Word: lunar
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...initial launching atop a rocket brimful of explosive propellants, to the final splashdown in rolling seas. Perhaps most perilous of all were the maneuvers near and on the moon-if only because they had never before been attempted. As the mission reached its climactic moments and Eagle, the lunar module, was curving down to within a few miles of the moon, Eagle's computer reported: "Program alarm." Eagle's on-board computer was being asked to make too many calculations in the frenetic moments before touchdown. It had begun to balk at having to track Columbia while also...
...long after Eagle's successful touchdown, the Soviet space vehicle Luna 15 met with a less fortunate fate. The unmanned ship dropped from her lunar orbit and headed for the moon's surface. Telemetered data picked up by Western observatories indicated that Luna had hit too hard to survive. To most space experts, the failure was one more proof that the Russians are months if not years behind the U.S. in space technology...
...squat, 172-Ib. ascent engine had been test-fired more than 3,000 times, but this was no test. Houston radioed: "You're cleared for takeoff." Replied Aldrin: "Roger, understand. We're No. 1 on the runway." Seconds later, tension dissolved; Eagle was airborne, headed into a lunar orbit. Within four hours, the module had rendezvoused and docked with Columbia on the far side of the moon. Then Armstrong and Aldrin left the LM so quickly that ground controllers, caught by surprise, sounded a bit put out. "You beat us to the punch," groused Mission Control...
Although scientists are fairly certain that the moon supports no life, NASA has taken care to guard against lunar infection. During the homeward voyage, Columbia's environmental-control system circulated the air within the capsule more than 100 times, passing it through special filters. On earth, the precautions were equally stringent. Besides the astronauts, the only persons allowed in the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) were a doctor and an engineer. During the next three days, about all that relieved the tedium was a video-tape replay of the moon walk. The most interested viewer was Collins...
...Hornet arrived at Pearl Harbor, the van was hauled by helicopter to nearby Hickam Air Force Base, flown by an Air Force C-141 transport to Houston, then trundled on the flatbed of a diesel truck to the Space Center. There the astronauts were transferred to the $15 million Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) that was built especially for men returning from the moon. Its provisions for recreation include a lounge for cards, a game room with pool table and exercising equipment, and a film library (Goodbye, Columbus, Romeo and Juliet). But until their quarantine ends, the astronauts can speak...