Out Across Immensity

Britain is not even building high-altitude rockets, let alone space ships. But this practical detail does not bother the thriving organization of imaginative zealots called the British Interplanetary Society, whose purpose is "development of interplanetary exploration and communication." Last week the B.I.S. had a record 580 members, including such philosophical well-wishers as George Bernard Shaw. The most active members are scientists from Britain's great research laboratories. Said one of these undauntedly: "So far, the whole [high altitude rocket] program is American. We cannot afford to sponsor direct development. But even if we have nothing but pencil and paper, we intend to keep at the problem." Space Suit. With pencil, paper and soaring imagination, Britain's rocketeers are not afraid to tackle any of the problems of space travel. On exhibition at the technical institute of St. Martin's School of Art, London, is a carefully designed (on paper) rocket for carrying a man 180 miles up and bringing him back on a parachute. The designers, Harry E. Roses, production superintendent of Electronic Tubes Ltd., and R. A. Smith, of the government's rocket development center at Westcott, are planning for flights higher than 180 miles. They have tailored (on paper) a fully equipped "space suit" for explorers to wear when strolling on the moon.

U.S. experts are pessimistic about rockets propelled by nuclear energy. But Britain's nuclear rocketeers are cheery. L. R.Shepherd, technician at the Harwell atomic project (Britain's Oak Ridge), thinks a rocket should be pushed into space by high pressure ammonia gas shooting through a white-hot uranium pile.

Other enthusiasts have worked out the chances of getting hit by meteors. They think it might be well to clothe a space ship with a thin "meteor bumper."

Moist Pebble. Not all the society's concerns are mechanical. Lectures this winter will cover psychological and philosophical problems. B.I.S. members believe it is not too soon to think seriously about such matters -- that the age of space flight is not far away. A speaker at one meeting asked a ringing question: "Looking out across immensity to the great suns and circling planets . . . can you believe that man is to spend all his days cooped and crawling on the surface of-this tiny --this moist pebble with its clinging film of air?" The members answered unanimously with resounding noes"noes."

One question the members consider settled: they are not nationalistic, even on a global scale. The problem of Martians invading the earth has been duly considered and dealt with. Says one B.I.S. man: "It would be a very great annoyance to have been anticipated in space flight. But we ought to make them honorary members of the society."

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