Word: astronautical
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...folks at home, it was an interesting week for the old problem to arise, as they sat back among the confusions, watching Lebanon with one eye and with the other a U.S. astronaut floating gloriously in the blackest space, at once free and alone. Is that what the country wants to be in the end, free and alone? Too late for isolation. Yet what does the nation mean when it sails into cauldrons like Lebanon-let's fight to the death until someone gets hurt? Oh, if every beach were Grenada's. After the easy questions, the hard...
Mondale owes some of his lead to the failings of his rivals. Most disappointing has been John Glenn, the astronaut turned Senator. His hero status and centrist politics made him a logical match for Ronald Reagan. But the more Glenn hit the stump, the further he fell in the polls. He comes off as a good, gray technocrat, offering facts, not vision, often lapsing into jargon and digressions that leave audiences drowsy. He can show zest, though, sometimes speaking clearly and substantively on favorite issues, such as arms control and cutting the budget deficit. Since his positions are closer...
...approaching peak of the solar cycle, to gather information on the effects of the sun's activities on the earth. The robot observatory has been crippled for the past three years because of a minor electrical problem. Flying to the satellite with his manned maneuvering unit (MMU), an astronaut will attach himself to the ailing bird. Then he will use the force of the MMU'S jets to arrest the satellite's slow spin so that it can be grappled aboard the shuttle by the remote-controlled arm. The satellite will be overhauled inside the shuttle...
...overstuffed armchair without a seat. On earth it weighs 340 lbs., but in zero-g an MMU can fly like a bird. A squirt or two of nitrogen gas from any of its 24 small jet thrusters can propel it in any direction. Strapped into this flying chair, an astronaut need only work the handle-like controls built into the armrests...
...flight plan calls for the astronauts to move up to 300 ft. away from the shuttle. Only one man will fly at a time; the other will remain tethered in the cargo bay. If the MMU'S thrusters fail, a stranded astronaut could be rescued by his partner or even the shuttle. No tethers are used during the lengthy, complex sorties because an astronaut might become tangled in a line. During the space walks, the astronauts will practice snaring Solar Max by hooking themselves onto the SPAS. But this is not as easy as it sounds. In zero...