecraft on a “grand tour” of the outer planets, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.