Word: earthness
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Columbia plunged to earth, its computerized guidance system took over and tilted the leading edge of the heat shield ever so slightly, to give the command ship more lift. That maneuver, a departure from the original flight plan, carried the craft 205 miles farther downrange to avoid a Pacific storm. A few moments later, swaying gently under its three bright orange and white chutes, Apollo 11 dropped into the Pacific nine miles away from the Hornet and only 1.7 miles off target...
Buoyed by the presence of human companions after 27 hours 47 minutes of solitude, Collins took over as Apollo's star performer. During a telecast to earth on the second night of the homeward voyage, Collins hammed it up by showing earthlings how someone could drink water in space. Turning a spoonful of water upside down, he left the globules eerily suspended in the gravity-free cabin. Then, like a trout snapping at a fly, he "captured" the drops with his mouth...
Although scientists are fairly certain that the moon supports no life, NASA has taken care to guard against lunar infection. During the homeward voyage, Columbia's environmental-control system circulated the air within the capsule more than 100 times, passing it through special filters. On earth, the precautions were equally stringent. Besides the astronauts, the only persons allowed in the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) were a doctor and an engineer. During the next three days, about all that relieved the tedium was a video-tape replay of the moon walk. The most interested viewer was Collins...
...decent home, a decent job, a decent school and a decent neighborhood. The moon walk is a majestic milestone of man's quest for the stars, and it is a dramatic reminder of how far we have yet to go in the heavens as well as here on earth...
...rocks -the largest was 7 in. long, 5 in. wide and 1½ in. thick-seemed to be covered by a fine, graphite-like powder. Their color was gray, tinged with a touch of cocoa. "This is the beginning of the study of lunar rocks on earth," said Robin Brett, one of the geologists. "To all scientists this is a very, very exciting time...