Dec 30 1968

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Defense Secretary designate, Rep. Melvin R. Laird (R-Wis.), named David Packard, chairman of Hewlett-Packard Co., California electronics firm, to be Deputy Secretary of Defense in Nixon Admin­istration. (Beecher, NYT, 12/31/68, 1; WSJ, 12/31/68; Aero Daily, 12/31/68)

Cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Cal Tech's operation of Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a major NASA installation was renewed by NASA and Cal Tech through Dec. 31, 1971. Cal Tech staffed and operated JPL; prop- erty, facilities, and equipment were owned by Government. (NASA Procurement Off; NASA Release 69-2)

In Pravda, Prof. Boris Petrov, Soviet guidance mechanisms specialist, said U.S.S.R. preferred not to send men to moon at this point, though unmanned Zond V and Zond VI "were adapted for piloted flight." (Reu­ters, W Post, 12/31/68, A3)

Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial: "Those who argue that the country should be spending more money on important domestic programs are correct. But these increases should not have to come at the expense of American space exploration and newly-won world prestige. NASA'S needs deserve high priority. There should be no lost opportunities. When the first American sets foot on the moon next year, his accomplishment should symbolize a beginning, not an ending." (C Plain Dealer, 12/30/68)

In Washington Evening Star, David Lawrence asked, "What was really the big 'miracle' in the voyage of the American astronauts to the moon and back?" It could have happened, "and the rest of the world would not have witnessed the dramatic arrival of the astronauts aboard an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific Ocean or the pictures sent from outer space for several days if it had not been for another great feat of science-transmission of television and radio from artificial satellites direct to every continent of the world." (W Star, 12/30/68, A9)


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