Saturday, May 26, 1973
THE SUMMER DAILY
Page Three
Astronauts fail in effort to
repair Skylab solar panel
HOUSTON (UPI) - Frustrated by ap-
proaching darkness and tools ftat would
not do the job, three space repairmen
failed yesterday to free a jammed solar
cell wing that could double the electrical
supply to the power-short Skylab t space
station.
It was man's first attempt to perform
repair work outside a flying spaceship.
The astronauts told mission control the
unsuccessful attempt made them "really
feel bad."
CHARLES "PETE" CONRAD, Joseph
Kerwin and Paul Weitz set out to work on
Skylab confident of success. When they
linked up with the crippled space station
in Earth orbit ses en and a half hours
after blastoff from Cape Kennedy, they
reported it looked like the job would be
relatively easy.
But as Weitz leaned mit the hatch of his
Apollo command ship--swith Kerwin hang-
ing onto his knees to keep him from float-
ing off into space, and Conrad maneuver-
ing the Apollo close alongside Skylab-
they found the 30-tot long wing was Iio
firmly jammed for them to unfold it.
"OK, Houston," Conrad said after an
hour of fruitless efi rt, most of it out of
touch with ground tracking stations. "The
pro')lem is the tools won't do the job.
We're going to h-ie to gire it up."
CONRAD RAN into i Lither prtlein
almost iismeciateh as his Apollo, flyng
into the night p'irtion of its orbit, refused
to link up with an airlock at one end of
Skylab. EIrlier, th crew hafd docked at
this same airito:-k a ithwit ciffi it".
ConraJ tried to d r i v e his command
ship's nose intoath docking port three
times without sacce- ,s, the backed off
to tilk the siltiin o wer with nissioin
control It the John:SpaceCentter' a
Apprioval for the astronauts to make
their solar wing repair attempt came two
and a half hours after they cattg'ht up
with Skylab in orbit 271 miles above the
Pacific Ocein.
"WE'LL JUST leave it to your call as
iii how to get it dine'" c'ipstite comemimat-
color Richard 'truly tild Conrad at 7:015
p.m. EDT.
The astronauts blasted off from Cape
Kennedy with a hastily prepared repair
kit and caught up with the unmanned
Skylab in Earth orbit after a seven hour
and 40 minute chase that carried them
five times around the globe.
"Tally-ho, the Skylab!" Conrad shouted
at 4:32 p.m. "We've got her ii the day-
light at 1.5 miles."
AT THAT DISTANCE, the 118-foot-long
space station looked like a glowing golden
Dutch windmill against the black space
sky. Weitz trained a television camera
on the craft, its four good solar cell wings
spread in a huge cross like windmill arms
and beamed live pictures back to Earth.
Conrad maneuvered his Apollo around
the house-size space station, inspecting it
from every angle, for about an hour before
See ASTRONAUTS, Page 9
AP Photo
A SERVICE STATION in the oLs Angeles suburb of La Habra displays a sign showing local gas prices, while Bob Smith, a
dealer in Costa Mesa, Calif., waits for lemonade buyers. Smith has been out of gas for five days and has sold $20 worth of
lemonade.
t /
Dope note
WASHINGTON - The Navy said yes-
terday that 12 sailors, some of whom al-
legedly used marijuana, have been trans-
ferred from the crew that operates Pres-
ident Nixon's yacht, Sequoia. Only two
weeks ago 18 sailors and 28 Marines were
transferred from assignment at Ca m p
David, Nixon's retreat in the Maryland
mountains, also for alleged marijuana
use. The Navy called the enlisted men's
dope consumption a potential security
risk.
Happenings . ..
. . . this weekend are virtually nonexist-
ent, with a number of movie classics
brightening the evenings. Check the movie
ads for specifics . . . Tuesday spokesper-
sons for the local Adva ates for Medical
Information will be televised on "NBC
Reports", Channel 4, at 10 p.m. The group
will discuss a local morning-after pill
study in which the University Health Serv-
ice gave more thant wION omen a dosage
of diethylstelbestrol (DES) over 300,000
times the level called unfit for human
consumption by the Food and Drug Ad-
ministration.
A2's Weather
Cloady today with possible clearing by
evening. The mid-latitude cyclone is ex-
pected to move upstate by evening bring-
ing us into the clear area behind the
storm. Highs today 64 to 69 with lows
tonight 51 to 56.
Pig manure powers
British inventor's auto
TOTNES, England is'-Enthroned behind
the wheel of his manure-mobile, British
inventor Harold Bate can sniff haughtily
at fuel shortages and the energy crisis.
Wafted a T o n g at 78-miles-an-hosr on
wings of brewed-up pig dung, he can even
pronounce himself at one with the pure
air people and the antismog crusaders.
"THERE'S NO ODOR ait all, no carbon
nonoxide fumes, no engine knock," Bate
explained, flicking a da-shoard switch that
in midflight converted his battered 1955
tillman from g a s o 1 i n e combustion to
methane gas distilled from the leavings
of the pig farm across the road.
Since Bate put a pig in his tank, scient-
ists, industrialists, and just ordinary mo-
torists from around the world have de-
scended on his 450-year-old Devon cottage
hoping to harness the energy of the barn-
yard.
BATE SAYS THE idea for converting
manure to motor fuel occurred to him
during the Suez Crisis of 1956, when serv-
ice stations were closing all over Britain.
He remembered as a boy seeing the Lon-
don buses in World War I powered by
great bags of coal gas strapped to the
roof.
Bate claims some 5,000 motorists fro-
Point Barrow, Alaska, to the mayor of
nearby St. Ives have fitted his patented
"autogas convert device" to their engines
and sent away for his instructions tin how
See DUNGMOBILE, Page 9
CRACKDOWN ON CRIME
School frisk rule OK'd
By MARILYN RILEY
In the wake of two recent stabbings in
the Ann Arbor public schools, the city
Board of Education has approved a plan
allowing school officials to search stu-
dents and their lockers if there is "rea-
sonable suspicion" the student possesses
a weapon.
The stop and frisk plan, which passed
by a 5-2 vote at Wednesday's board meet-
ing, combined recommendations by Trus-
tee Cecil Warner and Acting Superinten-
dent LeRoy Cappaert for reducing crime
in the schools.
THE ALTERNATE school for "dis-
ruptive" students, which was proposed by
Warner at last week's meeting, repre-
sents long range action to be taken to
curb crime. The board will not vote on
the alternate school until July 1.
Under the stop and frisk plan, school
officials must first question any student
if there is "reasonable suspicion" that the
student possesses a weapon.
If the official is not satisfied with the
student's response, the official may ask
hi to empty his pockets or open his
locker. If no weapon is found and the of-
ficial is still suspicious, the student must
submit to a pat-down search or be renioved
froti the school grounds.
ACCORDING TO WARNER, students
possessing weapons would be immediate-
ly suspended, even if they were only car-
rying a small pen knife.
What constitutes reasonable suspicion
has not been clearly defined, however. Ac-
cording to Trustee Robert Conn, a phone
tip saying there was a bomb in a locker,
or a student running away from the scene
of an assault with a weapon might be
cause for search of a student's locker or
his person.
See SEARCH, Page 9