Word: blasts
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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After enough fuel had been accumulated on the little, man-made satellite, a rocket could fill its tanks and blast itself off into space. Since it would already be moving in its earth-circling orbit at a good clip (16,000 m.p.h.), it would need only a moderate additional push to give it escape velocity. Then it could cruise freely in space, like a ship that has risen out of a whirlpool and reached the smooth surface of a lake...
...separate and return to earth, braked by a steel-mesh parachute and downward-firing rockets. The second section will carry on, its motors lifting the rocket to 39.8 miles and boosting its speed to 14,364 m.p.h. Then it too will drop off, leaving the final, manned section to blast itself upward alone, attaining the speed of 18,468 m.p.h. When it reaches the desired altitude (1,075 miles), it will have spiraled halfway around the earth and will have been slowed by gravitation to 14,770 m.p.h. This is not quite fast enough to keep it in its orbit...
Then the crewmen make another power maneuver. They turn the ship so that its rocket motors are pointing forward. A brief blast from them reduces the ship's speed by 1,070 m.p.h. and puts it into an elliptical course which swings down toward the atmosphere. In its outer fringes, 50 miles up, air resistance heats the rocket's skin and wings to a brightly glowing red (1,300° F.), but the crew, protected by insulation and liquid-cooled windows, do not feel the heat. The ship glides on, part meteor, part airplane. Gradually its energy...
...lines, disgorged their cargoes and were gone in less than 20 seconds. Many a Marine visualizes the day when a whole invading force might be shuttled ashore from scattered carriers, taking an enemy by surprise and eliminating the great clutter of small craft which is so vulnerable to atomic blast...
...statement was released after the Bishops' annual meeting in Washington, and although they expressed a general concern over the rise of secularism in America, the brunt of their blast seemed directed at Conant's speech to the American Association of School Administrators in Boston last April...