Science: Two Steps

Space can be mastered only by a careful, step-by-step campaign. Last week the Russians took a forward step by launching another of their five-ton “spaceship” satellites and landing it successfully. This one, said Moscow, carried a dog named Zvezdochka (Little Star) and other small creatures. The flight gives the Soviet man-in-space program a three-out-of-five record of success in orbiting manworthy satellites and bringing them back to earth safely. If a Soviet astronaut had been on board last week, he would presumably have survived.

The U.S. is making a different step-by-step study of space. Last week the National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched from Cape Canaveral a 78-lb. satellite programed to go into an elongated orbit ranging from 120,000 miles at its apogee (highest point) to 94 miles at its perigee. On board were three magnetometers, including an extremely sensitive one to measure magnetic fields, and a special instrument to study protons shot out of the sun. This sort of information is vital for space flight to other parts of the solar system. The crews of low-orbit manned satellites will be protected from solar protons by the deflecting effect of the earth’s magnetic field, but real interplanetary space may prove extremely hostile to human life. Last week’s U.S. satellite was designed to find out just how hostile it is.