Word: drag
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...options are limited. On June 20, NASA's team members used up precious bursts of the spacecraft's dwindling propellant to turn its nose horizontally by 90° and into a sideways position, which exerts increased drag against its forward movement. That change gave NASA its best chance of some final control. Explained Cindy Major, 27, one of the Houston monitors: "There is more pressure now because the attitude of the spacecraft is more sensitive. There is no room for error...
...decision is to be made when Skylab falls to a height of about 90 miles above earth, some twelve hours before estimated reentry. At that point the controllers could use some of the 6,000 remaining pounds of fuel to rotate the craft into various nose-forward, "low drag" positions, in the hope that this would prolong Skylab's life by anywhere from one to five more orbits. By contrast, a second option would be to send the vehicle into an early tumble, which would cut from one to three orbits from its natural, uncontrolled reentry. A third option would...
...craft's death. Russian scientists as well as America's own National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted considerable solar disturbances, including great magnetic storms and solar flares. When they erupted in 1977 and 1978, they warmed the gases in the earth's outer atmosphere, increasing the drag on Skylab. Never fully powered because of its lost solar wing and failing batteries, the craft began to slip ever closer to earth...
...with his inlaw, he soon becomes his unwitting accomplice. What follows is a nonstop series of shootouts, chase scenes and mishaps that catapult the heroes from suburban New Jersey to Manhattan's treacherous West 30s and finally to a banana republic so corrupt that its main drag is called United Fruit Boulevard. There are encounters with the daredevil Chinese pilots of Wong Airlines, a mad Latin dictator (Richard Libertini) and a full symphony orchestra conducted by Carmen Dragon...
...result is a knock-down, drag-out success, at least as long as the non-stop beat blasts away on the first side of the disc. In the title track, Gordon's band, the Wildcats, lays down a tight boogie rhythm and Gordon wails the praises of a lively nightclub on the edge of town. No one has heard the likes of his squeal in the choruses since Buddy Holly crooned "Peggy Sue" at the top of his throat...