The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1946 FLIGHT TO THE MOON

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 95, 5 July 1946, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1946 FLIGHT TO THE MOON

SUCH amazing advances have been made in scientific discovery and invention in the past few years that there will be hesitation in challenging Major Alexander de Seversky’s latest'flights of fancy, which include a journey to the moon in a cigar-shaped rocket at speeds reaching 139,343 miles an hour. The only element not now at hand to make such an enterprise feasible, he says, is a fuel light and powerful enough to be contained in a very small space. De Seversky is careful to. say that none of his forecasts should be taken as hard and fast prophecy, and after all there is no harm in seeing visions which at least give mental exercise. Man s imagination, de Seversky says, has not kept pace with scientific progress. He, however, has leapt ahead of science and left several important points still to be made clear before men in a rocket could safely launch themselves on a journey to the moon. One is mastery of the law of gravity, which de Seversky says does not arise in space. Another is the absence of atmospheric pressure in the outer spaces to give thrust to propeller, rocket or jet. Yet another is the absence of atmosphere,. as the earth knows it, on the face of the moon, which is a “dead” world. It is as well to remember, however, that German rockets were forced to an altitude of something like 70 miles and in the stratosphere reached high speeds. But while scientists look far ahead they have also to contend with the realities of the moment. The destructive rocket which is propelled through the stratosphere and is directed with a degree of accuracy to its target is already in being and will be a weapon if the great Powers should again become involved in war. The United States Army and other defensive or offensive organisations are both developing the rockets and devising means of defence against it. The United States Congress has been discussing a. rocket “powered with atomic energy” which could be shot to any part of the world within an hour. Perhaps in view of such marvels as this de Seversky can be forgiven an imaginary flight to the moon through mysteiies which one day may be brought down to the level of common knowledge.