Word: orbit
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...early warning against aerial attacks, estimates that some 3,800 pieces of junk are currently circling the earth.* Total weight of this space-age garbage: six tons. Two-thirds of the nuts, bolts, oxygen cylinders, broken solar panels, dead satellites, spent rocket boosters and other litter is in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles from the earth's surface, where it will remain indefinitely. One-third of the circling scrap is in low earth orbit, only 120 to 300 miles overhead...
...finale of the shuttle's eleventh and most ambitious mission was supposed to have taken place at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, site of the launch. But just as Shuttle Commander Bob Crippen and his crew prepared to descend from orbit and end their seven-day, more-than-2 million-mile flight, storm clouds began gathering near Cape Canaveral, complicating Challenger's descent. The California touchdown will force NASA to transport Challenger back across the U.S. to Florida and will add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of the mission. The trip across the continent...
...script for the mission was showy but simple. Its highlight was to be a free-floating walk in space to retrieve the ailing Solar Maximum Mission satellite (Solar Max). Sent aloft to monitor the sun's activity, Max broke down three years ago, after only ten months in orbit. Challenger's mission last week was to stop the rotation of Max, use the spacecraft's 50-ft. remote-controlled arm to lift the satellite into the ship's cargo bay, and set it back in orbit after repairs were made...
...curtain for the 106½ -orbit flight went up with a glitch-free liftoff. For the first tune, Challenger hurtled directly into orbit instead of making the conventional three-part ascent. The lineal climb was designed to save the craft's maneuvering rocket fuel for the tricky rendezvous with...
...last February's mission, to retrieve the crippled Max. His untethered ride seemed agonizingly slow. It took him 10 min. to traverse the 200 ft. from the open cargo bay across the reach of black vacuum. The short journey was historic: an unleashed spaceman going to work in orbit...