‘Press conference’ in space

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32679, 7 August 1971, Page 1

‘Press conference’ in space

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

HOUSTON, August 6. The Apollo 15 astronauts, nearing half-way in the last lap of their epic excursion to the mountains of the moon, have a comparatively quiet day ahead, of them today, a “press conference” in space being the main highlight.

Hemmed in by the evidence of their success—two treasure-chests of moon rocks, a pile of priceless film cassettes and core samples of lunar ?oil in their spacecraft cabin, they accelerated gently but surely as the gravitational pull of Earth took hold. Colonel David Scott and Lieutenant-Colonel James Irwin were tired but quietly triumphant, while Major Al I Worden was chirpy When he . talked, which was not often. The televised press confer- ' ence from deep space’ has been extended from the . scheduled 30 minutes to a ; full hour, and-the cut and : thrust of question and ; answer is expected to pro- ' vide the main highlight of an otherwise routine second-last day on the return journey. SPACE WALK • Major Worden, who had been cooped up in the command ship Endeavour for 10 days, including the week-end his fellow astronauts stretched their legs in three strenuous moon excursions, yesterday had 20 minutes:of relative freedom as they cruised away from the moon. Tethered by a life-support-ing line, he clambered three times up and down the curving sides of the Endeavour’s service module to retrieve cassettes of film from moonshooting cameras and to check on instruments in a special experimental bay in f the cylindrical module. He completed the task at least * twice as quickly as mission 1 control expected, and told control he was thoroughly en-

joying space-walking at 3000 miles an hour.

Major Worden achieved a great deal by his loneliest of vigils in moon orbit, according to space scientists. Although the eyes and ears of the world were on Colonels Scott and Irwin, Major Worden, with expert observations and meticulous tending of Apollo 15’s experimental bay, may have unlocked even more lunar secrets than the other two. “The surface geology is ' more spectacular and I don’t ' want to take anything away I from it, but the orbital , sciences can certainly com- ' pare and may in the long run ■ be more significant,” said Dr ' James Arnold, a principal s investigator in one of the : orbital experiments Major i Worden controlled. ' MYSTERIOUS FLASHES 1 Three hours after they ’ wake up ; today, the astro- ‘ nauts will perform the last ‘ in a series of experiments designed to trace the origin of the mysterious flashes and I spots before the eyes, re- ■ ported by all who have > ventured into deep space. All I sitting . facing in the same : direction, as in earlier experii merits of this kind during the .flight, they will report to f mission control the size, ' shape, and frequency of the . mystery spots. These are be- ■ lieved to be caused by heavy ! nuclei radiating from the sun ■ and passing through the i exulorer’s eyeballs. s' They are also due to photo- • graph a partial eclipse of the > moon, which becomes a total i eclipse on splashdown day.

August 8. Apollo 15 also may make a routine minor course correction to align the spacecraft more directly with the Inarrow corridor in space

which leads to the Pacific Ocean.

The first of three such corrections was cancelled yesterday, when mission control found that the homeward course was precise.