Word: astronaut
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Their optimism was soon dashed. On the first day of flight, the astronauts tried to deploy a new instrument-pointing system (IPS), designed in West Germany, that aimed three of the onboard telescopes at celestial objects. The precision of the IPS is equivalent to focusing on a dime two miles away. The $60 million device, however, had bugs in its computer software and would not track properly. There was a brief moment when Astronomer-Astronaut Karl Henize shouted, "Hallelujah, it looks like it's working!" only to watch it wobble off target. Conceded Henize: "That hallelujah...
...cress seeds were tucked into soil to test the influence of microgravity on plant growth. Frog eggs were fertilized to determine if low gravity alters the development of organs responsible for balance. At one point a fruit fly escaped from its container and was quickly dubbed Willy. Later the astronauts found the ill-fated drosophila dead in a filter. Tongue in cheek, officials at Oberpfaffenhofen handed out an obituary for "our bold little astronaut...
...scientists and politicians, however, it is the next frontier, a new world to be tamed and colonized. Gathering in Washington last week for a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz space linkup were such luminaries as Astronomer Carl Sagan, former Moonwalker and U.S. Senator Harrison Schmitt, Astronaut Sally Ride, Hawaii Senator Spark Matsunaga and NASA Chief James Beggs. They proposed an agenda for the future as well: a joint U.S.-Soviet manned mission to Mars, which could be launched as early as 2010. In the highlight of the meeting, sponsored by the Planetary Society and the American...
...children have formed hard and fast beliefs about the subjects at which they excel and those in which they fail. Perhaps that's why last year only half as many girls as boys chose to take advanced-placement tests in physics. To even out those numbers, former astronaut Sally Ride launched a science camp two summers ago that so far has kindled the interests of nearly 800 middle school girls...
LEROY CHIAO, U.S. astronaut, after five weeks in which he and a fellow space-station occupant had to eat reduced rations because the previous crew had eaten some of their food...