Word: lunik
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Lunik II undoubtedly blasted a crater, which Kuiper estimates as about 100 ft. in diameter with walls 10 ft. high. If such a crater happened to be in a smooth place, it should be detectable by a powerful telescope, under ideal conditions, as a faint bright spot. If the Lunik crater were inside a big crater or in a jumble of craters, it would probably not be visible...
There were skeptics who questioned whether Lunik got to the moon at all. Since the only tangible evidence of a hit was the sudden stopping of its radio signals, the Russians might have set the signals to turn off automatically at a predetermined time while Lunik II soared on past the moon (as Lunik...
British radio astronomers do not think this deception was possible. With the giant Jodrell Bank radio telescope, they measured Lunik II's slowly decreasing speed as it climbed through the earth's gravitational field. Then they watched it speed up about 50% as the moon's modest gravity took control. Mathematical analysis showed that Lunik II followed the proper curve to crash near the center of the lunar disk...
...Vanguard was a typical product of U.S. space technology: a small, sophisticated bird strained to the utmost to achieve its purpose. The thrust of its first-stage rocket was only 27,000 Ibs. (v. Lunik's estimated 800,000 Ibs.), and everything in the upper stages had to be meticulously miniaturized to save tiny bits of weight. Its intricately instrumented satellite will send down valuable data from space, perhaps more than the Russians get with their comparative giants, but the U.S. will not match the Russian achievements in bulk or accuracy until a new generation of bigger rockets reaches...
...their first stage. Highest U.S. hopes are pinned at present on an Atlas-boosted job intended to whip around the moon and transmit a picture of its mysterious backside-a feat considerably more difficult than simply hitting it. Its timing may not be so good as that of Lunik II, which hit the moon just before Khrushchev's arrival in the U.S. (just a lucky break, said Khrushchev). But the U.S. moon shot's target date is early October-just before President Eisenhower is scheduled to visit Russia...