Word: astronaut
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...locks are simple, straightforward devices; their relatives have been used for more than a century in underwater excavating. But to resist pressure, they must be bulky and fairly heavy. The cramped cabin of a U.S. Gemini has no room for them, and when the first U.S. astronaut ventures into emptiness, he will open a single hatch and expose the whole cabin to vacuum...
Almost as dangerous as radiant heat is the fearful cold of space, which strikes wherever an object is shadowed from the sun. If an astronaut stays long out of sunlight, as may be necessary on future space missions, his body heat will tend to leak away. Thus the outer layer must be made of material that does not radiate too much heat. The Russians have not told what they use for a space-suit coating, only that it is white...
...scene, Kennedy drops the medal that he is about to pin on Alan Shepard, the first astronaut. As worried aides scramble to retrieve it, Kennedy tells Shepard with mock solemnity that "this medal has gone from the ground up." That quip, of course, loses something in writing. And yet, it is more revealing than most of the narration, which never advances beyond the observation that Kennedy was "an uncommon man" who "built his program in an uncommon manner...
...fine end for an astronaut," writes Boulle. But a sad one for so capable a Bridge builder...
...told, there are now 28 spacemen. Of the original seven Mercury astronauts, only two besides Cooper remain as active participants: Virgil Grissom will command the first of the Gemini flights, and Walter Schirra Jr. will lead the stand-by crew. Donald ("Deke") Slayton, who resigned his Air Force commission in 1963 after doctors discovered a heart murmur, is now assistant director of the Manned Spacecraft Center at Houston, in charge of crew operations. Marine Lieut. Colonel John Glenn made an abortive try at politics, later retired from the Marine Corps, is now a director of a soft-drink company. Alan...