Back to Work

The rewards of fame were heaped upon Astronaut Alan Shepard Jr. last week. In Washington, where crowds lined the historic parade route between the White House and the Capitol, the President pinned the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Distinguished Service Medal on Shepard's chest. At Grand Bahama Island, where Shepard was debriefed after his ride, an airport was to be named after him. At New Jersey's Palisades Amusement Park, an earth-bound spaceship was renamed the Commander Alan B. Shepard Jr. Rocket Ride.

But Shepard and his six fellow astronauts refused to make some fast bucks by endorsing products that ranged from watches to electric trains. They also declined invitations for public parades in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Norfolk and Los Angeles. Explained Shepard: "We want to get back to work."

Within the next few months, there will be three or four more suborbital manned space shots using the Redstone rocket that sent Shepard into space. But it is not the Redstone that will first take a U.S. astronaut into orbit around the planet.

That job is programed for the more powerful--and, so far, much less reliable--Atlas missile. Of three Atlases tested while carrying unmanned Mercury capsules, two have blown up. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration still hopes to work out the Atlas and send an astronaut into orbit by year's end.

To speed up longer-range space programs, NASA and the Defense Department want more money to perfect more powerful booster rockets. Last week the Administration was planning to ask Congress for an additional $600 million for space projects. If the money is granted--and Congress is unlikely to refuse--the U.S. space effort will be 25% larger than the Kennedy Administration's original request. And increased emphasis will be placed on putting men rather than instruments into space.

In the White House last week, Alan Shepard privately urged upon President Kennedy just such an emphasis. He and his fellow astronauts this week will be climbing back into their silvery suits to work toward a new U.S. goal: a manned flight around the moon by at least 1967.

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