Word: mooned
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...minutes and 50 seconds away from time of loss of signal," Commentator John McLeaish reported, as Apollo began to curve around the back side of the moon, where its radio communication with earth would be blocked. "Here in mission control we're standing by with certainly a great deal of anxiety at this moment...
Then, after a terse "Roger" from Borman, all was silent. Apollo would be behind the moon and out of contact for 45 minutes. Until it emerged, no one on earth would know if the SPS engine had fired on schedule (25 minutes after LOS) or fired long enough to place the craft in orbit. Too short a burn, the controllers knew, could send Apollo smashing into the moon. But there was another problem that caused concern on the ground. Apollo's third-stage S-4B rocket, jettisoned shortly after it pushed the spacecraft out of earth orbit and toward...
...Good to hear your voice," said Astronaut Lovell, breaking the long silence after Apollo had emerged from behind the moon. Wild cheering filled the control room. Says Flight Director Glynn Lunney: "It certainly wasn't a faint reaction. There was quite a bit of racket. I'm sure it can be described as one of the happiest Christmas Eves just about anyone there had seen...
Once safely in orbit, the astronauts had their work cut out for them. During their second revolution of the moon, they briefly fired their SPS engine to change their orbit from a 70-by-194-mile-high ellipse to a near-perfect 70-mile circle. Using an assortment of cameras, they shot color and black-and-white movie and still pictures of the lunar landscape and of the distant earth. Firing their 100-lb.-thrust control jets, they continually changed the attitude of the spacecraft so that its four-dish, high-gain TV and radio antenna remained pointed directly...
Lovell reported that the earth's waters were different shades of deep blue, the land areas different tones of brown, the clouds white, and the total reflection of light much greater than from the moon. "What I keep imagining is that I am some lonely traveler from an other planet. What would I think about the earth at this altitude? Whether I think it would be inhabited...