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Show o ; , Astronaut Details First Moon Probe By Ed Catmull Astronaut Don Lind, a former Utahn, presented the space nroeram yesterday with sprinklings of humor and fresh msigh fo how an astronaut feels. Dr. Lind's particular assignment nrvv deals with Lunar surface problems. This has required a sophistiSted course in geology and many field trips. They are orSentry studying a particular type of volcano found only in Hawaii and to round things out, they hope to find something to "whenheyactuaUy go to the moon, it is imperative that they have adequate training in geology in order to make a meaning- tnrtv of the lunar surface. Just bringing a rock back to a Sologtt won't help much. However, they will be able to bring f X m bounds of the moon in a "hard vacuum." baCCey Si re "rn in a "controlled meteorite" where surface rtnrps will be from 4 - 5000 degrees while inside they will temperatures wiu be i &t be 3 ? subletted I to a force of 10 g's. Lind stated that he time be.subj l eath at 8 g's. In the water, the astro-findf astro-findf li rPPfor a very qutck rescue. Lind described the space crat in watS ' as a gUanteed sea sickness machine. Even a sea captain would get sick in it. After moon astronauts land, they and their moon sample will be taken to the Houston Space Control Center, affectionately dubbed by astronauts as "The Jail." This is to prevent us Earthlings from getting "Moon Disease." "After 21 days the astronauts can come out and kiss their wives if they're not sick." Lind felt that there would be very little possibility of there being a deadly bacteria on the moon but "what if ... " He explained the extreme precaution made in the moon flight program. "A flight into space is like a parachute jump there's no such thing as practice jump." But they go all out on simulated flights. He noted that they go through simulated flights hundreds of times, each time with something going wrong. They never practice a flight where everything goes well. There are only three people who know ahead of time what the simulated fault will be. Lind touched on the exciting possibilities of science in space. Studying the sun and stars from earth is "like going to the National Na-tional Art Gallery with dark green sun glasses on." The earth's atmosphere is opaque to 90 of the radiation striking it. By sending telescopes into space we will, among other things, be able to take unprecedented soft X-ray and ultraviolent pictures of the sun. |