Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 1967)
-• tf.aj.- OH 1HE BATTALION Thursday, October 19, 1967 College Station, Texas Page 7 fl Soviet. Instruments Sftnd Back First. Venus Information JUST COMPLETE YOUR FREE SILVER DOLLAR CARD FROM KROGER! m 89' v TEXAS at VILLA MARIA SPRAY OR ROLL ON SECRET DEODORANT TABLETS DRISTAN KROGER FAMILY PRIDE SHAMPOO OR CREME RINSE MENNEN LOTION BABY MAGIC TASTY HUNT'S CATSUP 14-oz. Btl. ^ gc 9 OZ. $1.09 SIZE DEL MONTE whole GREEN BEANS ^ 303 Jm cans | KROGER PEANUT BUTTER 2^-lb. Jar MORTON HOUSE BEEF STEW U/ 2 -lb. Can 39' RADISHES CUCUMBERS GREEN PEPPERS GREEN ONIONS YOUR CHOICE By JOHN WEYLAND Associated Press Writer MOSCOW OP>—The Soviet Un ion achieved another historic space break-through Wednesday by dropping on Venus instru ments that radioed back the first information ever received from that planet’s surface. The data indicated Venus’ temperature was hot enough to melt metal. U.S. space leaders, awaiting Thursday’s flyby of Venus by the American Mariner 5 space craft, called the Soviet landing of an instrument package on the cloud-shrouded planet “an accom plishment any nation can be proud of.” OFFICIAL VERSION here of the flight gave no indication of what happened to Venus 4, the 2,438-pound vehicle that carried the instruments into Venus’ at mosphere. Presumably it crashed into the surface. The information relayed to earth showed Venus’ atmosphere to be extremely hot—up to 536 degrees Fahrenheit—and made up almost entirely of carbon dioxide, whJfh the earth’s living creatures cannot breathe. The feat with the unmanned Venus 4 spaceship was a big prestige boost for this country’s space program, which had suf fered a tragic setback April 24 when cosmonaut Vladimar M. Komarov was killed in the crash of Soyuz 1. IT WAS ALSO a big leap for ward for the Soviet Union in the space race with the United States. Official announcements de scribed the Venus 4 flight this way: The spaceship, launched June 12, reached the atmosphere of the planet—50 million miles away —at 12:34 a.m., EDT, Wednes day and released its instruments in a separate package. This braked itself, then put out a parachute. For the next 90 minutes it floated down the 15 miles toward Venus’ surface, sending back data through radio signals. THE TEMPERATURE ROSE from 104 degrees Fahrenheit at the start of the descent to five times that at the end. Pressure rose to 15 times that on earth. VENUS 4 PROVIDED the So viet Union with the first signifi cant space success since its pre decessor, Venus 3, reached the planet. This was the first man made object to reach Venus but it failed to radio back anything because of an equipment malfunc tion. Both Venus 3 and Venus 4 car ried the hammer and sickle em blem of the Communist state to the planet. This country started the race to Venus on Feb. 12, 1961. The United States joined in and in 1962 got back the first radio in formation about the planet from Mariner 2, but this passed with in 21,000 miles of it. U. S. Plans Hurt By Space Cuts The brilliant success of Russia’s Venus 4 comes at a time when budget cuts have stymied Ameri ca’s future planetary plans for several years. The congressional cuts, heavily opposed by many scientific groups, may force America to take a permanent back seat to the Soviets in planetary exploration. While the United States had no plans to soft-land a space craft on Venus, as Venus 4 did Wednesday, this nation had hoped to land two unmanned Project Voyager laboratories on Mars in 1973 and two more in 1975 to study the planet extensively, in cluding a search for life. Cuts in the National Aeronau tics and Space Administration’s fiscal 1968 budget request have delayed the first double Mars shot until at least 1975. Also elimi nated was a preliminary scouting mission to the red planet by a smaller spacecraft in 1971. NASA had sought $71.5 million in the 1968 budget as a starter for Voyager and $10.1 million for the 1971 Mars scouting trip. The House wiped out all these funds. But early this month the Senate Appropriations Committee restored $36 million for Voyager, not enough to fly in 1973. Congressmen said an over-all half-billion-dollar cut in NASA’s budget was necessary because of the rising cost of Vietnam and other national programs. A Senate-House compromise must still be worked out on Voy ager funds. Because of the Venus 4 success, congressmen might be inclined to vote more money than they ordinarily would—just as they have loosened the purse strings after previous Soviet space successes. I fl! if