Word: apollos
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...Good to hear your voice," said Astronaut Lovell, breaking the long silence after Apollo had emerged from behind the moon. Wild cheering filled the control room. Says Flight Director Glynn Lunney: "It certainly wasn't a faint reaction. There was quite a bit of racket. I'm sure it can be described as one of the happiest Christmas Eves just about anyone there had seen...
Navigational data that the astronauts gathered will help NASA scientists plot Apollo's orbit more precisely than they could by tracking it from earth. Once the rises and dips in Apollo's orbital path have been identified, the scientists will be able to map their cause: variations in the lunar gravitational field believed to be caused by concentrations of massive material beneath some craters and seas. With better knowledge of the gravitational field, NASA will be able to plan more accurately the paths of future landing missions, on which errors of only a few feet could be dangerous...
...lengthy newscasts. The diversion was especially welcome on the return trip, which turned out to be the least eventful part of the journey. Two more live telecasts were presented from the spacecraft, and more star navigation checks were made, but the last two mid-course corrections were canceled: Apollo 8 was dead on target...
...module until its blunt end was forward and then plunged into the outer atmosphere at a speed of 24,629 m.p.h.-some 7,000 m.p.h. faster than re-entry speeds of orbital missions. Roaring down into the thickening atmosphere within a sliver of the planned angle of 6.43°, Apollo passed over Peking and Tokyo, the temperature of its heat shield rising...
...entry heat built up, it ionized the surrounding atmosphere, which formed a sheath around Apollo and temporarily blacked out its radio communications. But after a tense three-minute silence, there was a reassuring message from Jim Lovell: "We are looking good." Apollo had stood the stresses of reentry. On schedule, the spacecraft's drogue parachutes deployed, followed closely by the three main chutes...