Word: fueled
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...automatic positioning equipment. He spent all but a few minutes of his five hours aloft "flying" his spaceship by hand, changing its attitude while in orbit with squirts of peroxide steam, at one point using two systems at once. As a result, he all but ran out of fuel, almost fouled up the delicate business of re-entry into the earth's atmosphere (TIME, June 1). Even so, he managed to keep remarkably busy at other things; he completed a surprising number of experiments designed to help future astronauts to study the tricks and tribulations they will have...
...When the astronaut moves the stick, steam blasts through selected jets to give the capsule the desired turning motion. Once it starts turning in frictionless space, it continues to turn, and it cannot be stopped without using more peroxide. Vigorous use of the manual system will quickly empty its fuel tank...
Slower but more economical of fuel, the automatic control system keeps the capsule's attitude steady without pilot attention. It has infrared horizon scanners that watch the boundary between the earth's warm curve and the cold sky and use this information to correct a set of gyroscopes. The gyros in turn control a set of jets, shooting small spurts of peroxide through them whenever necessary. If the capsule has been turned away from the horizontal attitude, the busy little scanners and gyros will turn it back again at 8° per minute. This is fast enough...
...third system at the astronaut's disposal, fly-by-wire, uses the jets and fuel supply of the automatic system, but is controlled by the hand stick. Instead of opening the peroxide valves directly, fly-by-wire works them through a set of electrical actuators. It is faster than automatic and smoother than manual control, but if it is used impatiently, it quickly drains the fuel of the automatic system...
...thank God' or two." "Roger"-And Out. But the damage was done. By firing the retros too late at too shallow an angle, Carpenter had foredoomed his capsule to land far out of the target area. There was another danger: Carpenter's manual fuel tank was empty, and his automatic tank was only 15% full. He might not be able to hold the capsule steady in its plunge back down through the earth's atmosphere. If the capsule tumbled, Scott Carpenter would perish in flames...