S.T.L.

Within the next 15 years, says Engineer Robert A. Park, head of S.T.L.'s comet-catching crew, 31 known comets will come close enough to earth to be reached with space probes launched by existing Atlas-Agena rockets.

S.T.L. thinks this can be done by modern electronic computation, permitting the probe to pass within 6,000 miles of the mysterious nucleus and report by TV what it looks like.

To chivy itself into this ideal situation, the S.T.L. moon orbiter will have two engines�one firing forward and the other backward.

S.T.L. may use its second or biter for a long-range crack at Venus which will be in a fairly good position next January.