Word: lunar
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...moon was nothing less than "the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked." Last week, with the tragedy at Cape Kennedy's Pad 34, the nation realized for the first time, in astronautic and human terms, just how hazardous the lunar adventure can be. Old arguments that questioned the whole concept of the Apollo mission seemed to take on new pertinence. Critics were once again asking: Is it worth the cost-in lives, in resources, in money...
...country gets there first, since the other will probably be close behind. But of course it will matter-though not militarily. The moon, once thought of as invincible "high ground" from which to launch an attack on an earthly enemy, now seems beyond consideration as a rocket base. Any lunar-launched missile would take far longer (16 hours) to reach its target than its earth-based counterpart. It would be harder to guide, easier to detect, and simpler to destroy. Which is one big reason behind Russia's willingness to sign an outer-space treaty, renouncing territorial rights...
Because It's There. Surveyor I and Lunar Orbiter II have illumined the moon as being little more than an ugly grey rock pile. So why send a man to see for himself? The geologist wants it done because he hopes to find clues to when and how the earth came to be. The biologist wants to know if there are any vestiges of existence there that might solve the riddle of what life really is. The astronomer hopes that a definitive look at the moon could help unlock the secret of how the solar system was formed...
Pock-Marked Face. The lunar tides when the moon was near produced friction and violent heating of the interior and surface layers of the earth, Singer believes. This could well have led to the sudden degassing of rocks, volcanic activity and the creation of an atmosphere that probably consisted of water vapor, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Thus, the capture of the moon by the earth may well have produced an atmosphere much earlier in the earth's history than anyone had heretofore believed- and led to the evolution of life itself. Terrestrial gravity had an even more spectacular effect...
Further confirmation of the lunar capture theory may have to await the arrival of men on the moon, Singer believes. When samples of the lunar surface can be returned to earth and analyzed, it will be possible to determine when substantial heating and volcanic activity first occurred. If it turns out to be four billion years ago-the same time that the earth is known to have been subjected to intense heating -Singer will have powerful evidence that a single event was responsible: the capture of the moon by the earth...