Word: falcon
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Next day, the third foray from the lunar lander Falcon provided more scientific treasures. Returning to a core tube that they had driven deep into the lunar surface and had been unable to extract. Scott and Irwin tried again. "Ready," said Scott as they hauled at the tube, "one . . . two . . . three . . . uhhh." After six minutes of struggle, the tube came out. "Nothing like a little P.T. [physical training] to start out the day," said Scott. His exercises were only beginning. Both men struggled for 20 minutes-uttering at least one audible obscenity-before they could separate the sections...
Brief Concern. Two hours after their liftoff, Scott and Irwin were reunited with their hardworking buddy. After passing the precious cargo of moon rocks into Endeavour and closing the hatch, Scott said wistfully: "The Falcon is back on its roost and going to sleep." In fact, it came to a thunderous end. After a brief flurry of concern because of a possible hatch leak, the astronauts cut loose the lunar module's ascent stage and sent it crashing back to the moon's surface 59 miles west of Hadley Base. Its impact jiggled all three of the nuclear...
...Falcon plunged toward the Apennines' 12,000-ft. peaks in a trajectory steeper (25°) than any moon lander before, Scott and Irwin barely displayed a trace of emotion. By the time they were 50 ft. from the surface, the dust kicked up by Falcon's engine was so thick that Scott could not see the landing site. Relying on instruments, Irwin counted: "Ten feet . . . eight feet . . ." Then Scott cut in: "Contact." On Falcon's instrument panel, a blue light flashed. Said Scott: "The Falcon is on the plain at Hadley...
Scott had set down the spacecraft about 400 ft. northeast of the target. An hour and a half later, Scott donned his suit and poked his head out of Falcon's top hatch. "Oh, boy, what a view," he shouted, and he proceeded to name the features he had so carefully studied on earth. Scott's descriptions were so detailed that NASA Geophysicist Robin Brett said he performed as well as a professional geologist...
...time lags, Fendell could not afford to look at the TV monitor himself. He had to go completely by the clock. At exactly T-minus-zero, Fendell had to begin tilting the camera upward. Thus, by the time his command reached the moon, the camera would-he hoped-follow Falcon's ascent stage until it drifted off the tube. Then, in order to bring it back into sight, Fendell would have to press an-other button precisely two seconds after liftoff, ordering the camera to pull back to a wide-angle view. Noting NASA's -and the public...