MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON
THURSDAY. AUGUST 30. 1962
Comparisons
Given
Sovset
on
By ALVIN B. WEBB JR.
Cape Canaveral - iUPIi - "Vi
gavarfeetye-pa-rooskie?"
This is a phonietic phrase,
passed along for the benefit
of future U.S. astronauts. It
means, "Do you speak Rus
sian?" At the rate the space race
is going, it could be the first
question American explorers
will have to answer when
they reach the moon.
The implication is that the
world's leading producer of
television sets, swimming
pools and electric can-openers
may lose the No. 1 prize in
space to a nation that only
a few years ago had many
soldiers who thought toilets
were indoor drinking wells.
Fifteen months ago. Pres
ident Kennedy officially
squared off the United Stales
against the Soviet Union for
the most spectacular and cost
ly "prestige" struggle in his
tory - a no - holds barred
race to land the first men on
the moon. America's goal:
1967, and 1970 at the latest.
The first huge chunks of a
20 to 40 billion - dollar
"pledge" for the moon proj
ect sent U.S. industry into
action. The first of a man
power force that eventually
will reach 500,000 was
brought to harness "paper"
projects poured off drawing
boards like confetti from New
York skyscrapers during a pa
rade. U.S. Hopes Rise
And from behind the Iron
Curtain there was a year of
comforting silence, broken
only by the occasional launch
ing of an unmanned Soviet
"scientific" satellite. U. S.
hopes rose on the tacit inter
pretation that the silence de
noted trouble in the Russian
scientific camp.
In a way, America itself
had gone into a sort of "orbit"
about the moon project nam
ed "Apollo" and was jolt
ed rudely back to earth when
a pair of silvery spaceships
streaked from the Russian
heartland into the skies on
the mornings of Aug. 11 and
12.
For three days. Soviet
"space brothers" Andrian Ni
kolayev and Pavel Popovich
soared round and round a
stunned world which had for
weeks anticipated a new Rus
sian "spectacular," and had
expected almost anything but
this.
Dramatic as the perform
ance was, its implications for
the future of the race to the
moon were even more so.
For the first time, there was
a hint of a Soviet target date
for a manned lunar landing
1965, anywhere from one to
five years ahead of the U.S.
goal.
Shows Lead
Although dubbed a "prop
aganda stunt" in many quar
ters, the Soviet twin - orbit
feat actually was a solid sci
entific accomplishment that
demonstrated an equally sol
id Russian lead in man-in-space
techniques:
1. The performance indi
cated Soviet scientists have
mastered the difficult preci
sion launching of large rock
ets. The ability to fire these
giant boosters, apparently
within seconds of the planned
launching times, still evades
their U.S. counterparts.
2. The extremely close or
bits of Vostoks 3 and 4 dem
onstrated precision in guid
ance techniques that closely
approached t h e accuracy
needed for flights toward the
moon. The United States is
a full two years away from
any comparable test.
3. Many free world scien
tists interpreted the nearness
of the spaceships to one an
other to mean this was a
first step toward "rendez
vous." a technique by which
capsules and propulsion units
could be hurled into separate
orbits and there be assembled
(or flights to the moon.
Is Revelation
II was a startling revela
tion the Soviet Union ap
parently has decided against
tackling the troublesome tech
nical problems of building a
single gigantic rocket for a
"direct" shot at the moon and
has shifted to the "rendez
vous" principle that would
permit use of smaller rock
ets. This is the track that U.S.
space experts, after months
of shuffling around among
ideas, decided upon. But for
some unexplained reason,
they failed to anticipate that
Russia might do likewise. At
least, there was little, if any.
advance speculation that the
Soviets would attempt a twin
orbit flight.
It is believed the Soviet
Union already is preparing an
other two-man "spectacular."
possibly within the next two
to three months, and that
will take one of two courses:
-The launching of two Vos
toks into similar orbits, a la
Nikolayev and Popovich.
with an attempt to bring the
two cloe enough so that one
cosmonaut could leave his
ship and join his compatriot
in the second for a joint rule
back to earh.
-Or the launching of two
gle spaceship for an extend
ed flight of perhaps a week
or iwo.
Dreary Prospect
Between now and the day
the first men land on the
moon, the United States faces
the dreary prospect of getting
beaten time after time in man
in - space accomplishments.
James Webb, administrator of
the National Aeronautics and
Space administration, has con
ceded that Russia likely will
put up the first two - man
spaceship into orbit and prob
ably will accomplish the first
manned flight around the
moon.
At this critical point. Amer
ica cannot match Russia's
rocket power or capsule size
and it's a case of some un
wanted chickens coming home ;
to roost. i
What the United States can-
not buy now is time. This was
the valuable commodity that
was lost during the years aft- j
er World War II, when Amer-
ican military experts could
see no reason for building
ballistic missiles since they
had manned bombers.
liussia, on the other hand,
had a meager manned bomb
er force and had to go for
something else to deliver
atomic warheads. The answer
was the ballistic missiles and
the Soviet Union started de
veloping them before 1950.
The payoff was that Rus
sia already had a stock of
large, tried - and - true rock- j
ets on hand when the race
for space started in 1957. It 1
escaped the problem the Unit- ;
ed States is facing build
ing a giant new rocket almost
from scratch in a few com
paratively short years. j
Main Hope
America's main hope for j
eventually beating the Rus
sians to the moon may well
rest in its very wealth. Fi-1
nancing a manned lunar ex
pedition is costly, to the So
viet Union as well as to the i
United States, and Russian j
! Premier N'ikita Khrushchev
I himself on several occasions
has complained about the ex
pense. Some U.S. experts feel that,
if the Soviet Union faces any
more agricultural difficulties
of the type it had last year,
Russian leaders may be forc
ed to pull some funds off the
space program to keep the
economy going. The Soviets
spent more than the Ameri
cans on space research last
year about 2 billion dol
lars to 1.8 billion dollars, it
has been estimated.
The degree of importance
of the Nikolayev - Popovich
flight to the long - run goal
of first on the moon is still
a subject of hot debate be
tween U.S. space chiefs on the
"official" level, who contend
America will win, and other
"unofficial" scientists, techni
cians and experts who are be
ginning to doubt it.
'Official' Reaction
The "official" reaction to
the two - orbit feat was, in
spots, at considerable vari
ance with the "unofficial"
view:
Official - Chiefs of the Na
tional Aeronautics and Space
administration pictured the
Nikolayev - Popovich flight
as a "baby step" which told
nothing of who would win.
Unofficial morale at
Cape Canaveral hit a new
all - time "low" among sci
entists and technicians who
realized the United States
won't be ready for a similar
"baby step" for another two
years.
Official Deputy NASA
Administrator Hugh Dryden
said there is no evidence that
Russia has developed a big
enough rocket to send a space
craft to the moon.
Unofficial some U.S. sci
entists speculated that the
new Vostoks weighed per
haps seven or eight tons, de
noting a rocket perhaps twice
as powerful as the boosters
that sent the first Soviet cos
monauts, Yuri Gagarin and
Gherman Titov, into orbit.
Official Wernhcr Von
Braun, America's most fa
mous space scientist, said
the U.S. rocket accuracy is
just as good as that demon
strated by Vostoks 3 and 4.
Cannot Prove
Unofficial The United
States, unfortunately, cannot
prove it anytime soon. There
is only one launching pad
for manned flights set up at
Cape Canaveral and it takes
a minimum of 30 to 60 days
to get each shot off. Two U.S.
spaceships in orbit at present
is an impossibility.
Official the U.S. Defense
department said it saw no
military significance to the
two-orbit flights.
Unoificial Soviet De-
I ovsky observed the safe land
ings 01 the two cosmonauts
with this warning: "Let our
foes know what technology
and what militancy arc in the
possession of Soviet power."
One congressman comment
ed confidently that "our space
program is on solid ground."
To which a bitter Cape Ca
naveral technician replied:
"That's the trouble space
programs belong in space, not
on the ground "
I
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Pollen Storage
May Lead Way to
Better Seedlings
Corvallis - Possibilities for
improving tree seed quality j
by storing pollen from super
ior, selected trees were re
ported this week by Oregon
State university scientists dur
ing the meetings of the Amer
ican Institute of Biological
Sciences.
Under natural conditions,
pollen life is limited to a brief
period after discharge.
The Oregon State scientists
are "frceze-drying" the pollen
to extend its life - perhaps for
years - and to provide a sup
ply of quality pollen for use
in tree breeding projects. It
would be possible too to ship
pollen to any place in the
world if the treatment is
found feasible.
Results for one year only so
far indicate thai freeze-dricd
pollen produces seeds which
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seed in regard to seed weight,
gcrminability and seedling
size.
Trees Will Be Bred
Selected trees will be bred
with the treated pollen each
spring for the next four years.
The research report was
read by Gordon K. Livings-
iton, a graduate research as
sistant. Leaders of the project
'are a husband-wife scientist
team. Dr. Kim K. Ching, for
!cst geneticist in the Oregon
State University Forest Re-
search laboratory, and Dr. Te
May Ching. agronomist in the
! Agricultural Experiment Sta
tion Seed laboratory.
I The frceze-drying of hu
mj 1 blood to hold in blood
j banks gave birth to the idea
I of freczc-drying pollen, it was
j reported, and a similar ma
1 chine is used.
! First collections of pollen
jfor the study were made last
'spring from Douglas fir trees.
, The pollen is frozen in a cool-
ing solution of dry ice and
; acetone and is then vacuum
dried to remove the moisture
in the pollen and facilitate
storage. Fresh pollen has a
moisture content of 12 to 16
per cent. That is reduced to 2
per cent in the frecze-dry
j treatment.
! Vacuum Sealed
i Pollen is vacuum sealed in
glass ampoules and stored at
varying temperatures, ranging
from room temperature to 18
decrees below zero.
Forest yield seed crops on
ly about once in every threr
or four years because seed
production is hampered by
many known and unknown
factors, it was noted.
The demand lor tree seed
in world markets far exceeds
the supply, especially for the
seed which will produce trees
with desirable characteristics.
This project might provide
some clue toward supplying
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