Aug 20 1973
From The Space Library
Twentieth anniversary of the first successful Redstone missile launch Aug. 20, 1953, from an improvised pad at Cape Canaveral (now Cape Kennedy), Fla. The Redstone, developed for the Army by Dr. Wernher von Braun and his rocket team, was the first truly ballistic missile in the U.S. The Mercury-Redstone vehicle launched NASA's Freedom 7 May 5, 1961, on the mission carrying Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr., as the first American in space. (MSFC Release 73-112)
The National Science Foundation released Immigrant Scientists and Engineers Decline in FY 1972; Physicians Increase Sharply (NSF 73-311). The 11 300 immigrant scientists admitted to the U.S. in FY 1972 were 14% below the 13 100 in FY 1971. A record 13 300 had entered the U.S. in 1970. Immigrant physicians and surgeons admitted in FY 1972 totaled 7100, the largest influx over the past 20 yrs. The major factor in the decrease of immigrant scientists and engineers appeared to be revisions by the Dept of Labor in regulations for certifying scientists and engineers applying for immigration. Since Feb. 4, 1971, these immigrants were certified only if they had a job offer for which U.S. scientists and engineers were not available and their employment did not adversely affect wages and working conditions of U.S. scientists and engineers. (NSF Highlights, 8/20/73)
Newspaper editorials and columnists commented on the Aug. 17 Dept. of Defense announcement that the U.S.S.R. had flight-tested multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles (MIRVs). New York Times: "Since the Soviet MIRV tests have been anticipated for so long, there is no justification for a panic reaction from Washing-ton, or a further fattening of the strategic weapons budget. The latest Soviet tests increase the urgency of concluding a MIRV limitation accord, but they also add to the already overwhelming mutuality of interest in achieving it." (NYT, 8/20/73, 20)
Washington Post: "The potential of the MIRV technology coupled with the Soviets' giant missiles-especially given their present numerical ad-vantage in certain key categories-could be menacing indeed." It was "precisely this Soviet potential which argues for a serious, effective and non-wasteful approach to the circumstances in which we now find our-selves. This . . . is no time to proceed with turkeys and lemons, or to box ourselves into investments in weapons systems whose cost is exceeded only by their irrelevance to such danger as we would be confronting a few years hence if the 'worst case' regarding Soviet armament came true.' Before the issue of phasing out the present U.S. arsenal in favor of less vulnerable sea- and air-based forces, "one reaches the more immediate question of how this Soviet development can or cannot be tamed within the context of the current phase of the arms negotiations." (W Post, 8/20/73, 24)
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