Word: lm
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...rock-strewn region that scientists believe was formed by a huge landslide from the upper slopes of that mountain billions of years ago. Scientists hope that the rocks consist largely of highland material far older than the relatively young rock of the valley floor. En route back to the LM, the astronauts will stop at a 300-ft.-wide crater called Shorty, which may yield entirely different material: deep-lying rock that was either ejected by a meteor impact or a volcanic eruption that occurred after the landslide covered the area...
...first truly scientific expedition to the moon. The lunar module Falcon has been packed with 2,500 Ibs. of added scientific and life-support equipment. The two moon walkers, Flight Commander David R. Scott, 39, a veteran of the earth-orbiting flights of Gemini 8 and Apollo 9, and LM Pilot James B. Irwin, 41, a rookie, have had such a heavy dose of geology training that NASA's usually critical scientists say that the astronauts are ready to go for their Ph.D.s. Even the third member of the all-Air Force crew, Alfred M. Worden, 39, who also...
...batteries of Antares' ascent stage, which would take the astronauts off the moon. The reading was only three-tenths of a volt lower than normal; yet mission controllers felt that it might be a sign of more serious trouble-a leakage in the LM's critical electrical circuitry, for example. That too could have barred a moon landing. Happily, a subsequent check by Mitchell, who holds a doctorate in astronautics from M.I.T., showed that the battery had suffered no further deterioration. Vastly relieved, Apollo Program Director Rocco Petrone said in Houston: "We haven't seen anything...
Exasperated, Mission Control radioed one more suggestion. Roosa was told to close in slowly on the LM, then fire his small control rockets, or thrusters, to give the command ship a sudden forward jolt. Simultaneously, he was to retract the recalcitrant probe. That way, he could eliminate the nonworking piece of equipment from the operation; the astronauts would rely instead on the two mated collars on each ship to make a so-called "hard" dock. Not only did the two collars lock, but the balky latches also sprang loose and caught...
...next maneuver was particularly critical. When the earth and moon were in proper alignment, Luna 16's upper-stage rocket was ignited, hurtling the 900-to-1,000-lb. package into an arcing trajectory back toward earth. The lower stage, a four-legged vehicle vaguely resembling the LM's descent stage, remained behind and continued to take temperature and radiation readings. What made the blast-off procedure so important was that Russian designers-probably because of severe weight restrictions made necessary by the limited thrust of their booster rocket-had apparently not built into the spacecraft any capability...