Word: lunar
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Most scientists agree that there is little chance of any life existing on the moon. But they differ widely on the possible consequences to earth if there are lunar organisriis and any of them hitch a ride with the returning astronauts. University of Chicago Chemist Edward Anders and several of his colleagues are so unconcerned about the danger of contamination that they have volunteered to expose themselves "in every medically reasonable way" to any rocks that the Apollo 11 mission manages to bring back from the moon. They would be willing, they say, to swallow small samples to prove their...
Escaped Fragments. The apparent boldness displayed by Anders and others stems from their strong doubts that lunar life exists and their conviction that quantities of lunar debris have been falling on the earth's surface for billions of years. Thus, they reason, even if there are lunar organisms, terrestrial life has long been exposed to them without any catastrophic results. According to their theory, meteors often strike the moon with enough momentum to knock lunar fragments loose at escape velocities. Most such fragments captured by the earth's gravitational pull would be incinerated as they plunge through...
...concerned. Although he agrees that organisms might survive a moon fragment's entry into the earth's atmosphere, Cornell Exobiologist Carl Sagan is less confident that they could live through the heat generated by a meteor impact on the moon. For that reason he has doubts that lunar organisms have ever reached the earth and that terrestrial life has already proved its immunity. Sagan, like most other scientists, believes that the odds are high against life existing on the moon. But he cautions that there is "an exceedingly small risk of possibly great harm" in not maintaining strict...
Whatever the prospects for lunar life, Cornell Microbiologist Martin Alexander feels that NASA's present Apollo quarantine plans are on shaky scientific grounds and hopelessly inadequate. In discussing the plans with those in the Apollo program, he says, he has heard such statements as, "Of course, it's a sham, but what else could we do?" and, "The public needs to be comforted, and the quarantine serves that function." Shocked by this seeming indifference to what could be a real threat, Alexander calls on NASA to reveal its quarantine plans fully and "to solicit frank opinions and criticism...
...addition to clearing the way for a summer landing on the surface of the moon, the exploits of the command module Charlie Brown, the lunar module Snoopy and the Apollo 10 crew brought the nation and the world the most revealing views of space flight that have ever been available. Remarkable as they were, however, the televised pictures that came across nearly a quarter of a million miles could not begin to match the quality of the movie and still photographs taken by the astronauts...