Jan 17 1965
From The Space Library
Robert L. Sohn, scientist at Space Technology Laboratories, proposed to use the gravity field of Venus as a brake for manned spacecraft returning from Mars. "We don't expect to have boosters powerful enough to launch spacecraft of the 1970s that can carry extra propulsion to brake reentry speeds. . . . The landing corridor Will be so narrow that a small fractional error in navigation would send the spacecraft into an eternal orbit around the sun." He said traveling near Venus on the return journey from Mars would slow a spacecraft as it passed through the Venusian gravity field. Then, with some midcourse maneuvering and navigation, the astronaut could return to earth and reenter earth's atmosphere with greater margin of error. (Macomber, San Diego Union, 1/17/65)
Dr. I. M. Levitt, Director of the Fels Planetarium, said in the Philadelphia Inquirer: "As of this moment, the Soviets have tentatively determined that the maximum 'safe' period of weightlessness is 24 hr. They hold that after this period, 'irreversible physiological changes begin to occur in the human system which, if not corrected, will eventually lead to death'. . . . "The Soviets have also discovered a correlation between high accelerations and weightlessness. They believe that when an astronaut is subjected to high accelerations on launch he tends to overestimate or to overcompensate for his movements. Once the astronaut is weightless, then a radical reversal takes place in which the astronaut under-compensates and may suffer disorientation. . . . "The Soviets appear to have concluded that flight crews of the future will be selected as medical teams, and they will further be selected on the basis of biological and bacteriological compatibility. The crew will be concerned with developing means for forecasting their own health during the entire trip so as to preserve it." (Phil. Inq., 1/17/65)
Tass reported that a Soviet archeologist had discovered a Neolithic drawing in a cliff gallery in Soviet Central Asia resembling a cosmonaut. The figure carried "something resembling an airtight helmet with antennae on its head" and "some sort of contraption for flight" on its back. (Reuters, Wash. Post, 1/18/65; NYT, 1/23/65)
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