Space: Sweating It Out

Politely, in the week of the Congo, the President of the U.S. congratulated the Premier of the Soviet Union on launching a "space vehicle" to Venus (see SCIENCE). Politely, Nikita Khrushchev thanked John Kennedy, and hoped that the two nations could some day explore space together. Nonetheless, the Russians touched off their newest giant skyrocket with a propaganda torch, highlighting the sad fact that the U.S. has no rocket engines to match the feat—and is not likely to have them for four or five years. Even the orbiting last week of two relatively pint-sized Discoverer satellites (XX and XXI)...

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