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THE. CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 1950. -
PREPARATION FOR THE FLIGHT
HE stands five feet cleven in his stockinged feat, weighs an
ovon 13 stong in his underwear. His skin is dark and tanned, his eyes and hair brown. You would never pick him out of a crowd. But he is the first man to land on the moon.
We will call him Rogers, James Rogers. The name doesn't matter.. Everything else about him does matter
very much.
It is no accident that he is five-eleven, that he weighs 13 stone. Standardised men, are needed to fit standardised equipment — and no one knows until a few hours before who will be chosen for the trip.
His skin has to be dark. Doris- They were not told when the back in double-quick time were sinned men are less susceptible day of the light would be and to various icinds of skin felta- given no clue as to who would tion.
Suincone chosen. have becom tou excited, and exciternent can be fatal,
He is 20, physically nearing the maximum nge for this kind of work, but, meistally, the minimum age for the kind of polye and absolute emotional stability that are just as carential.
Hogers did not put himself forward for the job. Any man who did might eare too much about the cutcome and so break down during training.
SELECTED
be
ht
Every possible exigency was gone through in thele training,
They spent weeks In "space end with no tight and no one to talk to. Their air was purified by thy algae · plants, a technique developed buck in 1950 by esperimenters in Denver, Colorado.
..
at
They WH
precipitated font: sile spredu long trekt on rocket sleds to simulate the en- ditforss of like-off and landing in He was Selected along with a
If the most which. who trained socket hundred others
a year, my one date technique for calling to with him fur
devided of who might have been ti the menu were finally
20,000 man chosen at the list moment, pat might approch All of them had about the miles an hour.
qualifications:
Game
They
They were ferally "lown were profussioural plots, tini- versity graduates with Selence up to simulate conditions which
would occur if the, rreket dis degress, men of above average
not belllint. Integrated in icke-ff, and they intelligence but Skilled but
specialists, were thrown clear and par- tou hated to earth in the snoll cage Brillial men are usually sensitive, specialists ten likely deshned for the spice, to want to run the show for themselves.
1st
Practice Jamiings were at- tempted in Junglia, in aretie 10ndra and in deserts, while the They were asked to volun- global communication system designed for bring the moonman
icer.
tried out. Survival teste under condition were carried every out. No one knew where the moonman might land on his way back, It was not even worth thinking about what would hap- went really pen if something wrong on the moon.
But most of all, the aspiring mooumen were watched.
None of them was married. Any man who showed any sign of even thinking about getting engaged was
dropped frein the lat,
CLOSE TIES
None had any close ties, any overriding interest. Fonaties aro foo dangerous.
At 300 miles up stage, iwe
Flast stage cintalnim.
falls-away
camera sed, instru
MAN ON. THE MOON. PART ONE—by John Maclean
MOOL
BMAY ORBIT NOON VE ŠTAS SATELLITE TRANSMITS
FICTURES TO EARTH
TOTAL FLIGHT TIME TO MOON 21 DAYS
IN your lifetime à human being may land on the moon. Operation Moon- flight has emerged from the realms of science fiction. Almost every field of science will make its contribution to the greatest journey in the his- And from the millions of people on earth, one man will tory of mankind.
What sort of man will he be? What be chosen to make the actual fight. will he see and hear and feel? How long can he expect to stay on the moon? Based on available research material, “Man on the Moon" sets out to ar- swer these vital questions in dramatic form. "John Maclean" is the paru- donym of a member of the faculty of a well-known American university who has access to the latest data on space travel.
All this had been standard dirlil since the carly U.S. civilian
ugency sprou
first planned 10 send a man into space. Tests conducted in 1958 land shown that middle-aged Wonen, with no ties at all,
None of the men had ever had survived best-le. had fewest signs of nerves, panic, or even
Illness, but none, tension in the darkened, space a serious
ever been a pro cages where there was nothing elthez, had to do but wait and cat. fessional athlete. A man who
Everybody who and
exerciso for 100 Rogers thought of public has too much Physical stamina
the long does not fore
well in "ordinary Joe" polley, however, dictated
cramped quarters.
us of mÉN.
All of them, had lots DI friends, but nono had any very close friends.
that the world
of men just like him,. Actually, this klid. ok man is an exeep- tion.
A diagram of the moonshot by the United States recently which ended in failure. Another. - bid is being planned,
have to spend a long time wild activity. and long, boring wailing to be rescued if any weeks of waiting, sometimes in thing went wrong after the total darkness, that it required. landing. Or hp might miss the These men did not.
moon
and go
into an orbit around the sun. Perhaps he could be rescued 10 come. thing could bo devised 10 pult him out of
another space ship at just the right place would do the trick. But it would take a lot of time.
Then, in the awful loneli- meas of outer space, the temptation to pull the wrong lever and head back to earth miglit net overwhelming,
Physical stamina and mental The need for him, though, is calm are the real requirements. obvious enough. The trip to the Most men, probably, would have moon itself would be short — rebolled at the training, or gone full if all went well. But he might crazy at the alternation between
knew James him as on and Assumed
must be
TRAINING
* Nothing had been overlooked
in their training.
Now their job was to sit still and walt-unlem something went wrong--for the man at the rodio controls to get them to the moon.
Rogers was having coffee at breakfast-when they told, kim he was taking off in two hours.
NEXT WEEK:
Flight and Landing
HOT
brary an
GENERAL EISENHOWER -Retired into politics
GENERAL DE GAULLE
•Retired into politics
MONTGOMERY
TO MOSCOW
Cummings
"Well, why shouldn't I retire into politics, too?"
CHESS
LEONARD BARDEN
position from entual play: While to move and win
London Express Bervica
JUST FANCY THAT
BEFORE leaving with their foot, two masked sunmen who Drobbed Mr and Mrs Allan Wayne's home in Durban, South
Africa, look the oouple's early morning tes, and aspirina. -
GOOD East Gerinan is within his rights if he wrecks his]
'Potsdam civil court has ruled.
neighbour's radio to stop him listening to Western programs
The defence of our way of life
depends on this one piece
of delicate machinery-that's
why I have flown out here
to get the truth about it for you
by
CHAPMAN PINCHER
Hollywood.
IN A CRAGGY canyon of
the Santa Susana Mountains,
they could be fired within two production ne long nunules.
research was complete.
By reducing the weight of the guidance mechanism and other parts the range of Thar is being increased above its original 1,500 miles.
WHY HAS IT GOT
SUCH A BAD REPUTATION
before
There is no doubt that the gamble has come off.
HOW FAR DID MACMILLAN COMMIT US
CROSSWORD
K
14
14
=
10
THE
AMERICANS
were willing to build the
21
in
formerly the setting for WHY DID 80 many £10,000,000 bases "Hollywood Westerns when early firings fail and Britain at their expense nothing more lethal was fired than blank bullets, I earn the missile a bad if they could run them. watched-recently the firing of a weapon designed name? to destroy Moscow.
At the touch of a button an earthshaking cope of flame roared from a hole in the blackened rocks at 6,000 miles an hour.
In the three minutes it cascaded down the canyon billowing smoke and steam it could have thrust an H-bomb on an undeflectable course from Norfolk to Russia,
This was a captive test of the mighty engine for Thor, the controversial United States missile now being installed on launching pads in Britain.
IS IT ACCURATE, DOES
IT FIRE FAST ENOUGH?
The answer is that the need to produce Thor was so sudden and urgent that it had to be done in three and ir Hair years
instead of the usual seven.
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But the Governmont-roallace, par une that public opinion would object because of the fear however unjustified that, some trigger happy Americans might set off rocket and bring retribution to Britain.,..
Concessions
This extreme urgency, which has never been properly ex- plained before, is also the real reason for the diplomatic deal which put Thor in Britain. It So at Bermuda last year Mr orose from the discovery by Macmilion, insisted that only by Intelligence agents in 1954 that pulling the "trigger"-the pro- the Russians would have inter- pulsion unit-armly in R.A.F. continental misalles capable of hands could the buses be made hitting London or New York by acceptable. 1050-years earlier than ex- pected.
Shocked
President Elsenhower agreed but exacted two concessions.
The British would have to build the bases and accommo- date United States technicians This shocked the Americava so who would retain control of the much that they Immediately re- warheads. The R.A.F, would organised their mastic pro- select the targets and command gramme, which had been the mixed units..
on Allos, д
the
TO UNCOVER the true facts about Thor, still concentrating
5,000-mlic-runga rocket capable obscured by diplomatic secrecy in Britain,, I have of hitting Russia from travelled 5,000 miles, visiting rocket factories. United States. talking to United States missile chiefs, and RAF men in training here.
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TARGET
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HOW DRY
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BAT
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Con tise, life t
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They put the suspect Thor deal in an entirely sizeable production before 1901. ment to assume that the Unlice different light.
Far from being "just junk," as the Socialists have claimed, I can testify that Thor is now a 'It rejected a 215 claim for domnuges brought by a man whore. ant was destroyed by a neighbour who heard him listening to highly reliable weapon, Western news bulletin.
RUSSIAN Jot bomber collided with a wild duck;a) 18,000ft, „nocording to the newspaper Bovist Aviation. It added: "Blow ika, dzok, got. to, mich a hafnfië, dispsalita, u. mystery.”
Each of the eight Thors Thor is now being regularly launched
full-scale trial fuelled and launched within 20 flights this year would have put minutes.. ila payload plumb on its Russian In the event of an emergency, target had it been: Ared - from "in which the mimilda: would be. theliais.
kapte vertical mash mutlak up,
the mali ognura. mf beamed thegel ot ones only. Enab wordith KLEE.0035+ ·
the better in
Torst one mineral-00
NO
Instead of making all this Because of the Revertr
the Government problems imposed by such long clear range, Alles could not be in allowed the public und Parlia
States offered to arin the R.AT. Go to bridge the gap they with rockets then withheld the switch priority to making the warheads, passed on the bill for 1,500-mile-range Thor for bpsing the launching pads and imposed fare. And the we In Britain.
a veto on their use. The British, who had no As result an effective ballistio, alealle on the stocks, weapon, which will bridge the agreed. So the Americans took four-year gap before Britain's part of the Atlas engine, its own Bluestreak is ready, has guidance system, and other com-. been brought into disrepute pad ponents to make Thor.
the public" has been, innisled over nulasuo vitally affecting Re Because of the urgency thoy" nocurity, no A tooli the gamble be starting up; ** **[London Express- Žarošos); {{
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