Week of September 8, 1959
Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands visits New York and lunches with mayor
Robert Wagner.
Soviet scientists launch another rocket toward the moon and believe this one will
hit the moon.
Space race - Russia is one-up again. Russia’s
space rocket hits the surface of the moon
marking the first time man has hurled an object
to a heavenly body. It gives the soviets a wider
lead in the race to conquer space.
The United States congratulates the Russians
on hitting the moon and calls upon them to
make available data from their lunar rocket
flight to scientists of all countries. At the same
time, Vice President Nixon urges Americans
not to get overly ‘excited or hysterical” about
the Russian feat. He also said “over-all, in the
scientific and educational field, the united states is way ahead of the Soviet
Union.”
It is believed that Soviet Premier Khrushchev presumably ordered the timing of
Russia’s latest moon shot. His idea would be to dramatize soviet scientific
progress immediately before he arrives in the United States next week.
The United States is taking the legal position that just planting flags on the moon
will not give the Soviets or anyone else any claim to rule over that body. But John
Raymond, deputy legal adviser to the state department said that the United
States has “no views on how far you would have to go” to claim moon
sovereignty, as yet. William Hyman, an international lawyer says the Russians
may do otherwise: “Since consistency is not one of the Soviet’s virtues, it would
not be surprising to hear them say that if the satellite made physical contact with
the moon, they would then claim they had extended sovereignty to the lunar
sphere. But this would be in violation of their own position taken in September,
1958.”
The FCC wants to clamp down on “rag-chews” and “round-robbins” on the
Citizen Band. Seems that many are getting CB licenses just to chew the fat. The
