Word: moone
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory control center in Pasadena, the difficult task of nursing Surveyor to a point 60 miles above the moon's surface was far less harrowing than the final phase of the trip. For in the long moments of the last drop, Surveyor's own computers and radar were issuing the necessary orders. And back on earth, 230,930 miles away, the craft's creators could do no more-no more than pray that their design and pre-launch calculations were all correct...
Cushioning the Jolt. They were, Small vernier rockets near each of the craft's three legs fired to stabilize the spacecraft in a base-down attitude. When the radar sensed that Surveyor was precisely 52 miles above the moon, it fired a powerful, solid-fuel retrorocket that slowed the craft from 5,840 m.p.h. to only 267 m.p.h. in 40 seconds...
...further reducing speed, stabilizing and gently guiding Surveyor along the proper trajectory toward its impact point. When it was 13 ft. above the lunar surface and descending at 3.3 m.p.h., the 620-lb. Surveyor shut down its verniers and fell the remaining distance. It struck the moon no harder than a parachutist hits the earth. And even this relatively small jolt was cushioned by hydraulic shock absorbers and crushable aluminum pads under Surveyor's legs and body...
...telemetry confirmed that the landing was proceeding according to plan, scientists and spectators at the JPL control center first stared in apparent disbelief. They were well aware that the Russians had failed at least four times before landing an instrument package intact on the moon and that the first seven of the ten planned Surveyor shots had been designated "engineering flights"-a tacit admission that U.S. scientists expected many failures before a successful soft landing was achieved. But when telemetry continued after impact-evidence that Surveyor had survived the landing-disbelief gave way to wild cheering. Half an hour later...
...last week, the clouds over Surveyor all seemed to dissipate. The Atlas-Centaur rocket that hurled Surveyor toward the moon was only one second late in leaving the pad; it followed a near-perfect trajectory that would have placed Surveyor only 250 miles from its target on the moon. The mid-course correction was so accurate that Surveyor actually scored an effective bull's-eye. Only one "glitch" marred the performance: one of Surveyor's two antennas failed to extend fully after the craft left the earth's atmosphere. But even this problem corrected itself. When Surveyor...