Word: gondolas
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...gondola. A carrier to the fringe of space. See NATIONAL AFFAIRS, Descent to the Future. high wrangler. Cambridge University term for a top mathematician. See BOOKS, Wrangler's World...
Blips & Survival. At .0615, Kittinger climbed onto a flat-bed truck and squeezed into a small gondola that was strung from a huge plastic balloon. Harnessed on his back was an elaborate instrument kit (14-channel tape recorder for voice, heartbeat and respiration rates, time blips, temperature, etc.). On his left wrist were a rear-view mirror, a small box with built-in altimeter and stopwatch, and a survival knife and scabbard. To one leg was strapped a tiny receiver-transmitter radio, and on his back were two parachutes and an alternate oxygen system...
Minutes later, Kittinger rose slowly in his gondola, "flying" his polyethylene balloon as expanding helium lifted it skyward. At each 5,000-ft. altitude mark, he checked by radio with ground-control technicians, monitored his instruments ("I certainly could not have died of boredom"). Then, at 0831, Kittinger checked his altimeter: 76,400 ft. An officer on the ground radioed the countdown: "Joe, it's X minus two minutes." Then: "X minus one minute...
...system consists of two soundproof and weatherproof corridors, red-carpeted and glass-enclosed, which extend from the terminal at plane-door level on a high, fixed base. First-class passengers enter a short jetwalk that leads to the plane's front door via a short gondola that slides to the door on a monorail. Other passengers walk a longer distance along a jet-walk that runs parallel to the plane, enter the rear door through a telescoping corridor that can be moved out to the door on wheels. Both devices are operated electrically from a console that can raise...
...hanging under it did not fire. The second Rockoon behaved in the same maddening way. On the theory that extreme cold at high altitude might have stopped the clockwork supposed to ignite the rockets, Van Allen heated cans of orange juice, snuggled them into the third Rockoon's gondola, and wrapped the whole business in insulation. The rocket fired...