A.P. News in Brief

Von Braun Testifies

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2--The speeded-up U.S. space program is still not moving fast enough to catch the Soviet Union, rocket expert Wernher von Braun said today.

Before the year ends, the German-born space scientist added, the Soviets may well have put a man into orbit around the earth and dropped a package of live instruments on the moon.

Present plans call for the United States to boost its first Mercury astronaut into orbit in 1961 and to land instruments on the moon in 1963.

Poll Tax Weighed

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2--The Senate voted today to change the U.S. Constitution in three ways. One change would outlaw the state poll tax as a requirement for voting in federal elections.

The vote on killing the poll tax was 70-18, or 11 votes more than the required two-thirds of those voting.

The unusual package, whipped through in a flurry of speed, would also:

1. Give state governors the power to fill vacancies in the U.S. House, should more than half the House members perish in an atomic attack or other disaster. The vote here was 72-16, or 13 more than two-thirds.

2. Give to citizens of the District of Columbia the right to vote in presidential elections and the right to elect delegates to the House.

Kennedy in Maryland Primary

ANNAPOLIS, Md., Feb. 2--Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.) plunged into Maryland's May 17 presidential primary today and challenged other Democratic aspirants to follow suit.

Gov. J. Millard Tawes, the state's top Democratic power, offered Kennedy every courtesy at a joint news conference--but no commitment.

The governor read a statement praising Kennedy as "eminently qualified to be president." Asked if this constituted a personal endorsement of the Massachusetts senator, the governor replied, "Not at the moment."