Evening star., 1962-02-04
Mercury Flight Delays Point Up
u. S. Failure to Meet Space Goals
BY WILLIAM HINES
Star Science Writer


Star Science Writer
Events of the last fortnight
show clearly how far the United
States still has to go to trans
late into deeds President Ken
nedy's "men-to-the-moon" pro-
posal of last May Is.
Mr.. Kennedy set as the ma
tional space goal the lunar
landing and safe return of
Americans before this decade
is out"
Can this goal be realized in
the 1883 days remaining?
- The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration is try
ing. 1t has organized for the
lunar effort; how effectively
remains to be seen. But in COM
parison with what has been
done in the space age to date,
the task seems frighteningly
large.
Postponed Six Times
The Mercury manned orbital
space flight program-AStro-
naut John H. Glenn's mission
was first publicly revealed at a
Wright Day dinner here on De-
cember II, 1858.
Col. Glenn still has not flown.
His mission, already postponed
six times, now has been set for
February 13.
The President was aware of
the difficulties ahead, and
warned against the perils of
tagging enthusiasm and half
way attempts. 1T would be
better not to go at all" he said.
Yet after the feast of SEN
Sation America-and the Free
World-will enjoy in the flight
of Col. Glenn, there will be a
lengthy period when not much
will be doing. This will provide
a test of whether enthusiasm
for an expensive, yet not par
ticularly spectacular. under
taking can be maintained for a
considerable time.
It is perhaps revealing to
look back at the flight of Alan
B. Shepard in May and Virgil
I. Grissom in August. The first
of these brought national re-
joicing; the second was hardly
more than a routine news
curiosity.
Letdown Is Expected
A successful mission by Col.
Glenn will be celebrated, car
nival fashion, just as was
Comdr. Shepard'S flight. But
then a big letdown will be in
store under present schedules.
After the Glenn mission, the
next new manned space event
will be a 24-hour-plus flight by
lone astronaut, paralleling
the flight of Russia's Cher
man Titov. Unfortunately, the
schedule is such that that mis-
sion, even if successful will not
close the gap, but widen it.
If Col. Glenn goes February
l3. the lag between Maj. Yuri
Gagarin's orbital flight and his
will be 10 months. The present
timetable for a longer flight by
an American astronaut is some
time in 1868. about 18 months
after Gherman Titov's ride.
At the earliest, we will orbit
two men CProject Gemini~
late in 1963-more likely in
1864. A first flight of a three
man team in orbit CApollo-
Az may occur in 1864 but more
probably in 1865. 1t will be a
long time for the American
people to wait for a new SEN
Sation in space.
Intermediary Steps
Even Gemini and Apollo-A
are nothing more than inter-
mediate steps in getting to the
moon. Their rockets, Titan II
and Saturn C-1 respectively,
exist as hardware today, but
the former has never been fired
and the latter has been flown
Sub-orbitally only once. And
neither rocket is moon-lander,
at least as far as manned
flight is concerned.
With a 1868 budget request
of nearly 81 billion and the ex-
penditure curve still on the rise
NASA realizes it may face
heavy seas, especially if Con-
gress or the people lose faith in
the program. NASA's probable
budget of SIS billion-plus would
be a natural place to start
hacking next year when the
Fiscal 1864 budget reaches Cap.
itol Hill with a new-obligationa
total of more than $100 billion
That will be the time wher
NASA's "image" will count. i
the agency manages to project
the picture of an efficient, ded.
icated. straight-talking Gov
ernment department, it prob.
ably will be able to survive thu
recriminatory storm of "What
have you done for us lately?'
If its image is projected other
wise, the whole space effor
could sutherland the nationa
prestige along with it.