When will man return to Moon?

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33095, 9 December 1972, Page 21

When will man return to Moon?

(By

WALTER FROEHLICH)

When will men travel to the Moon again after this, the last flight in the Apollo series?

No-one knows for sure.

Observers inclined to pessimistic views believe that Apollo 17, making the sixth manned lunar landing, will probably be the last voyage by men to the Moon in this century. If so, Apollo 17, could be the last Moon journey in the working lifetime of most of the scientists participating in the programme.

More optimistic observers say that man’s curiosity and desire to seek a better life will motivate him to resume Moon travel sooner, perhaps as early as the mid-1980s.

The pessimists maintain that there is no great need for additional exploration of the Moon by men for some time to come, that scientists now have at their disposal vast quantities of information, from several locations on the Moon, that will take many years to analyse. Public opinion favours scientific projects which promise to mitigate, or solve, problems facing mankind on Earth. While earth-orbital missions contribute towards

the solution of some of these problems, there is little indication that additional Moon missions could do so significantly in the immediate future. The United States has already dismantled much of the production equipment for the Saturn 5 rocket and the Apollo spacecraft, and has disbanded some of the production teams. Some of the teams that prepare rockets and spacecraft for launching will soon be disbanded or assigned to other tasks. Thus, if the United States were to change her mind, and decide to continue Moon exploration, at least several years would be required to build the vehicles and associated equipment before another mission could be undertaken.

Nor do the experts foresee any manned Moon landing by the Soviet Union in the near future. The Soviet Union has not launched any men into space since June, 1971, when three cosmonauts were found dead in their spacecraft after landing on earth at the end of a 23-day earth-orbital flight. What is more likely is that the unmanned Soviet spacecraft that successfully fly around the Moon and then return to earth may be adapted for use in a manned circumnavigation of the Moon. The experts doubt if the Soviet Union would attempt a manned Moon landing without first testing a landing craft in Earth orbit, or in the vicinity of the Moon, as the United States did in the early Apollo missions. Optimists view

Despite these facts, the optimistic observers see the cessation of American Moon flights after Apollo 17 as only

a temporary suspension of first-hand lunar exploration by men. They look on the next several years as a time to consolidate the knowledge and experience gained through Project Apollo for use in far more sophisticated Moon missions in the future.

The earth-orbital flights planned by the United States for the remainder of the 1970 s are expected to advance the technology of manned space flight, so that far more ambitious missions can be undertaken whenever trips to the Moon may become desirable again. For example, Skylab—to be launched on April 30, 1973, for experiments by men in the space environment intermittently over an eightmonth period—has as one of its major aims the determination of how well men can withstand exposure to weightlessness and confinement in a relatively small spacecraft. Skylab also has as an important aim the testing of how well men and equipment can gather information about the Earth, for resource management and for study of the sun from above the atmosphere, to learn more about its influence on the Earth.

The Skylab astronauts will also carry out a variety of experiments in biology, metallurgy, and manufacturing in the gravity-free space environment.

This new knowledge is expected to lead of innovations in medicine, industrial processes, and pollution control, and to add hew dimensions to nearly every other field of science and technology. Simultaneously, that knowledge is expected to lay the basis for the design of future

spacecraft and missions in Earth orbit, and to the Moon and beyond. Shuttle project

Similarly, the space shuttle now being developed for manned orbital missions, beginning in the late 19705, will make possible less expensive launching and operation of communications and weather and scientific satellites, and the transporting of nonastronauts, such as scientists, into space for Earth observations and other experiments. The shuttle will also make possible the assembly in space of large vehicles for transporting men and heavy equipment to the Moon, or even to Mars.

The closing of the Apollo manned flights series frees men and money for their diversion to the development of space vehicles, other equipment, and procedures for the future, rather than tying them up in additional Apollo missions using existing vehicles and methods. By ending Project Apollo, space officials can invest more resources in planning for the future of Joint mission

space exploration. A joint manned space mission by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1975, in which an Apollo and a Soyuz spacecraft will link in orbit, is expected to open the era of international crews working together in space. That mission — known as A.S.T.P., for Apollo-Soyuz Test Project—is seen by some observers as a forerunner of possible joint space explorations to the Moon and Mars by these two nations, and perhaps others.

The Moon, which is a large natural satellite of the Earth, may eventually be used as a convenient orbiting spaceship from which men can observe

and serve the Earth as they cannot do nearly as well from man-made satellites.

From the Moon, astronomers will be able to study the heavens with very large, heavy telescopes, as they cannot do from the atmospherecovered Earth, or from less stable artificial satellites.

A more thorough study than was possible by Project Apollo of the Moon’s geology, chemistry, and physics maylead to an understanding of the Earth that could have immense benefits in mineral recovery, and in earthquake and volcanic eruption prediction and control.

Thus, Moon bases in which large groups of men could live for very long periods might become economically, socially, and scientifically attractive as might manned explorations of Mars and other planets for similar reasons.

History shows that it is not man's nature to ignore for long opportunities for discovery and research. It is unlikely that he will refrain indefinitely from going to those destinations for which he is able to construct the means of travel.

The world’s most powerful rocket, the 350 ft-high Saturn 5, which was designed in the 1960 s to propel men to the Moon, will fly once more after the United States* series of manned Moon landing flights ends with Apollo 17. The rocket which produces 7.5 million lb of thrust, is considered one of the great accomplishments of the Space Age. The Saturn 5 is due to make its last flight on April 30, when it will lift the 196,0001 b Skylab workshop into a 250-miie Earth orbit Fifteen Saturn 5 launch vehicles were built Two were used in unmanned test flights and nine others launched the Apollo 8 to 17 missions.

After the Skylab launch, ownership of the remaining two Saturn 5s will be turned over by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the Smithsonian Institution, the museum and educational organisation in Washington. One of the units may be placed on permanent display there, and the other may become a travelling exhibit.