Word: commandant
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
UNLIKE the bombers of more glamorous wars, this one wore no buxom bathing beauty on her fuselage. Nor was a girl's name painted on her nose. In accord with Strategic Air Command practice, only a number-6623-stenciled in yellow on her four-story-high black tail distinguished her from the 85 other B-52s of SAC's 43rd Strategic Air Wing that lined the tarmac at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam...
While Astronaut Ken Mattingly orbited overhead in the command module Casper, Duke and Young stared out their cabin window onto the sundrenched Cayley Plains. Near their spacecraft, they excitedly reported to scientists back in Mission Control, was a large variety of rocks and boulders, some as big as 10 ft. across, glistening in shades of white and pink and gray. "All we have to do is jump out the hatch and we've got plenty of rocks," exclaimed Duke. The astronauts also reported brilliantly gleaming ray patterns -splashes of material gouged from the moon's interior by meteorite...
...Mattingly reported some chilling news: the backup circuit on a steering motor controlling Casper's bell-shaped engine nozzle during firings was swiveling the nozzle erratically back and forth-and Mattingly could do nothing about it. The astronauts were in no immediate danger, but under mission rules the command module's primary and secondary guidance systems must both be operational before a lunar landing can be attempted. The reason: if the command ship's engine cannot be controlled, the rocket power of the lunar lander is necessary to get the reunited ships back to earth. In fact...
...astronauts took careful measurements to augment data about the moon's magnetic field, which analysis of moon rocks shows was once surprisingly strong; the strong field, in turn, suggests that the core of the moon was once molten. Aboard Casper, high above the moon's surface, Command Ship Pilot Mattingly made his own scientific contributions. Among other valuable exercises, he shot stereo pictures of the moon's surface, including the far side which is hidden from earth, and measured the solar wind, the constant streams of particles that flow away from the sun. His most important observation...
...lunar module and positioning the rover's camera to televise the liftoff, Duke and Young were to fire Orion's upper stage engine and head for a reunion with Mattingly, orbiting overhead in Casper. Later, Casper's own powerful engine would be fired to hurl the command ship out of lunar orbit and start the three astronauts on their three-day journey home...