Evening star., 1961-08-07
By the Associated Press

as possible.
George M. Low, chief OF
NASA's manned flight pro-
gram, said yesterday the Soviet
feat had been anticipated by
United States space officials,
but probably could not be du-
plicated by this country for
quite some time"
Mr.. Low declined to estimate
whether the cateh-up time
would be less than a year, a
little more or considerably
more.
He said the American pro-
gram is being pushed hard and
has been pushed hard" but
that it can not go faster than
it already is.
The attempt expected this
month to orbit an unnamed
Mercury capsule would employ
an Atlas rocket more than four
times as powerful as the Red
stone used in the Shepard and
Grissom flights.
If the craft is launched sue
cessfully and recovered after
one or more orbits, the next
Mercury-Atlas shot-according
to present plans-would have
q chimpanzee aboard.
Only after the effects on the
animal have been observed
does NASA plan to risk human
life. The manned orbital flight
is still on the agency's calendar
for late this year, but officials
privately have been dubious
that it could be achieved before
early 1862.
Concerned by Atlas
The big concern is the Atlas,
presently the only United
States booster big enough for
the task. The failure Of the
Atlas on three of four earlier
capsule launchings is the main
reason this Nation trails the
Russian man-in-space program
by a wide margin.
The only previous attempt
to orbit the capsule came last
April Is when the Atlas failed
to pitch over onto the proper
course and the range safety
officer destroyed it. An escape
rocket pulled the capsule free
and parachuted it unharmed
into the ocean off Cape Ca
naveral. s
IF that shot had succeeded, F"
an official reported, 1--WE would
have gained confidence in the
Atlas, and we might now be
close to manned orbital flight. "
The Atlas generates $780, 900
pounds of thrust as a military
weapon it has a fine record,
but the difficulty has come
when the heavy. 2-ton Mercury
capsule is placed on top,
causing certain aerodynamic
stresses.
Once Atlas has been per-
fected, at least eight manned
orbital flights are planned. The
first two will be three orbits,
with the number gradually in
creasing to 18. This will pro-
vide pilots with valuable long
time flight experience for fu-
ture flights to the moon and
beyond.
Moon Flight Planned
Programs after Mercury will
depend on Saturn, the is
million pound thrust vehicle
scheduled to have it's first flight
test in October. Estimated
thrust of the Russian man-in-
space rockets is one million
pounds.
The United States has am
bilious plans for its Apollo
program, which would follow
Mercury. Apollo is designed to
land at least one man and
possibly three on the moon
within the decade" The
Apollo capsule is not yet built.
Another NASA official, DR.
Robert C.. Seamans, jr., said
NASA hopes to launch the first
manned Apollo vehicle in late
1864 or early 1865. The mission
would be to launch up to three
men at a time in the capsule
which would make prolonged
orbit about the earth, with q
maximum of two weeks.
Later, an attempt would bs
made to send a man or men ir
a circumnavigational flig h
around the moon. Finally, be.
fore the end of the present de.
cade, would come the United
States attempt to land a man
or men on the moon and bring
them back.
| Mr.. Low said, 1--WE knew thu
Russians had the capabilities
for orbital flight even before
Yuri Gagarin's flight" he said
I'm fact, I was surprised thar
the Gagarin flight did not tax,
place earlier that it did"
He said the pace Of the Rus
sian manned-flight program
was first indicated by the sue
cessful LAUGHING Of Sputnik 2
bearing the dog Laika, in 1857
And they must have beer
working on a manned program
. for at least two or three year
, prior to that launching" Mr.
. Low said
The American manned pro
: gram did not get going unit
5 the fall of 1858, he said, bu
a d d ed that the fact tina
t Comdr. Shepard was success
r fully launched into suborbita
). flight in about two years aftel
e the start of the program is evi,
n lAv1AA Af.AA 49, nG- 4