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Press, Volume CX, Issue 32361, 29 July 1970, Page 16

Some of the unmanned in- i struments that landed on the i moon have performed very . well indeed. But the constraints imposed on the Americans by the size of their Apollo rocket, which was in 1 its turn dictated by the time- ' table laid down for the moon 1 landing, meant that there was very little else that the astronauts could do once they landed, beyond taking photographs, collecting rocks and planting a few elementary measuring Instruments to leave behind them. Americans have queued to look at the moon rocks, and admire the sparkle and glitter of the glass-coated pits and dents on their surface. But they have not shown themselves particularly enthusiastic to finance an indefinite series of rock-collecting expeditions, even if this does help to decide the age, origin and composition of the moon. And President Nixon, sensing the national disinterest, has cut space funds most savagely. In money terms, the space budget of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been almost halved from its peak of just under s6ooom a year to the current year’s $3400m. In real terms, because of inflation, the cut is much more vicious. Manpower is down from 440,000 to 144,000. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s own staff has shed well over 5000 in three years. After this month's cuts it will be down below 30,000, its lowest since 1963. Last week’s announcement of 900 dismissals, was prqbably timed by N.A.S.A. to coincide with the anniversary of the moon landing, in order to draw maximum attention to the programme’s plight Losing Jobs In place of the 10 or so moon landings originally planned, there is a strong probability that only another two flights will be made. The cutback is fanning out through America’s aircraft and electronics industries. For the first time aircraft workers at all. levels, from the most senior , downwards, are losing their i jobs and finding it unusually i hard to get new odds. Scien-1 tists and engineers alike are i getting out of space into other ; industries. 1 The Russians have not helped. A major spur to the American space programme has been the fear that the Russians might get there first. This fear grew up when the shock of Sputnik 1 in 1957 was followed by the further shock of Yuri Gagarin flying in space in 1961, Until last summer it looked highly probable that the Russians would still be the first to construct a large space station, even though the Americans had beaten them to the moon. ■ Then the 10-milUon-pound-,thrust rocket that the Russians had been building to launch that station blew up, and appeared to carry away a fair part of the test bed with it. The Americans thought that the damage would have been repaired by the middle of this year, and had been expecting some dramatic Russian test launch almost any time. But reports now filtering back suggest that the redesign is likely to be a long process. Momentarily, therefore, the Soviet heat is off. This does not make it too easy for N.A.S.A. to get support in the United States for its new space programme, which involves building an entirely new rocket launching system from the ground upwards. Two options were open to N.A.S.A. The easier would have been to build a moon base by the laborious process of launching the components for it piece by piece in Apollo rockets converted into unmanned moon freighters. The pin-point landing of Apollo 12 showed that the accuracy necessary to do this existed. But it would have taken a great deal of money, and the scale of operations would have continued to be restricted by the small loadcarrying capacity of the Apollo rocket So the alternative was chosen of drawing i a line beneath the Apollo programme when the rockets : on order had all been de- ■ livered, and starting from • scratch with a new basic space I transport system that would i give the Americans for the • first time the capacity to lift ■ large loads in space. Rocket Aircraft This is what the Russians are also aiming for with their 10 million pound rocket, but the American approach is i different It involves re- : usable rocket-powered air- . craft that can fly to space like i a rocket and land on earth : like an aircraft i It involves a large space i station above the earth which . will act as warehouse for . goods ferried from the i ground, but which will also i be the base for true space . ships-designed like the lunar • modules for space flight only, ■ and not capable of function- • ing anywhere near the earth’s r atmosphere. This whole com- ■ plex will put the Americans lin the space business for keeps. They will not come up