| Show Much Information 1 III From Space Study Thumbing through some of the technical papers that have I. I come rome out of the space program we learned but should not have been surprised what a staggering to amount of of information tion Lion has been disseminated I through Americas America's space and I II I aeronautics research programs IN ITS dozen years of existence existence ex ex- NASA has accumulated t tons of data as a direct result result result re re- I sult of its worldwide research and development activities and all of it available to interested interested interested in in- parties NASA's scientific and techi technical technical tech tech- information system now contains nearly one million documents which are abstracted abstract abstract- i ed indexed and obtainable through ough modern retrieval and information services INI JUST LAST year more thant thana than a t 16 million copies of publications B lions were distributed In jj 31 addition more than three million mils mils' mil mil- s' s lion microfiche copies microfilm microfilm micro micro- d film each carrying images of 60 pages were sent out The Jko o year 1970 promises to yield more is This is a remarkable increase increase increase in in- crease in the Ute available knowledge knowl knowl- Fl cl edge on space and aeronautics l in the half century since the e late Dr Robert H. H Goddard began his work with rockets I AS PROPHETIC and vi vii visionary vi- vi i as he was he could I. I ly not have forseen the tons of literature that one day wot would d dh 3 h be stacked on his own carefully carefully carefully care care- fully kept notebooks While knowledge in most scientific fields has multiplied rI rc many times in the last half halft t century and particularly in inthe inthe inthe the last 25 years perhaps no noth th other field has advanced its I lI state of the art the art indexing asIt as It progressively and rapidly asi as i space and aeronautics Tl THIS S MASS of data makes us wonder 50 years later what Dr Goddard would think about all this progress Perhaps he wouldn't be too surprised The magazine Scientific Scientific Scientific American quoting from froman an account Fifty Years Ago i it writes the Ute following Popular interest in Dr Gode God God- God God- e is dards dard's rockets for reaching hi hib high b altitudes was excited by t theft the if ft claim that this projectile could E actually be made to travel to the Moon and there Utere flash a signal that would show that it it completed the journey THERE is something romantic romantic ro ro- romantic mantic in the thought of oC crossing crossing crossing cross cross- ing the intervening hundreds of oC thousands of miles to the faithful satellite that is our closest companion in the infinite infinite in in- finite reaches of space To be sure there would be little if any astronomical value value value val val- val val- ue in such an accomplishment It would serve merely as a demonstration of the power of man to overcome seemingly insurmountable handicaps DR GODDARD after whom NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Md is named did not live to seel this prophecy fulfilled but his wife who worked by his side and faithfully ully recorded thorough thorough thorough thor thor- ough accounts of her husbands husband's work was present when Apollo 11 was launched on its historic historic his his- journey to mans man's first lunar landing The notes and papers she sheso sheso sheso so so methodically assembled were both the foundation and inspiration inspiration inspiration in in- for those scientists and nd engineers who have since made their contributions to the the state |
