Word: lunik
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...Lunik III rounded the moon and this week started its slow turn back toward the earth, just as the Russians said it would...
...Russian space vehicle skimmed past the moon at a distance of 4,300 miles, then moved on into space, gradually slowing down. As it passed. Lunik III was deflected by the moon's gravity, which made it veer in the moon's direction, like a child swinging on a gatepost. But the tug was not enough to make it curve sharply and start right back. Instead, it swung out 67,000 miles beyond the moon's orbit (and 292,000 miles from the earth); then it started slowly back. By this time the moon, traveling...
Britain's radio telescope at Jodrell Bank followed Lunik III while it was flirting with the moon, but one of Lunik's tracking transmitters (39 mc) had apparently gone dead, and the other one (183 mc) was working erratically. The signal stopped entirely for about four minutes. This break might have indicated the moment when Lunik III briefly dipped behind the edge of the moon, but the Jodrell Bank scientists could not be sure whether it passed ahead, behind or under the moon. Since the far side of the moon was mostly in sunlight, Lunik may have photographed...
...Russians predicted that Lunik would swing back toward the earth, passing 25,000 miles away (v. 26,400 miles maximum for the U.S.'s paddle-wheel satellite.) Then it will revolve around the earth for an indefinite period, moving out beyond the moon's orbit in a long ellipse and taking about 15 days to complete a full circuit. The plane of its ellipse is not the same as that of the moon's orbit but is nearly perpendicular...
...judge by their achievements, Russian space vehicles must be packed with gadgetry that is just as good, perhaps better. The Russians' guidance systems perform well, their radios work fine. So do their instruments, which have made important scientific discoveries deep in space, such as proof by Lunik II that the moon has no magnetic field. If Lunik III should round the moon and bring back pictures, or even nonpictorial data, about the mysterious far side, the U.S. would have to admit that the Russians are far ahead, not only in power or in sophistication of instruments...