Word: atlases
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...week's end, as the Atlas churned through the skies, brighter than most planets, SCORE ground stations as well as amateur radio operators round the world were tuning in to the President's message, triggered by signals from the U.S., then erased, and transmitted anew to the Atlas, and again played back. It would be seen and heard for 20 days or so before burning up in the atmosphere. But that, obviously, was just the beginning...
...with 82 heads of mission-that the White House had to divide its traditional state dinner into two separate functions a night apart; only the hosts and the menu (four wines, sole, turkey, spinach soufflé, strawberry ice cream molds) were identical. Aside from the President's spectacular Atlas announcement on the second night, only one incident ruffled the traditional decorum: Belgium's veteran Ambassador Baron Robert Silvercruys, normally the very picture of diplomatic dignity, provided a giddy moment when he picked up his wife's train and did a few jolly jig steps in time...
...Atlas that went into orbit (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS) is technically called a 1½-stage rocket-a single engine plus ground-fired boosters. When its two booster engines stop firing, the main body, propelled by the central sustainer engine, flies out of the short cylindrical after-section that carries the boosters (see diagram). With the boosters gone, the sustainer engine has less dead weight to carry into space. In this particular model, the sustainer was designed to burn 13 seconds longer than in the regular models. Without this extra thrust, needed to put the Atlas into orbit, it would have...
Like other Atlases, this one was guided by a wondrously sophisticated ground computer. Before blastoff, the Atlas' internal guidance mechanism was instructed to follow a programed course. As it rose, the Atlas reported by radio on how it was doing. Digesting this information almost instantly, the ground computer radioed back to the Atlas the proper corrections for making its actual course conform to the programed one. These course corrections were made by controllable vernier rockets and slight changes of the direction in the thrust of the main engine. When the Atlas had climbed above nearly all of the atmosphere...
Sputnik Rivals. The Atlas, with its nearly 4½ tons, was widely hailed as the heaviest object to be put in orbit, but the Russians were quick to put in a counterclaim. Leonid Sedov, often an official spokesman for Soviet missilemen, declared that each of the three Soviet carrier rockets that orbited the earth weighed considerably more. These weights are not known accurately outside Russia, since the Russians maintain that only the instrument payload is important. The payload of the dog-carrying Sputnik II (instruments, dog, transmitter, etc.) weighed 1,120 lbs., v. the Atlas' 200 plus. Sputnik...