Space Goals

President Bush has picked just the right man (Vice President Dan Quayle) for his "space" program! Even some heavies in his own Republican Party say the cadet is weightless. RON AVIET Laguna Hills

In response to The Times' editorial "Beyond the Moon" (July 21): I share your sentiments. I would like to add a thought or two that seem relevant. The exploration (and exploitation) of the realm beyond our wafer-thin atmosphere is the most stupendous challenge to Homo sapiens since we ventured forth from Olduvai. It will, indeed must, happen. "Because it's there." Because it's necessary. By way of a not-too-loose analogy, consider the existence of the United States. The second thought, directed at the Doubting Thomases out there who decry "throwing money out to space": Any manufacturing project involves miners, foundry workers, transport personnel, engineers, machinists, assemblers, coordination personnel, just to list the merely obvious.

Declaring "the force is with us," President Reagan today named a national commission to develop civilian space goals and reiterated his defense of his "Star Wars" military space shield to help "mankind ease away from the nuclear parapet." Reagan, appearing at the National Space Club, announced the makeup of a 14-member National Commission on Space that includes outgoing U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick.

Soviet scientist Sergei Linkin elbowed his way into a crowded laboratory at the Space Research Institute here and began rearranging the furniture. He pushed aside the instruments and tools that had been used to assemble a spacecraft that had just been launched to Mars in a mission on which scientists from 13 nations had worked.

Soviet scientist Sergei Linkin elbowed his way into a crowded laboratory at the Space Research Institute here and began rearranging the furniture. He pushed aside the instruments and tools that had been used to assemble a spacecraft that had just been launched to Mars in a mission on which scientists from 13 nations had worked.

On June 17 The Times reported that Jane's 1986 Spaceflight Directory now views the Soviets as having an "almost frightening" 10-year lead over the United States in the practical utilization of space. It is good to see that someone recognizes that the Soviet tortoise is so far ahead of the American hare. It should also be seen that the United States is not so far behind just because of the Challenger accident; the Soviet Union has been plodding along ever since the Apollo era and can now reap the benefits.

President Reagan on Friday named Thomas O. Paine, a former administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and longtime aerospace executive, to head a new National Commission on Space that "will devise an aggressive civilian space agenda to carry America into the 21st Century."

Declaring "the force is with us," President Reagan today named a national commission to develop civilian space goals and reiterated his defense of his "Star Wars" military space shield to help "mankind ease away from the nuclear parapet." Reagan, appearing at the National Space Club, announced the makeup of a 14-member National Commission on Space that includes outgoing U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick.