THE SUMMER SESSION KANSAN
79th Year, No.10
The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
Tuesday, July 15, 1969
Apollo 11 is 'go'
By EDWARD K. DELONG UPI Space Writer
SPACE CENTER, HOUSTON (UPI)—Man's age-old yearning to set foot on the moon seems about to be realized.
If all goes as planned, Apollo 11 commander Neil A. Armstrong will place the first human footprint on the moon's surface at precisely 2:19 a.m. EDT, Monday, July 21.
Never before will man have taken such a giant step. For the first time he will have journeyed to another world—an accomplishment that only a few years ago seemed a crazy, impossible dream.
How has it been done? Why has it been done?
Moon Travel
The moon, shimmering so invitingly in the night sky like a golden magnet since the dawn of his life on earth. Through the aeons, men have worshiped the moon through such deities as the Greek goddess Artemis. They have written poems and songs with the moon as their theme.
It was fine stuff for fictions and fables—and dreaming.
And, since at least the second century A.D., men have sprinkled their literature with stories of travel to the moon.
Then President John F. Kennedy—with a single sentence spoken May 25, 1961—challenged this nation to turn the dream into reality.
A Special Message
"I believe," he said in a special message to Congress, "This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.
"No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."
Just 62 words. Yet they stirred the Congress, won speedy acceptance of a moon-landing as a national goal that would cost $20 billion or more, and set in motion the greatest mobilization of a nation's effort ever seen outside wartime.
Kennedy was not the first man to seriously propose a moon landing.
ROCKET GENIUS Dr. Wernher von Braun, father of the Saturn 5 launcher that will speed Apollo 11 toward the moon, had seriously considered manned lunar landings since 1952.
On Jan. 2, 1959, the original Select House Space Committee issued a report quoting 20 experts saying such a goal could be reached by 1968-if the nation was willing to pay the price.
In July of 1960 the House Space Committee—controlled by Democrats—demanded that the Republican administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower commit the nation to placing a man on the moon by 1970.
National space plans at that time included unmanned exploration of the moon and a series of one-man Mercury flights in earth orbit to see if man could survive in space.
The fledgling space agency had on its drawing boards a plan, code-named "Apollo," to fly a three-man spaceship in earth orbit for up to 14 days and ultimately to hurl it nontop around the moon. But it was just, in one congressman's words, a "designer's dream."
Eisenhower's advisors such as Vannevar Bush who once told a congressional committee rockets could not span the ocean, James Killian who felt instruments could do more than man in space and Lee Dubridge, now President Nixon's chief science advisor, and
Go-Slow Policy
more committed now than then to man-in-space projects advised the President to adopt a go-slow policy.
He did, but he kept the program alive. In September of 1960 "Apollo" was upgraded to full study status, and industry was asked to propose ways it could be carried out.
That was the space program Kennedy adopted when he took the presidency.
Man had yet to fly in space, but. on April 12, 1961, Russia announced it had flown a man, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, once around the globe. He was the first man in space and the Soviets had chalked up another first.
Suborbital Flight
America's Alan B. Shepard made his suborbital Mercury flight 23 days later, on May 5, but in the interim—on April-17, just five days after Gagarin's flight the Cuban Bay of Pigs invasion started and ended in disastrous failure.
The United States needed something that could capture the imagination of the world and present the nation in a good light.
Kennedy turned to space and technology, where Russia had grabbed so many propaganda points. He knew the existing Russian arsenal of rockets was far more powerful than anything the United States possessed. So he asked his advisors to find a space goal where the two nations would have to start as equals, and where American technology could likely win.
The experts suggested a moon landing. All the necessary equipment existed or had been designed, they said. But it would take rockets more powerful than either nation possessed.
Kennedy liked the idea. Three weeks later he started his famous May 25 speech with words: "Now
Famous Speech
is the time . . . for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways holds the key to our future on earth."
Opponents of the moon goa from that have criticized it bitterly as an overly expensive "crash program." They have said it takes money away from more worthy causes here on earth, that it is a spectacular more valuable for political and propaganda purposes than for science.
Those who favor the program disagree with the critics. They point to the rapid technological advance the Apollo program has
fostered, including much technology that has been applied outside the space program. They also point to the burning scientific interest in the moon, and to the potential military advantages of being "on the moon."
"The perils will be successfully navigated. There will be footprints in the lunar dust," the late Hugh L. Dryden, deputy space agency administrator, predicted with confidence in 1964 as he viewed the almost complete plans for Apollo.
This month his words, and Kennedy's goal, are put to the test of fulfillment.
Miss Kansas chosen; KU coed places fourth
PRATT (UPI)—Miss Margo Sue Schroeder of Hillsboro, representing Marion County, Saturday night was crowned Miss Kansas for 1969.
The 18-year-old, brown-eyed beauty is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dean Schroeder. She has auburn hair and stands 5-9 and weighs 130 pounds.
Miss Schreeder is a student at Wichita State University and is majoring in business education
The first runner up was Miss Hutchinsin, Kyle Simmons, 19, of Larned. Next in order were Miss Newton, Joleen Kay Classen; Miss Lawrence-KU, Susan Wassenberg, 20, Topeka, and Miss Solomon Valley, Cleta Elaine Robbins, 21, Paradise Valley
Miss Robbins also was awarded the Margine Savage scholarship for a vocal performance.
The winner of the Miss Con-
geniality was Miss Southern Kansas, Marsha Briggeman, 18, of Iuka. She is the cousin of the current Miss Nebraska, Jane Briggeman, also of Iuka.
The Debbie Bryant scholarship, a special award made by the judges, was won by Miss North Central Kansas, Pamilla Kay Kohler. The Debbie Barnes scholarship went to Miss Woodson County, Elaine Marie Buttermore of Yates Center. Both were preliminary talent winners.
Miss Schroeder, who says she likes to eat steak with mushrooms as her favorite meal, wants to obtain a degree in her major field and then qualify as a teacher on the secondary level.
She says her favorite participating sport is swimming and hobby is the piano. She adds she can cook.
Movie madness hits senior class - see pages 6 and 7
Education professor dead of heart attack
Acting Chancellor James R Surface said, "Fred Montgomery earned two degrees from the University of Kansas and served it with great dedication for more than three decades as a faculty member and as director of its Bureau of Visual Instruction.
Fred S. Montgomery, associate professor of education and for 32 years director of the Bureau of Visual Instruction, died this morning (July 14) at the home shortly after suffering a massive heart attack. He was 67 years old.
"The University was built through the untiring efforts of men like Fred Montgomery and we are poorer today now that he is gone."
Born in Memphis, Mo., Montgomery earned the B.A. degree from KU in 1925 and for the next four years was a teacher of government and debate coach at McPherson and Lawrence High Schools. He went to Paola as principle of the high school in 1929 and in 1936 joined the KU education faculty and head of the visual instruction service. He earned the M.A. degree in 1933.
Montgomery built the Bureau of Visual Instruction from a small operation to a position as one of the largest, if not the largest educational film library in the nation supported primarily by fees. Its 4,000 reels of film are sent into more than 40 states each year in about 30,000 transactions.
The National Education Association gave him its Pioneer Award in 1964 for his work in audio-visual education.
Montgomery was a member of Phi Delta Kappa and Pi Sigma Alpha, honorary societies in education and political science. He was a past president and long-time secretary-treasurer of the Kansas Educators Club, a past president of the local Kiwanis Club, and served the Boy Scouts in many capacities at troop and Pelathe District and Kaw Council levels.
He also was a past national chairman of the audio-visual department of the National University Extension Association.
Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at the First Presbyterian Church.