Word: astronauts
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...turned out to see Rudolf Nureyev on the Royal Ballet's opening night. Then off to Norfolk, Va., for a luncheon speech on Viet Nam. Up to Washington to present awards to Agriculture Department employees whose ideas had saved the Government money. Down to Orlando, Fla., to convoy Astronaut John Young on his triumphal return home. Then on to North Carolina for a Sunday at Civil War historical ceremonies. So the Vice President of the U.S., Hubert Horatio Humphrey, 53, is having trouble keeping busy...
...better possibility was the astronaut's breath. He might puff gently into sensing devices that would convey his commands to the AMU. But this system would not be accurate, and the extra puffing would waste oxygen and deposit undesirable moisture in the space suit's helmet...
Then tone was considered. The astronaut might hum different notes, and a simple device could translate this code into control commands. This system, which has been widely used in telephone switching, was rejected, says the report, because it relies "on musical skills not naturally possessed to any marked extent by the average astronaut...
...Words. The final decision was in favor of control by words. There are plenty of devices available that can distinguish with precision between a limited number of spoken words. The Honeywell men figured that a vocabulary of ten normal words was enough to give all needed commands. When the astronaut wants his gas jets to turn him to one side, say the engineers, all he should have to do is say "yaw" into his microphone. If he wants to make a fast turn, he will say "yaw, yaw, yaw." Direction of the yaw will be determined by saying "plus...
Other word commands are "X," "Y" and "Z," which call for motion in one of three directions. The astronaut can also say "stop," to end whatever action is going on, or "cage" to shut down the whole apparatus. "Stop-plus" and "stop-minus" might be used to switch on the gyro apparatus that keeps his attitude stabilized within two different degrees of accuracy...