Word: gemini
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...despite bouts of trouble with thrusters and fuel cells-splashed down only 7.6 miles from their planned impact point, winning a bet made with Schirra and Stafford that they would land closest to the target. There was one notable difference. After a 330-hour, 5.7 million-mile journey, the Gemini 7 astronauts were understandably anxious to leave their cramped quarters as soon as possible. Shortly after they opened their hatches, they were hoisted aboard a helicopter and flown to the deck of the Wasp. Though few would have been surprised if Borman and Lovell had found it difficult to unbend...
Spirit of 76. NASA's timetable calls for the first U.S. astronauts to explore the moon within four years, a goal that has always seemed unduly optimistic-by almost any standards. But Gemini's "Spirit of 76" mission last week dispelled most doubts. It brought the elusive moon into reach, and gave U.S. astronauts good reason to start planning still more ambitious voyages, as hostile space began to show the first small signs of hospitality...
...Return to earth after their demanding ordeal in space was obviously a relief for the travel-jaded astronauts. But for them, as for Schirra and Stafford, the biggest moment had already passed. That was the historic instant when the two space capsules eased into sight of each other. For Gemini 7, it marked the end of a long loneliness; for Gemini 6, it meant the end of a long period of misfortune. Until then, its mission had seemed dogged by failure...
...October, when an Agena rendezvous rocket "backfired" and disintegrated in space, Schirra and Stafford were left sitting in Gemini 6 atop a Titan II on a Cape Kennedy launch pad. They were all dressed up with no place to go. Last week their first attempt to launch was frustrated when a monitoring-cable plug was accidentally jarred loose from the Titan II's tail, causing an automatic shutdown of its engines only two seconds before liftoff. Later investigation disclosed that the engines would have shut down anyway-on either of the first two launching attempts. Workmen had forgotten...
...Delicate Balance. On the day of the successful rendezvous, however, the fog that had shrouded Cape Kennedy during the night-and the cloud that had hovered over Gemini 6 even longer -suddenly blew away. "For the third time, go," exulted Schirra just before the Titan II left the pad in a launch that was as close to perfect as any in all the Cape's history...