Word: gilruth
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...time the first U.S. astronaut starts his 4½-hour trip around the earth, Project Mercury will have cost at least $350 million. Explains Mercury's Robert R. Gilruth: "We had to go with the boosters we had, built around the Atlas system. So everything had to be miniaturized, even the heat shield. We couldn't use off-the-shelf equipment. Miniaturization takes time and money." Design of a special lightweight oxygen bottle, for instance, took 18 weeks, cost more than $20,000. The Russians, whose rockets generate an estimated 800,000 Ibs. of thrust (v. Atlas...