Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-06-22

senator Symlngt0n, DemOl
Pentagon scientists, are "misl
stories. az least by implication.
public Friday. In which DR.
Herbert York discussed the
Army's Project Adam" before
q House Appropriations sub
committee.
DR., York. chief scientist Of the
Defense Departments Advanced
Research Projects Agency. has
been criticized by Senator SYM
ington on previous occasions for
statements about the rosy fu-
ture Of the United States In
space.
The Adam" project. accord
ang TO informed speculation,
eontemplates modifying a short
range Redstone missile TO ac-
Icommodate a man In the nose
section. This missile then would
be shot into what might be
called Inner space" as opposed
TO outer space"-l50 miles or
90. The man In the nose cone
would then be returned to earth
by parachute.
In the course of the up-and-
down trip. the occupant would
be subjected TO initial accelera-
tive forces several times as
strong as gravity. and then
would be "weightless" for about
s minutes.
Quizzed About stunt"
DR.. York mentioned Adam
along with other projects in his
House subcommittee testimony
as matters which are under
consideration by the Defense
Department. Though he did
not list any priority for the
project. there is evidence that
some Army officials are push
ing II.
At a recent press conference,
the Army's new research and
development chief, 1t. Gen.
Arthur G. Trudeau. was asked
70 comment on a top scientists
scornful comment that the
Adam shot was nothing but a
stunt.
Hes entitled to his opinion"
Gen. Trudeau snapped.
The comment with which
Gen. Trudeau was confronted
was by DR.. Walter r. Dorm
berger. one of the Nations top
missile scientists. In Or. Dorm
berger's view, expressed early
this month at a missile con-
ference here, Adam is a pub
licity project and should be
given an extremely low pri-
ority in the space program, II
indeed it should be tolerated
at all.
Baffiement Expressed
In answer to a question from
The Star, DR.. Dornberger said |
yesterday that he thought
nothing much will come out"
Of the project. i
DR.. Dornberger and other
scientists have expressed baf-
fiement over what, il any,
scientific data could be obtained
from an Adam shot. Humans
already have been subjected to
high acceleration on sledS and
In centrifuges. and 1t is believed
unlikely that any significant
new data would be obtained
along this line by rocketing a
man into space. AS far as
"weightlessnesS" is concerned,
humans already have been in
that condition for periods up to
almost 2 minutes. and most
scientists think the difference
between 2 and 6 minutes would |
not amount to much.
AS to other effects on humans
In outer specialization, for
example-these could be in
terpreted at least as well. and |
probably better. from instru-
ments.
On the propaganda front, |
some sources have raised serious
questions whether Project
Adam would be very impress
sive even If successful. That |
what goes up must come down |
is a well established principle |
OF terrestrial physics, they
point out. Far more impressive !
would be the actual orbiting of |
a manor even of q device
equivalent in size and weight to
q man-carrying vehicle.
This last. scientists point out. |
already has been done by the
Russians. with their 5000
pound Sputnik III.
If unsuccessful. an Adam"
shot could have serious effects
on the space program. A blow
up Of a manned missile on the
launching platform, as hap
pened with the unnamed Van
guard test vehicle 3 last Deem
Der, would be a scene Of hor-