Word: orbit
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...lights that Everhart considered needlessly bright, he complained that the glow they cast in the night sky interfered with celestial observations. But even Hartford's street lights paled into insignificance when Everhart got wind of Project Able-a little-publicized NASA and Defense Department project to put into orbit mirror-like satellites that would reflect the sun and illuminate large areas of earth at night...
...NASA has suggested that such nighttime illumination would be useful in search-and-rescue work, in spacecraft-recovery operations and in lengthening short winter days at high latitudes. But its spokesmen have carefully avoided discussing another obvious application: military use in Viet Nam. A single mirror satellite in synchronous orbit over Southeast Asia could cast light on an area stretching from Saigon all the way to Pointe de Camau, at the southern tip of Viet Nam, thus depriving guerrillas of the protection of darkness...
Kettering's senior physics master, Geoffrey Perry, began to suspect the existence of a new Russian launch site last March after his teen-age students recorded signals from the newly launched Cosmos 112 reconnaissance satellite and plotted its orbit. Instead of being inclined to the equator at 65°-the inclination angle of earlier Cosmos orbits-112's orbital path had an angle of 72°. Also, the satellite had been launched at a later time of day than previous Cosmos shots and had returned to earth after 122 revolutions, instead of the usual 124. In a letter...
Chuckles While Sipping. Astérix appears in a syndicated strip in 15 magazines, but his influence is vastly wider. The first French satellite launched into orbit was nicknamed Astérix. This year, French children are asking Père Noël for the Astérix costumes, dolls and masks that are being sold all over the country. Huge papier-mâché models of the little warrior and his blimpish, pigtailed companion Obélix stare down from Christmas displays in department stores. More than 3,600,000 copies of eight hard-cover...
...simulate fires in orbit, the scientists loaded test chambers containing high concentrations of oxygen into KC-135 jet transports and flew them through parabolic arcs, creating 30 seconds of zero gravity during each maneuver. In the brief period of weightlessness, they ignited a variety of materials within the test chambers and took color movies of the results. Though the fires lit up promptly, the flames began to die down within 1½ seconds; they simply smoldered or went out completely during the remaining period of weightlessness. Scientists estimated that the burning rates of test materials were reduced by as much...