February 5, 1971

US officials continue to hold open possibility of S Vietnamese strike against Ho Chi Minh Trail; caution against repts that White House has ordered 20,000 S Vietnamese troops along Laotian frontier not to cross border; White House press sec declines to say whether S Vietnamese might enter Laos; notes operations in Mil Region I are in 1st stage; says enemy has been concentrating supplies and troops throughout Laotian panhandle and these pose threat to security of Mil Region I; says, as matter of gen policy, US air power will be used to support S Vietnamese forces 'when they take action to prohibit the re-establishment of enemy sanctuaries'; says no US ground forces will be used; spokesmen still refuse to address themselves to central questions raised by operation; say decision to lift news embargo was made by Abrams; insist blackout was imposed for purely mil reasons; White House press sec concedes embargo caused confusion; says fact that there was no loss of lives 'justifies' Abrams's judgment; Mansfield says strike in Laos might extend war into Thailand; says new campaign sounds like 'tired replay' of earlier period in war

Shepard and Mitchell in lunar module make pinpoint landing on slope in Fra Mauro highlands; landing site is in narrow valley between Doublet and Triplet Craters; landing is 2 mins behind schedule; during 12th orbit, module separates from command ship; docking mechanism works flawlessly; command ship moves into circular orbit 70 mi above moon and module goes into orbit with 69-mi apogee and 10-mi perigee; 11-min firing of module's descent stage rocket sends module into long, curving trajectory; descent is carefully plotted by astronauts, radar and on-bd computer; mysterious abort signals in module's guidance computer threaten to unintentionally abort lunar landing; 2 astronauts feed new data into computer, instructing it to ignore signals, lighting conditions are ideal during landing; touchdown is smooth; earlier, 2 short firings of spacecraft's main rocket dropped craft into lower orbit with 67-mi apogee and 12-mi perigee; maneuver was aimed at conserving fuel in module to give Shepard and Mitchell 15 additional seconds to maneuver just before touchdown; astronauts' pors; maps show geology and topography of landing site

Rolls-Royce Ltd, which had contract with Lockheed Aircraft Corp to develop RB-211 engine for Lockheed's L-1011 (Tristar Airbus), declares bankruptcy; attributes bankruptcy to heavy cost overruns on fixed-price contract; Rolls, for competitive reasons, also sought to develop advanced version of engine before being paid for original model; Lockheed says it may use US-built engines for craft

activity at Khesanh discussed; illus

Big 6 Mayors charge Rockefeller budget does not meet local needs and may force increases in real estate taxes, latter seen veiled warning to legislators that they may be blamed for new taxes; statement warns state cannot consider its budget problem as separate from problems of municipalities; seen conciliatory although strongly worded; group reptdly hopes for Repub defections from Rockefeller; Rockefeller aide comments