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...City Council, when it had nothing else to do, used to haul Traffic Director Robert E. Rudolph in for his usual tongue-lashing on how bad traffic was around the Square. They yelled when he said he was studying the situation. They laughed when he dotted Brattle Sq. with cans of concrete. Rudolph got even. Brattle Sq. is a sandbox, they call the turn from Plympton onto Mass. Ave. "shooting the rapids," and Harvard Sq. remains a larger cul-de-sac than ever. "Traffic may be bad at times now," chuckles Rudolph, "but if we hadn't made the changes...
Last week Gibraltar proved that it is even more British than anyone had imagined. As the voters went to the polls for a special referendum to decide whether Gibraltar should remain with Britain or be turned back to Spain, the 2¼-sq-mi. crown colony was decked out in Union Jacks from its deepwater harbor to its 1,396-ft. summit. Stickers everywhere proclaimed such slogans as I'M O.K. WITH THE U.K. When the count was made, only 44 of the 12,237 voters opted for reunion with Spain. The rest-an astonishing 99.2%-preferred to retain...
Three times the JPL controllers ordered Surveyor's verniers to fire, hoping to jar the sticky valve shut. The leakage slowed but did not stop. Within an hour, helium pressure had dropped from 5,000 lbs. to 3,000 lbs. per sq. in. Dejectedly, some JPL scientists suggested that it would be best to fire Surveyor's retrorocket immediately, placing the craft in high earth orbit. It would be preferable to have a live spacecraft in orbit, they argued, than a dead one on the surface of the moon...
This strategy reduced the burden on the verniers, which then had to fire only 106 sees, to stabilize the craft and slow it to a safe 8.1-m.p.h. landing. The margin was perilously close. Data analyzed after the touchdown showed that helium pressure was down to 556 lbs. per sq. in.-just 6 lbs. more than the minimum pressure required to operate the engines...
Finally, Surveyor displayed its pièce de résistance, lowering a goldplated, square "jewel box" to the surface. From six radioactive sources in the box, alpha particles bombarded a small area (4 sq. in.) of the lunar surface. Inside the box, delicate sensors recorded the number and velocities of alpha particles rebounding from the surface material and relayed them to earth via Surveyor's radio. By analyzing the pattern of the rebound particles, scientists hope to be able definitely to identify compounds and elements in the lunar soil. "If the experiment succeeds, it will mark the first...