Word: orbit
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Tethered by Nylon. Mastering orbital mechanics, the physical laws that govern the motion of an orbiting satellite, will be even more difficult. When an astronaut is behind his Gemini capsule he cannot simply increase his speed to catch up with it. Increased speed will put him into a higher orbit, which will make him fall farther behind. To overtake his Gemini capsule, he will have to fire his downward and forward thrusters alternately until he edges close to his target...
Kick into Orbit. Sure that an experimental scramjet plane can be produced within six years, the Air Force has established a Scramjet Technology Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton and has already begun awarding scramjet research contracts to aerospace companies...
Another space mystery seemed close to solution last week. After painstaking analysis of hundreds of data-packed yards of magnetic tape, Air Force and NASA investigators offered a tentative explanation for the failure of an Agena rocket to soar into orbit as a target for the spacecraft Gemini 6. Looming unexpectedly out of the complex vocabulary of modern missilery, the Agena's trouble sounded as old-fashioned as a Model-T. The Agena's engine, said the scientific detectives, had backfired...
Then, 143 miles high and 541.9 miles downrange over the Atlantic, the Agena suddenly went silent. At the Houston control center, flight directors hunted desperately for their missing spacecraft, still hoping that there might be something in orbit for a Gemini rendezvous. But after a futile radar hunt, a technician at the Carnavon tracking station in Australia announced the end by moaning...
...next space mission, possibly in early December. Astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell will blast off in Gemini 7 for their planned 14-day endurance flight; eight to ten days later, Schirra and Stafford will go up in Gemini 6, rendezvous with Gemini 7 (but not dock), and then orbit the earth in formation. For all the difficulties involved in the mission, the major problems will be on the ground. NASA will have to work round the clock to prepare the Cape Kennedy launch pad for a second shot in such a short time, and the Navy must stand ready...