Word: liftoff
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...little to boast about in its manned space program. Last week finally brought some good news from Moscow. For the second time in three months, a two-man spaceship was successfully launched from the Baikonur space complex in Soviet Central Asia. Barely two hours after Soyuz 13's liftoff, Soviet officials took the unusual step of showing live television pictures of the rookie cosmonauts: Air Force Major Pytor Klimuk and Aviation Engineer Valentin Lebedev. That was a sure sign of renewed confidence among Soviet officials in the capability of their basic space vehicle...
...rendezvous with the orbiting space station. The cracks may have developed when the rocket's fuel tanks were filled, enormously increasing the weight on the fins. Exposed to Florida's salty air, the fins may have been weakened by corrosion. To avert a calamitous accident after liftoff, NASA officials ordered all the fins replaced with spares rushed in from the Saturn assembly facility at Michaud, La. Hopeful that the replacement would take only a few days, NASA rescheduled the launch...
Involved in the five-week program are twelve Air Force flight nurses (average age: 28). During the first two weeks, the subjects underwent testing on Ames' big centrifuges-whirling machines that simulate the increased gravitational forces experienced by astronauts on liftoff and reentry. Eight of the nurses were then given 14 days of total bed rest to approximate the effects of weightlessness (the other four nurses served as an ambulatory control). After a second test on the centrifuges in the last week of the experiment, the twelve women will be examined by doctors. Among other things, they want...
...needed to repair Skylab. The astronauts themselves practiced the various repair possibilities. Indeed, these activities continued until the very eve of last week's launch; so many new and untried procedures were involved that the command module was not fully loaded until four hours before Friday's liftoff...
Salyut was not the only source of problems for Russian rocketeers. Four weeks ago a giant Proton booster - the largest Soviet rocket - apparently failed during liftoff, sending its payload crashing into the Pacific off eastern Siberia. U.S. space observers believe that the cargo, destined for the moon, included an improved version of the highly successful Soviet lunar rover...