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A-6 THE SUNDAY STAR Waihinfttit, D. C., iundty, Jonuery 4, 1939 U. S. Scientists Expect Russians . To Fire Venus Rocket This Year Continued From First Pifi phone from Ben Diego, Calif., that on specific projects like moonshots and Venus probes this country is at least two years behind Russia. In general in the field of rocketry, the American lag probably amounts to 18 months, he said. “Too Little. Too Late” While Capitol Hill sources clamored for action to retrieve America’s newly re-lost prestige in the space age, the cry of “too little, too late” was heard from some high Government quarters. A leading space scientist, in timately Involved in Govern men work, commented in a pri vate conversation yesterday: “The Russians organised a Commission for Interplanetary Exploration in 1854 and de veloped a sound and consistent program at that time. It is just starting to pay off now with this lunar shot." A co-ordinated American ef fort to put satellites in the sky did not get under way util 1956, despite official mentions of satellites as early as 1948. The latest Russian triumph gave both pungency and perti nence to a remark made by a scientist attending the meeting here last week of the American Association, for the Advance ment of Science:’ '"'The first man on the moon will probably be a dead Rus sian.” Adviser to Convair ■ Mr. Ehricke, an adviser to the Convair Division of Gen eral Dynamics Corp., which makes Atlap ballistic missiles, said the comment was apt. But he added that serious coloniza tion attempts on the moon— even by the Russians—are probably many years off. While Mr. Ehricke and many other scientists thought the Russians might have gone all out to fire their “Lunik,” at least one top American space man thought they had used equipment the United States could duplicate from its own arsenal. “I’d be very surprised if they had used a 450,000 or 500,000-pound thrust engine, as has been suggested in early reports,” said Dr. Homer Joe Btewart, director of program planning and space evaluation for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Somewhat Shorter Dr. Stewart said he envi- ( sioned the Russian rocket that gave the new satellite its in itial impetus as being some what shorter and squatter than our Atlas. On top of this, he said, there probably was a fairly large rocket as a second stage—about the size .of a United States Army Sergeant. Mr. Ehricke conceded Dr. Stewart might be right, and said his analysis was sound. He agreed that a 500,000-pound thrust booster would not be required to do the job done by the Russians Friday night. As Dr. Stewart and other scientists explained it, the Sput nik m booster rocket was ade quate for a launch of this kind. It was pointed out that if Sput nik m’s 3,000-pound payload could be put into a long-lived orbit, a payload roughly one fourth that size could be sent past the moon by the same pro pulsion. If this suggestion is accurate, an Atlas with a hopped-up Vanguard second stage ought, from a technical standpoint at least, to be able to do the same trick. And both Atlases and Vanguards are in ready supply. Only Clear Inkling Dr. Stewart’s idea came to him, he said, from something made public last month by Soviet Academician L. I. Sedov, apparently in derogation of the American feat of putting an Atlas into orbit. Sedov’s re mark, Dr. Stewart said, was the only clear inkling we have had to date of Russian Sputnik rockejx. The Soviet scientist said the Sputnik 111 carrier rocket weighed about 7,000 pounds, which made it lighter than the single - package carrier - plus payload 8,800-pound Atlas. But with its instrumented 2,925- pound payload, which sepa rated from it in orbit, the Sput nik in constituted the biggest mass ever injected into orbit at one time, Sedov pointed out. Dr. Stewart’s reasoning in “extrapolating” from Sputnik HI to Lunik was duplicated by Mr. Ehricke in predicting that a Venus shot might be attempted soon. "By going into this kind of an orbit around the sun,” Mr. Ehricke said, “they have shown that they are perfectly capable of sending exploratory payloads to Venus. “I should think they could put 500 or 600 pounds in the necessary flight path, seeing that they have put 800 pounds into this orbit.” They Could in June Mr. Ehricke said the Rus sians, if they choose* can fire their Venus probe this June, when that planet’s “position will be more favorable than it will be again for a long time.” We will be unable to fire at Venus this time, he said flatly. Mr. Ehricke indicated that payloads of the order of a quar ter of a ton are necessary on such flights if anything is to be accomplished. So far the biggest instrument- load lifted ■JOonward by the United States has been about 40 pounds. The rocket expert warned tha United States it had better start moving if it is going to get into interplanetary space in the next decade. There will be only sevlh times between now and 1969 when—with present tech niques—we will be abld to fire a probe at Venus, and only four times for Mars probes. : v K« | i'-iK/'l :■| 1j & $ k L' % f-- jnßh py HOW RED ROCKET MAY HAVE LOOKED— From a description by Space Agency Pro £ams Chief Homer Joe Stewart, an artist has awn a conception of what the Russians’ latest rocket may have looked like. It is pic tured for comparison purposes alongside the photograph of an Atlas like the one fired into orbit last month. Dr. Stewart believes the first stage was a standard Sputnik launcher, stubbier than an Atlas, topped by an instru mented second stage which separated from the big booster moments after launching and eventually went into orbit around the sun. —lnterpretation by Star Staff Artist John Heinly. The first chance at Venus will have to be passed up, Mr. Eh ricke repeated, and refused to predict whether we would be ready at the next Mars ap proach, In tha fall of 1960. Velocity a Record Andrew O. Haley, president of the International Astronaut!- cal Federation, hailed the So viet achievement as "one of the 1 ROCKET Continued From First Page the Russians “are the first in the world to map out the way from the earth to the moon.” A message from the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Soviet Council of Ministers praised Soviet sci entists. “The first interplanetary flight by the Soviet cosmic rocket opens a glorious page in the study of cosmic space and demonstrates to all mankind the creative genius of the free Soviet people,” the message said. 15-Month Orbit Moscow Radio said later the moon rocket will reach the point nearest the sun—about 91.5 million miles away—on January 14. It will take the rocket 15 months to orbit the sun, the broadcast added. Moscow Radio said the max imum diameter of its orbit around the sun will be 214.75 million miles. “According to preliminary calculations, the Soviet artifi cial planet will complete an orbital movement close to the circumference of the sun,” the radio said. “Its eccentricity will be equal to 0.148. The major axis of the orbit will be at an angle of 15 degrees to the major axis of the earth. The plane of the rocket’s orbit will practically coincide with the plane of the earth’s orbit.” The broadcast, beamed to listeners outside Russia, went on: “The Soviet artifleal planet will reach the point nearest to the sun—the perihelion—on January 14, 1959, when it will be at a distance of about 91 Vi million miles from it. “The maximum distance from the sun will be 12314 million miles. “The artificial planet will reach this point at the begin ning of September, 1959.” Can’t Predict Fate Another broadcast, however, quoted Soviet scientists who launched the rocket as saying they could not precisely predict its fate in outer space. Astronomer Boris Kukarin said there was no way of guar anteeing that a rocket would hit the moon—although Soviet scientists would soon develop absolutely exact accuracy in aiming their cosmic launch ings. “At about eight ninths of the distance from the earth to the IpiANos'raga Rental-Purchase and Rental Plans ' • 'l®- || at Lowest Rates * A wid# chaict of ipintts and centalcs HITT'S of oxcallant makoi. You can hava a 1330 G St., N.W. piano In yaur homo at law cost. Phono RE. 7-6212 or lama In far detail*. 2621 Mt. Vernon Av*. Alex., King 6-8686 greatest scientific achievements in world history.” Mr. IJaley, whose U. N.-recognized group encompasses most of the world’s rocket societies, said the rock et’s velocity—7 miles a second —is a record and therefore sig nificant in itself. But Mr. Haley, a communica tions lawyer, renewed his ap peal for order to be brought moon there is a region in which the pull of the moon and that of the earth are equal,” Mr. Kukarkin said. “Once the rocket has crossed this region, the pull of the moon becomes stronger. This means that the calculations on the basis of which the rocket was launched may be upset.” The radio emphasized that all the rocket’s scientific appa ratus and radio transmitter were working normally. Exploit Success Tass also distributed in the Soviet Union President Eisen hower's statement congratulat ing Soviet scientists on their latest accomplishment. All of the Soviet Union’s propaganda forces have been mobilized to exploit its latest success at home and abroad. Moscow radio almost unceas ingly has been broadcasting comments from scientists, writers and the public about the cosmic rocket. It has car ried detailed reports on the rocket’s progress. A large share of Moscow’s television programming was de voted yesterday to the new rocket. The Soviet Union’s commen tator Viktor Shragin, told Mos cow Radio's home listeners why America is “lagging behind” the Soviet Union. “To know and to conquer cosmic space requires maximum unity, single-mindedness of purpose and close human co operation,” Mr. Shragin said. “This is only possible under socialism, when both the means of production and political power belong to the people and not to a band of monopolists.” Jubilant Moscow citizens called the new space traveler Lunik—"little moon.” Soviet Scientist Yakovlevich Martynov said Friday night the! flight was “a true last rehearsal i for the real cosmic journey” of man. But subsequent statements were more cautious, referring to manned flights to planets “in our generation.” Scientists in interviews with Tass were quick to point out the soaring flight that began Fri day far outstripped heights reached by four futile moon probes by the United States. The United States Air Force Pioneer I reached 71,300 miles. Loaded with 79614 pounds of scientific instruments, the rocket was sending back what was described as priceless in formation on space to meet the problems of future manned flights. On its near approach to the out of the chaoa which seems to be threatening world radio communications as the space age dawns. The IAF president observed that three of the four frequencies being used by the Russian rocket fall right In the middle of world-wide standard frequencies—“the most sacred of all frequencies,” as he put it. A threat to the integrity of the United States' uniform time signal on Station WWV, at 20 megacycles, exists from side band Interference, Mr. Haley asserted. Won’t Last Long The threat Is not likely to last long, however. Distance attenuates the strength.of radio signals rapidly, and before many days the missile Is ex pected to be In an orbit of Its own around the sun. It was too early for precise calculations of the orbit Lunik will assume. But already some scientists were beginning to have fair Ideas of Its size and shape. The immediate notion— that it would go Into a narrowly elliptical path and come dan gerously close ( to the sun seemed to be in the discard. Mr. Ehricke said that, taking the position of the moon Into account, the rocket could be expected to orbit outside the earth’s orbit. Its closest point to the sun would be close to the orbit of the earth; Its farthest point from the sun would be between the earth and Mars. Another scientist thought the satellite would orbit the sun in a path that would take it 10 to 15 million miles closer than earth to the sun at one extreme and 10 to 15 million miles farther away at the other. Such a path would take about one earth year for the satellite to travel, but would be so different In shape from earth’s that the rocket and its mother planet hight not meet again for hun dreds of years. Each of these estimates was different—but not radically so from Soviet estimates of Lunik's orbit as revealed later in Moscow. As the planetoid began its long, possibly eternal career as Planet No. 10 of the Solar Sys tem, there seemed scant possi bility that it would ever come back to earth. Except for a couple of pellets fired last year in an Air Force experiment, it was the first man-made object ever to leave terrestrial influ ence. moon it was expected to send back data on the sediments on the lunar surface, the prop erties of the moon’s inner strata, and the moon's magnetic field. This was the prediction of Alesander Khabakov, a moon expert. It also will provide a more accurate idea of the shape of the moon, he said. There was no indication that the rocket was equipped to take pictures. Instruments Send Data. Other instruments were send ing back data on the earth’s magnetic field, the band of radioactivity girdling the globe, interplanetary gas and the in tensity of 'cosmic, rays. “A colossal amount of infor mation has been received,” said Mr. Topchiev. The rocket was broadcasting from radio sets at 19.997,19.995, 19.993 and 183.6 megahertz, a unit of wavelength measure ment similar to the megacycle. The signals were being picked up by Czechoslovak as well as Soviet stations. They also were being picked up elsewhere in the world but the data was in code. The Rus sians had not given outsiders the key. The Russians lost radio con tact temporarily when the rocket pdssed below the hori zon. But Moscow's radio said it could be observed in North and South America as it passed westerly over the Pacific. At one point the rocket by prearranged signal cut loose a cloud of sodium resembling a comet's tail. Bad weather pre vented pictures in Moscow. A scientist said the cloud was ' photographed by an observa- OPEN EVENINGS in ALEXANDRIA FAMOUS-MAKE Console Pianos f from Our Regular Stock of Fine Instruments K Your Choice of Mahogany, Ebony or m Blond Oak j| Finishes Fully Guaranteed * EASY TERMS Direct Blow Action 6-Post Back 3 Pedals Copper Wound Bass Strings Reinforced Hammers Full 41-inch console pianos at this really low price. Finest construction, beautifully finished and de signed, large piano performance. Made by one of America's largest manufacturers. These are values you don't find everywhere, be sure to see them. f 0 1330 G Street, N.W. REpublie 7-6212 2621 Mt. Vernon Avo., Alax. f King 8-8686 Hours: Wash., 9:15-6; Thur*., 9:15-9, Alex., 12-9; Sot., 9:15-6 U. S. Tracked 'Lunik' Minutes After Takeoff The Pentagon said late yes terday that United States mili tary radio stations have been tracking Lunik sipce minutes after the big Russian rocket went up Friday. UP to the time of the an nouncement, the word was only that the Pentagon had known about the sun-satellite even be fore Moscow radio made its announcement Friday after noon. Exactly how the Defence Department learned of it—and who in the Pentagon got the word—was looked in mystery. A public relations spokesman said Pentagon News Chief Mur ray Snyder knew nothing about it until the official Russian an nouncement. Army and Navy publicists insisted that their tracking stations had not picked up the moon-bound rocket. At the civilian Space Agency, no one professed to have re ceived Information before the Moscow disclosure. Clark Denies Reports Rear Admiral John E. Clark, head of the Pentagon’s Ad vanced Research Projects Agency denied reports that ARPA had somehow gotten the word. Khrushchev Accolade Hails 'New Victory' MOSCOW, Jan. 3 (AP).— Premier Nikita Khrushchev! hailed today the Soviet Union’s new cosmic rocket as a weapon to end the propaganda directed against the Communist way of life by its enemies. Speaking at Minsk, where the Soviet premier joined the celebrations of the 40th anni versary of the Byelo-Russian Communist Party, Mr. Khrush chev said this “new victory” is doubly significant since it coin cides with the start of his seven-year plan. *»“The launching of the cosmic rocket means we are the first in the world to pave the way from the earth to the moon,” he was quoted in a Tass dis patch. Mr. Khrushchev said the new triumph was the re sult of "creative labor by the Soviet people constructing a Communist society.” “This is proof of the victories which the Soviet people gain under the leadership of the Communist Party,” said the So viet party boss. Soviet scientific victories like the cosmic rocket, he said, “'de stroy the. slander of enemies who try to blackmail the Soviet order of socialism.” He told a Communist Party meeting in Minsk that the rocket goes to show “that the socialist order stimulates the speedy development of econ omy, science, technology and culture.” It was Mr. Khrushchev’s first tory near Alma Ata, in Soviet Central Asia, and a photogra pher in Scotland also shot what he believed was the cloud. The government announce ment said the rocket attained a speed of 11.2 kilometers (about 7 miles) a second, de scribed as the impetus needed to escape the earth’s gravita tion. Too Great a Speed A top Soviet scientist said it developed too great a speed to become a satellite of the moon. Prof. Alexander Mikhailov, president of the astronomical council of the Academy of Sciences, estimated the launch ing speed at nearly 50 per cent greater than that needed for sending a satellite into orbit around the earth. Mikhailov told Tass the launching marks the beginning of a study of other members of the solar system by manned space vehicles. Nikolai Kozyrev, Soviet sci entist who claimed recently to have discovered a volcanic eruption on the moon, said in struments will give information about the moon impossible to obtain by the telescope. It was the first announced Soviet venture into space since last May, when the giant lVi ton Sputnik 111 was sent aloft. 1 It is still spinning. "I don’t know what they are talking about.” he said. “I cer tainly didn’t know beforehand.” Then late yesterday the Pent agon press office put out the following information; “In response to queries, the Department of Defense today announced the stations and frequencies on wlhch the Soviet space vehicle has been mon itored at various times since the early afternoon hours of Jan uary 2. “Among the stations report ing are the United States Army Signal Corps at Fort Mon mouth, N. J.; Millstone at Cambridge, Mass.; Patrick Air Force Base (near Cape Cana veral, Fla.), and a number of stations reporting to Project Space Track at the Cambridge Research Center in Massachu setts. “The first report originated from a station in Hawaii which reported a radio signal at 70.2 megacycles apparently emanat ing from a then-unidentified space vehicle. “Since that time, scattered reports from various United States stations principally in the United States have lden- public reference to the giant rocket. The Premier was quoted by Moscow radio as saying the venture “opens up vast oppor tunities for the growth of gifts and talents in which the Rus- Soviets Probably Launched Rocket From Main Base The Soviet cosmic rocket probably was launched from Russia’s main missile base. This is the impression to be gained from a reading of re marks, both Russian and Amer ican, made since the vehicle took to space. In an early announcement Moscow radio said: “The rocket has crossed the eastern border of the Soviet Union, passed over the Hawaiian Islands, and con tinues to move over the Pacific Ocean, rapidly moving away from the earth.” A great-circle course, as would be desirable in a flight of this kind, could be traced back from the Hawaiian Islands over Siberia to the Russians’ No. 1 missile base at Kapustin Yar. Kapustin Yar is on the Volga River on the border of the Rus sian and Kazakh Republics of the U. S. S. R„ about 50 miles east of Stalingrad. Lewis & Thos. 5a1tz...1409 G Street STARTS TOMORROW Sale of SELECTED GROUPS $22.95 to $28.95 French Shriner Fine Shoes NOW ’18.95 t0’23.95 Our twice-yearly event is bigger and better than ever! Bigger selections; better variety; and values that put a big saving in your pocket. There is no better time than now to make the acquaintance of famed French Shriner quality and craftsmanship. 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