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Science / Space Race

[April 26, 1970] Red stars in space (Communist China and the USSR make leaps)

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photo of a man with glasses and curly, long, brown hair, and a beard and mustache
by Gideon Marcus

It's likely you missed the other big news in space given how much the flight of Apollo 13 dominated the air waves.  But while we were busy ensuring that Lovell, Swigert, and Haise made it back home, the ChiComs and the Russkies were accomplishing some space spectaculars of their own:

If you look up in the sky, you'll see nine new stars, all of them Red!

The East is Red

Radio Peking announced the launch on its April 24th evening newscast, crediting Chairman Mao's leadership for the success.  This makes China (the Communist one that we don't recognize as existing) the fifth nation to orbit a satellite with its own booster (Japan having beaten its neighbor to the punch by just two months). Thousands of Chinese marched through Tien An Men Square in an organized demonstration clearly planned in advance.  To the sound of exploding firecrackers and the crashing of drums and cymbals, the young and old paraded with red banners and portraits of the Chairman while a People's Liberation Army group carried a man-high model of the Chinese ideogram for double-happiness, while downtown office buildings were lit with white lights and colored bulbs decorated trees along the Boulevard of Eternal Peace.

Colour photograph from an elevated vantage of large crowds of people gathered in Tien An Men Square, illuminated from above by brilliant lamps

Colour photograph of Chinese youth walking, holding up large portaits of Chairman Mao

The satellite is called DongFangHong, which means "The East is Red", and as it orbited, the spacecraft broadcast on 20.009 megacycles the revolutionary song of the same name.  Its eccentric orbit takes it nearly 1500 miles above the Earth and down to just under 300, circling the globe every 114 minutes.  The satellite masses a respectable 173 kilograms, suggesting a rocket similar in capability to our Delta (compare, say, Relay 1).  The satellite is being tracked closely both by the United States and by Nationalist China (Formosa/Taiwan).

B&W photograph of a globe-shaped satellite formed of quadrilateral panels assembled above and below a wide belt.  There appear to be whip antennae protruding from all four quadrants around the belt and up from the pole opposite what appears to be the bell of a thruster
The Dong Fang Hong satellite

America's reaction to the flight was something of a yawn. NASA Administrator, Dr. Thomas O. Paine, released this statement:

“This new development has been anticipated for some time. . . . It is a dramatic demonstration of the determination of the Chinese leaders, despite many problems, to put science and technology very high on their list of national priorities.”

Scientists at the Department of Defense and the Air Force displayed a distinct lack of surprise.  Indeed, Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird told Congress on February 20 that he expected the Reds to try a launch soon.  One unidentified DOD scientist quoted by the Associated Press stated that the launch did not necessarily mean that the ChiComs had developed an ICBM, which makes sense—the Delta is derived from the shorter ranged Thor IRBM.  Still, Intelligence analysts estimated Communist China might be able to develop and deploy 10 to 25 intercontinental ballistic missiles by mid-1975, which could threaten the United States. 

Or as Tom Lehrer might sing, "China's got the Bomb, but have no fear—they can't wipe us out for at least five years!" 

Japan concurred, officials saying that if China had developed a guidance system for satellite launching, it soon would be able to fire intercontinental missiles with high precision.  Some have expressed concern that, with the Communist Chinese entering the missile race, ABM development will be accelerated, derailing the ongoing Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT). 

Colour photograph of a hardback book bearing the title 'Why ABM - Policy issues in the missile defense controversy Ed. Johan J. Holst and William Schneider Jr.

More positive were the U.K., whose Minister of Technology, Anthony Wedgwood Benn, congratulated Chinese government, their engineers and space workers on the launch, and West Germany, whose Bochum Observatory called the event a greater technological feat than the 1957 launch of Russia's Sputnik 1.

Meanwhile, the Soviets, long on the outs with their erstwhile sister country, devoted just 10 words on an inside page of Pravda to the launch.  Tit for tat—the Red Chinese don't talk about Soviet flights, either.  Romania, on the other hand, in a wider orbit from the USSR than other Warsaw Pact states, congratulated the Chinese for "fresh successes in the field of scientific investigation of outer space," and Albania, a long-time supporter of the Chicoms, also hailed the achievement.  North Vietnam's news agency said that the launching "brings out the supremacy of socialism and contributes to the development of science and technology in the interests of progressive mankind."  That rounds out the Communist response.

Pakistan President Yahya Khan, in a message to Chinese Premier Chou En-lai, called the launch a "great step forward," demonstrating the progress of China’s technology.  He said the feat "by our friendly neighbor has been received by us with a feeling of admiration."  It is no coincidence that India and Red China have been trading shots across their border, so even though Pakistan is far from a Communist country, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" seems to obtain.

Interestingly, Red China's first satellite is believed to have been the brain-child of Tsien Hsueh-shen, a former MIT and Cal Tech scientist who was a high-ranking Pentagon adviser during World War II.  He was later charged with being a Communist Party member and booted from America in 1955.

B&W Photograph of Tsien Hsueh-shen wearing a suit, looking directly at the camera as his body is turning to the left.  He seems to have a slightly wry expression
Tsien at his deportation hearing in 1950

Well, we certainly showed them!

Communist Octuplets

On the 25th, the Soviets brought off what I believe is their first eight-in-one satellite launch.  Kosmoses 336 through 343 went into medium Earth orbit around the 1000 mile high mark.  No information has been released about the spacecraft, but it reminds me a bit of how we launch eight Initial Defense Communications Satellite Program (IDCSP) satellites at a time on Titan rockets.  This suggests that the Soviets are developing a constellation of military communications satellites separate from their Molniya high-orbit comsats—perhaps for global military use, perhaps for use by missile subs or far-flung Communist countries like Cube or North Vietnam.  It also means that the Russians have perfected the "space bus" architecture for rockets, allowing the deployment of multiple satellites from a single vehicle.

Artist's rendering of a Transtage deploying IDCSP satellites
Artist's rendering of a Titan Transtage deploying IDCSP satellites similar to how the Soviets might have dispersed their Kosmoses

Incidentally, we (America) are a lot more on the ball with regard to Soviet satellites than I thought.  Not only are we able to identify which of the "science" Kosmoses are spy sats, but we can even determine trends in their cadence and capabilities.  Aviation Weekly had an article on it earlier this month, and it was fascinating reading.

Part 1 of a spread of two photographs of a chart where the rows represent years from 1966 at the bottom to 1969 at the top, and columns of January through June.  Distributed temporally are the blocks of time representing recoverable reconnaissance satellite launches
Part 2 of the two photograph spread, covering July through December and presenting a slim total at the far right, showing that the launch rate increased slightly in 1969 during the periods of border clashes with China, and otherwise maintaining a twice-monthly cadence

Chart of soviet launches of recoverable reconnaissance satellites for each year from 1962 through 1969 across two sites, showing both a steady increase, and that while Tyuratam was the initial site to be conducting launches, that the new Plesetsk launch site has recently surpassed it in capacity, and noting that the newer extended duration satellites debuted from the Plesetsk site

So, all in all, an exciting month for the Eastern Hemisphere.  Let's just hope that these developments presage the peaceful development of space…and not doom for the world

[New to the Journey? Read this for a brief introduction!]


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Magazine/Anthology

[March 24, 1970] 200 Not Out (New Worlds, April 1970)

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by Fiona Moore

Greetings from the Island of Formosa, more usually known as the Republic of China! Though the local name for the island is “Taiwan.” I’m here on a visiting fellowship at National Tsinghua University.

The Republic is a hub of electronics and engineering, and so there is a great appetite for SFF here. SF is regarded by the nationalist government as a way of encouraging young people into careers in science, and also SF, of the “if this goes on…” variety, is seen as a vector of “moral teaching”.

Nonetheless, for the past twenty years Taiwan has lagged behind Korea in the production of locally-written SFF. Most what is available is foreign SF works like Asimov and Clarke, in (often not very good, or indeed legal) translation. In fact, some translators leave the author’s name off the novel and pass it off as theirs! The scene is further hampered by restrictions on Japanese cultural products, an understandable reaction to 50 years of Japanese colonisation but nonetheless one which denies Chinese people a wealth of movie and comic-book content.

However, there are signs of change emerging, with the rise of a thriving short SF fiction scene. The appearance of Zhang Xiaofeng’s clone story Pandora in the China Times in 1968 has led to the publication of a lot of stories in mainstream newspapers and magazines, the creation of dedicated SFF magazines, and even an SF short story contest. The government is said to be encouraging the development of a “truly Chinese” SF. Some authors to watch include Chang Shi-Go, an electronics engineer by day and writer by night, Zhang Xiguo, and Huang Hai, who is rumoured to be putting together an anthology of near-future science fiction stories.

Meanwhile, my copy of New Worlds has followed me safely to Asia. It’s the 200th issue: will it mark a new direction for New Worlds, or will it be more of the same old worlds?

You can probably guess.

Cover of New Worlds April 1970. It shows the silhouettes of two human figures balancing on opposite ends of a seesaw that hinges atop the edge of a cliff.
Cover by Andrew Lanyon

Lead-In

In which Michael Moorcock celebrates New Worlds making it to 200 issues with a rant about how they won’t make it to 300 if the arts council grant doesn’t come through and/or more people don’t buy the magazine. Signs of trouble I fear.

The Dying Castles by Michael Moorcock, Samuel R. Delany and James Sallis

A black-and-white drawing of strange humanoid figures, with skyscrapers in the background.
art by Alan Stephanson

A half-page vignette in three sections, I assume written in round-robin style by the authors. It stops just when it seems to get going. Three stars for the prose.

Secret Identity by John Sladek

A line drawing of a white man in a suit, his back pressed against a wall, his face turned away from the viewer.
art by Andrew Lanyon

A modernist spoof of spy fiction. Well written for what it is, but I feel like we’ve been here before: writers have been sending up spy fiction since Ian Fleming got on the bestseller lists. Two stars.

The Floating Nun by M. John Harrison

A black-and-white photograph of a morris dancer costumed as a hobby-horse.
art by uncredited artist, possibly Andrew Lanyon as he is credited with the rest of the artwork on this story

An excerpt from a longer novel, The Committed Men, yet to be published. It's really quite gripping, featuring a group of travellers trying to cross a post-apocalyptic British landscape, full of mutants and dominated by a sort of perverted cannibalistic folk-horror Christianity. I’m definitely going to look for the full version. Four stars.

The Time Ship by Paul Green

A poem about, well, a time-ship spinning uncontrolled through history. Some good imagery. Three stars.

The Tarot Pack Megadeath by Ian Watson

A line drawing parodying the Five of Swords tarot card, showing a man who looks like Richard Nixon picking up swords in the foreground while two men run away in the background.
art by Judy Watson

Of course there’s an Ian Watson story (and there’ll be more Watson content later)—but again, I don’t mind, as he’s the most fresh and original thing in New Worlds at the moment. This is a piece about a US President facing total societal collapse, told through a tarot reading—one suspects that Watson did the tarot reading first and built the story around it, but that’s perfectly legitimate as a tool for inspiration. Sometimes the cards are described and sometimes they’re left for the reader to work out from the content. Four stars.

Two Stories by Gwyneth Cravens

The first is “Abbe Was I Ere I Saw Ebba”, a story having fun with palindromes and etymology. The second is “Literature and the Future of the Obsolete but Perpetual Present by Claude Rene Vague”, a mock essay sending up the more opaque and pretentious forms of literary criticism with a lot of French puns. It’s at least more readable than most experimental stories with a “clever” conceit are. Three stars.

Computer 70: Dreams and Love Poems, Part Two by D.M. Thomas

A black-and-white photograph showing an object through a distorting glass.
art by Andrew Lanyon

A continuation of last issue’s poem series. Like last issue’s, there’s some good imagery about machines and loves, but it all goes on a little too long. Two stars.

Gunk Under The Skin by Raymond Johnson

A black-and-white line drawing of a naked white woman from behind, her pale hair in a shoulder length cut, her skin covered with slash marks.
art by R. Glyn Jones

A short piece about a man who gets off on affixing green tape to his secretary’s skin, until she becomes entirely green. A bit creepy and fetishistic. Two stars.

The Jungle Rot Kid on the Nod by Philip Jose Farmer

A black-and-white line drawing showing a kneeling Tarzan shooting heroin in front of a jungle scape.
art by Alan Stephanson

The premise for this one is “what if Tarzan was written by William S. Burroughs instead of Edgar Rice Burroughs?” and that’s as far as the joke goes. I got a laugh out of it, particularly its sending up of Tarzan story clichés like Jane seemingly being abducted every five minutes, but it got boring pretty quickly and there was a woman-hating edge to it that I didn’t really get on with. Two stars.

Comic Strip by Judy Watson

A 20-panel comic strip depicting a woman making herself beautiful and greeting a man, only to be rejected by him.
art by Judy Watson

Ian Watson’s wife Judy’s previous contribution to the magazine was the surreal cartoon interpretations of Japanese culture from the February issue. I’d thought they were impressive and clearly someone on the editorial staff did too, as she’s back with a visual meditation on women’s anxieties about attractiveness and relationships. Four stars.

Books

Bob Marsden reads the proceedings of the Alpbach Symposium 1968; Joyce (Not A Woman) Churchill thinks that British fantasy is in a dire place because someone is reprinting James Branch Cabell and John Norman has another so-called book out; James Cawthorn quite likes a book by de Camp and Pratt. Note to self: ask campus bookshop to order in the Cabell reprints.

The music review column seems to have been abandoned; on the one hand, this is a shame as it was at least something new for the magazine, but on the other, it wasn’t really contributing anything new to music reviewing.

An advertisement on p. 30 indicates that J.G. Ballard is exhibiting a sculpture called “Crashed Cars” at the Arts Lab. One wonders when he’ll get it all out of his system.

An advertisement for J. G. Ballard's Crashed Cars exhibition, depicting a Triumph Herald facing left in a scrubland.methinks Ballard is getting a bit big for his boots

Overall, this is definitely more a looking-back than looking-forward issue. New Worlds seems to be staying firmly in its wheelhouse for the most part, with the same writers covering the same themes and only the occasional new voice creeping in. Sorry, Michael Moorcock, but I’m afraid at this rate no, we won’t see an Issue 300.

[New to the Journey?  Read this for a brief introduction!]


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