Show Logan Utah Wednesday July 11 1979 The Herald Journal - Ten years after Apollo 11: Did moon investment pay off? By ples they thought would make the best specimens for Harrison H Schmitt part study Geologist-astronaof the final Apollo team used his training to locate Edward C Ezell ut WASHINGTON (NEA) What was the real worth of the Apollo program? Could the money skill and labor spent to land men on the moon have been applied more reasonably to tasks here on E arth ? To assess the significance of Apollo a decade after man's first lunar landing we must start by recalling what the program was and how much it cost Apollo was a federally funded research and development program created to accomplish a national goal announced by President Kennedy on Hay 25 1961: to land men on the moon and return them safely to Earth by the end of "this decade" Apollo built on the foundations laid by Project samples that proved to be among the youngest and oldest lunar rocks discovered The moon samples are viewed with varying degrees of enthusiasm While many Americans see them as just a bunch of "moon rocks” others — including many foreigners — consider them a priceless national treasure But Apollo produced much more than a collection of rocks More than 33000 photographs were taken of the moon during the missions And the scientific experiments set up by the astronauts produced in excess of 20000 reels of magnetic-tape- d data The six Apollo lunar scientific experiment packages (called ALSEPs) left on the moon have Mercury and profited from the techniques — renextravehicular activity and missions — perfected in Project dezvous and docking long-durati- Gemini At its peak nearly 300000 individuals were directly involved in the manned spaceflight program that led to the Apollo landings In round numbers the Apollo program through the last lunar landing cost $255 billion Gemini with 10 manned flights cost about 3115 billion was The collection of ALSEP information suspended in 1977 because of lack of funds But in early 1979 the Apollo 14 and Apollo 16 ALSEP instruments were still being used by deep-spac- e navigators at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California to assist with navigation of spacecraft By studying the wealth of data provided by Apollo scientists understand better our nearest neighbor in the heavens Information about Mars Venus Mercury and Jupiter returned by Mariner Viking and Pioneer spacecraft has further expanded our knowledge of the solar system and the universe Department of Health Education and Welfare 3705 billion for the Department of Defense and 3331 billion This emerging field of comparative planetology is not only giving us a more complete picture of our universe it is also providing us with clues about the planet we call home We have learned much about the history evolution and life of this fragile "spaceship Earth” The first photographs-oEarth from the vicinity of the moon taken by the crew of Apollo 8 served as a reminder of the beauty and uniqueness of our planet The program provided other less tangible rewards as well f (Newspaper Enterprise Assn) FALL PRINTS Lovely petite florals to select from Machine wash - Tumble dry Polyester50 Cotton 44” Wide TREMENDOUS VALUEI $139 YD ORIGINALLY PRICED FROM 198 YARD SAVE 60 AND MORE! 78t THE FABRIC STORE WITH STYLE ’ DiMxmse off fffflBmrDCs 0 esses fots-sKirt- S beyond FASHIONABLE 50 slIH long-distanc- e By way of comparison the total federal budget for fiscaT 1972 was 32657 billion with 3717 billion for the for study While these extraterrestrial materials could probably have been collected by robots as were those the Soviets returned in their unmanned lunar craft the astronauts were able to choose on site the sam came from behind the moon after entering lunar orbit provided detailed information about the lunar seismic environment as well as other new knowledge about the satellite The ALSEPs worked for a combined total of 29 operational years which is remarkable for instruments designed to last only one year each The Apollo program ultimately included two Earthorbiting missions (Apollos 7 and 9) two drcumlunar missions (Apollos 8 and 10) one aborted mission (Apollo 13) that went to the moon and returned and six landing missions (Apollos 11 12 14 15 16 and 17) for NASA For the 14 years from 1959 to 1972 the space agency received a total of 3468 billion Space activities are far from inexpensive but as writer Paul D Loman Jr has noted “Very few people realize how little the American space program has cost in relation to other expenditures" In terms of scientific data alone the Apollo program provided a substantial return on the investment Apollo astronauts returned 382535 kilograms of lunar surface materials — that is rocks and soil — This view of the rising Earth greeted the Apollo 11 astronauts as they CACHE VALLEY MALL 1300 N Main logon Utah rat 3 |