Former spaceman critical of U . S . - Soviet policy

Former U.S. astronaut Walt C u n n i n g h a m sha rp ly criticized the policy of cooperation with the Soviet Union in space flights and space technology before a standing-room-only audience in Ryon 201 last Tuesday night. H i s m a i n o b j e c t i o n to sharing space is that the United States would lose the cons iderable edge in technology it gained during the heyday of the space race. He elaborated on the ways he feels the United States is ahead of the Russians. The first of these w a s a c c u r a c y of t h e i r t o u c h d o w n s . T h e U n i t e d States, he says, can consistently hit a target the size of a large airport, while the R u s s i a n s m e a s u r e t h e i r landing zones in tens of miles. He described the Soviet reentry procedure as the same U.S. crews would use in a "last ditch situation."Cunningham explained that the U.S. uses a water landing because every l aunch h a s to have the capability of aborting without killing the astronauts. The United States launches its space shots on the east coast, and they immediately fly out over the Atlantic. The Soviet Union launches its missions from deep inside Asia, and, if something were to go wrong, would have to bring their cosmonauts down on land. In another comparison of U.S. technology to that of the