79th Year, No.19
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Friday, October 11, 1968
KANSAN
Apollo is go
Pre-moon shot
CAPE KENNEDY (UPI)-Apollo 7 thundered into orbit toda carrying three astronauts on an 11-day earth-circling trial for a future trip around the moon.
"She's riding like a dream," radioed veteran astronaut Walter Schirra as Apollo 7 took him and his crewmen, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham, into space at 17,420 miles an hour.
The nation's first manned space venture in nearly two years reached orbit at 10:14 a.m. CDT, 11 minutes after blastoff.
It was the first of a planned 163 orbits in a shakedown run for a possible flight into moon orbit and back at Christmastime by their successors in Apollo 8.
"You are right on the old button," the control center radioed the astronauts as they arched majestically over the Atlantic, spouting a gout of orange flame against the pale blue sky.
A mile over the ocean, Apollo 7 hurtled through the sound barrier, sending a wave of thunder rolling over the beaches.
The moonship carried its single-engined second stage into orbit.
On its second orbit, over the Pacific ocean, the astronauts will jettison the stage, then flip around and stage a make-believe hookup with it—practicing for docking maneuvers with a lunar landing craft aboard later flights.
The astronauts will also photograph the 58-foot long stage.
The first stage dropped away two and a half minutes after launch and Schirra reported the second stage was up to full thrust.
Sonirra reported the second stage was up to full thru "All beautiful" he said.
But winds at the cape threatened to delay what officials said was one of the smoothest pre-launch routines ever seen at the spaceport.
Winds were running 12 miles an hour—blowing onshore-before dawn and a space agency spokesman said "we're going to have to watch it right down the line."
Officials had said the latest forecast called for winds from the east northeast with gusts as high as 25 miles an hour. This approaches the "magic number" of 21 miles an hour—which may be enough to delay the countdown.
The object of Apollo 7's planned four-million-mile voyage around earth is to prove the new breed of spaceships can safely transport men on a 480,000 mile round trip to the moon.
An unconditional success would clear Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders for a possible flight into lunar orbit and back starting Dec. 20. Apollo 8 and its mammoth Saturn 5 rocket were already perched on a launch pad seven miles from Apollo 7's takeoff site.
Although Apollo 7 is to stay up for 11 days, mission director William Schneider said Thursday there was "a distinct possibility we may have to make a decision to shorten it."
Its $42 million Saturn 1B booster was described by Schirra in a pre-launch interview as almost as stable as the venerable Brooklyn Bridge.
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UDK News Roundup By United Press International
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (UPI)—A state legislator filed a federal court suit Thursday charging George Wallace and others with "unlawfully looting" Alabama's treasury of "enormous amounts of public monies, properties and state employees" for use in his presidential campaign.
LSD-no defense
LONDON (UPI)—Robert Lipman, 36-year-old New Yorker, was found guilty of manslaughter of a French girl while under the LSD hallucination that she was a mass of fire-spitting snakes.
Suit filed against Wallace
A jury of nine men and three women voted 10-to-2 that the handsome wealthy real estate agent was guilty in the death Sept. 17, 1967 of Claudie Delbarre, 18.
PARIS (UPI)—The French National Assembly Friday unaimously approved sweeping educational reforms demanded by Charles de Gaulle as necessary to avoid further student rebel violence. The vote was 441-1.
But the jury also ruled that Lipman was innocent of murder.
French vote reforms
The entire 33-man Communist bloc and six Gaullist deputies abstained from the vote.
Reds convict five
MOSCOW (UPI)—A guarded court today convicted five Russians of defaming the Soviet Union by demonstrating in Red Square against the invasion of Czechoslovakia. They sentenced them to banishment from Moscow or terms in labor camps.
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KU student could be eighth with all A's
William D. Homer, Paola senior, may become the eighth student in the 103-year history of the University to make straight A's while at KU.
He must receive all A's next semester to earn the distinction.
Homer, 20, a Summerfield scholar and participant in the honors program, was awarded the Paul B. Lawson award Wednesday night. The award is given annually to the senior with the highest grade point average in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Homer has finished 50 hours in mathematics and plans to graduate next semester. He then hopes to attend graduate school and work toward a Ph.D. degree in math.
APOLLO 7
The space ship Apollo 7 sits on the launch pad waiting to take crewmen Walter Schirra, Walter Cunningham and Don Eisele on their 11-day voyage into space.
Red battalion intercepted
SAIGON (UPI)—Helicopter-riding U.S. infantrymen intercepted a 400-man Communist battalion Thursday northwest of Saigon and reported killing 26 guerrillas in fighting that extended into today.
American headquarters said U.S. losses were "light" while Red casualties should rise sharply in the second major battle this week near Trang Bang, 25 miles northwest of the capital.
Three to attend Honors Council
Three KU students in the Honors Program will attend the third National Collegiate Honors Council in Seattle, Wash., Oct. 18 to 20.
The three students, who will be accompanied by Aldon Bell, assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, are John Coyle, Coffeyville senior; Joe Goering, Moundridge senior; and Gary McClelland, Topeka senior.
The National Collegiate Honors Council was organized at KU two years ago with the purpose of exchanging new approaches to the program for gifted students.
Fighting erupted on the heels of U.S. B52 bomber strikes northwest of Saigon and the discovery of enough hidden Communist arms around the city to supply a 150-man Viet Cong attack.
In Saigon, President Nguyen Van Thieu relaxed the full alert he called Tuesday for his troops. South Vietnamese spokesmen said the alert had been cut back by 50 per cent. They did not explain exactly what it meant.
Thieu told a nationwide television audience Thursday that there had been no attempt to overthrow his government and no arrests made of antigovernment plotters -civilians or military. His information ministry earlier said the troop alert had thwarted a coup.
"Over the last few days there were rumors of a coup and I wish to point out that these were completely false." Thieu said.
The B52 raids northwest of Saigon were the second heavy strikes there in two days. Four flights of
America's biggest bombers dumped 500-and 750-pound bombs onto infiltration routes 31 and 60 miles from the city, military spokesmen said.
Intelligence reports said there was no indication the Reds were moving toward the city to take advantage of the uneasy political situation.
Viet Cong mortarmen shelled two provincial capitals in the Mekong Delta south of Saigon Wednesday, South Vietnamese spokesmen said. They wounded seven civilians at My Tho and killed one civilian and wounded 23 at CoGong.
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WEATHER
Today clear to partly cloudy. Southerly winds 15 to 25 miles per hour. Partly cloudy tonight and Saturday. A little warmer today and tonight. Highs today near 70. Lows tonight around 50. Precipitation probability. Today 5 per cent. Tonight and Saturday 20 per cent.