(DISSOLVE TO VUGRAPH)



(FLIP IN FLIGHT PATH)



(WIPE IN ACTUAL FLIGHT PATH)



(FLIP IN ALTITUDE)




Initials



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: MAN AGAINST THE COSMOS......WE HEAR THE END OF ANOTHER DRAMATIC EPISODE.THE AMERICAN MOON ROCKET -- OFF COURSE AND RUNNING OUT OF STEAM -- IS COMING HOME........GLOWING IN THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE DEEPEST SOUNDING OF SPACE IN HISTORY.

HERE IT IS.....A MODEL OF "FIGHTER"....ON DISPLAY IN WASHINGTON.....A MAN-MADE PACKET, WHICH ESCAPED THE EARTH YESTERDAY....AND TRIED TO LEAP TO THE MOON....230-THOUSAND MILES AWAY.

THE SPATIAL STORY UNFOLDED TO-NIGHT -- AT A NEWS CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON. TOP SCIENTISTS TOLD HOW "FIGHTER" WAS THE VICTIM OF UNFORSEEN ERROR....RIGHT FROM THE START. THE THOR-ABLE (CS) ROCKET FIRED FROM CAPY CANAVERAL 3-AND-ONE-HALF DEGREES TOO HIGH...

NARRATION, USING VUGRAPHS, BEFORE GOING BACK INTO FILM
THIS MEANT IT NEVER ACHIEVED THE DESIRED VELOCITY -- AND AT THE SAME TIME -- DID NOT GET MAXIMUM BENEFIT FROM THE EARTH'S ROTATION.

FIGHTER'S INTENDED FLIGHT PATH WOULD....
....HAVE REACHED A RENDEZVOUS POINT IN THE NEAR-VICINITY OF THE MOON...SOMETIME TOMORROW.

INSTEAD -- THE ROCKET TRAILED TOO FAR BEHIND THE LUNAR PATH....GRADUALLY FLATTENING OUT AT A PEAK ALTITUDE OF
79-THOUSAND, 212-MILES.

NEVER BEFORE -- HAS A MAN-MADE VEHICLE REACHED INTO SPACE -- AT SUCH A DISTANCE. THEN THE PAYLOAD SWUNG OVER TO BEGIN THE LONESOME JOURNEY BACK TO EARTH.