Air Force May Fire Thor-Able In Exploratory Shot to the Moon; U.S. Ready to Suspend Atom Tests

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 10--By this morning a mighty Thor-Able rocket may well be on its 2 1/2-day flight toward the moon. Provided, that is, all goes well--and the odds on even partial success are rated no better than one in ten.

While there's been no official announcement, reports are that the rocket with its unmanned satellite will be launched before dawn Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The launching rocket, which reportedly is poised on its pad at Canaveral, is an 88-foot, three-stage affair. It carries an 85-pound payload, consisting of the satellite with some 25 pounds of instrumentation.

The rocket will be aimed at a spot in space about 137,000 miles ahead of the moon's position at the time of launching. The hope is that the moon and the satellite would rendezvous somewhere near each other 2 1/2 days later.

U.S. Ready for Suspension

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., Oct. 10--Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge declared Friday that the United States is ready to suspend nuclear weapons tests indefinitely provided there is reasonable year-to-year progress in other fields of disarmament.

But Soviety Deputy Foreign Minister Valerian Zorin replied Moscow would agree to halt tests only if the United States and Britain accept an immediate ban "for all time." He accused the Western Powers of doing all in their power to "barricade and block the way" toward agreement.