Word: missions
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Stung by the criticism, the President ordered a White House press release intended to cast doubt on the State Department statement. As it turned out, the presidential denial was a confirmation. It said that there has been "no change" in the "primary mission" of U.S. ground troops-that of guarding such installations as the Air Force at Danang. Of course, it continued, General Westmoreland is empowered to send U.S. combat units into battle, "if help is requested" by Vietnamese commanders...
...space, nearing the end of the 48th revolution around earth, its IBM computer went on the blink. Even though the computer was necessary to help the pilot guide the capsule back to earth with pinpoint accuracy, the failure caused no great alarm. At the Houston Control Center, Mission Director Christopher Kraft blamed "glitch"-a computer-age gremlin that causes an abrupt change in power, fouling up delicate circuits. Kraft turned to Astronaut John Young, who used a similar computer on the earlier Gemini 3 flight, asked if a swift kick might revive it. Said Young, "Yes, if everything else fails...
...McDivitt and White matter-of-factly gave 75 newsmen a rundown of their flight. Seated at a table covered with gold-colored cloth, McDivitt said he had trouble trying to rendezvous with the booster that had hurled the capsule into orbit. It was, he said, tumbling too much. Mission Director Kraft, noting that when McDivitt thought the booster was 400 ft. off, it was really 2,000 ft. away, said: "It's pretty hard to tell distances up there by eyeballing it." Next August's Gemini 5 flight, how ever, will have sophisticated radar for rendezvous exercises...
...space walk would be heard over live radio and TV, confessed that he was worried about "What do you say to 194 million people?" He decided to chat with McDivitt as if no body at all were listening. "What you heard," he said, "was two test pilots conducting their mission in the best manner possible...
...Houston and came up with the surprise he had promised the astronauts earlier, when he congratulated them by phone after their arrival aboard the Wasp. "I've been saving some little something for you," said the President at that time. Now, standing in front of Houston's Mission Control Center, he told Air Force Majors McDivitt and White that he was nominating them for promotions to lieutenant colonel. He also said he was nominating Gemini 3 Command Pilot Gus Grissom, who helped guide Gemini 4 from the ground, and Mercury Astronaut Gordon Cooper, who will fly Gemini...