Word: orbit
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Though cordiality has returned to Indonesia's relations with the West, no one should imagine that Indonesia has become a cold-war ally. The Suharto regime is basically nationalistic, and intends to maintain strict neutrality between West and East. "It is hoped that America will not try to orbit us as an American satellite," Suharto said last week. That bit of Indonesian humor could be accepted with grace by the U.S., which, of course, has no need to try any such orbiting. Indonesia's dramatic new stance needs no additional push to make it more than what...
...SAMs were fired at U.S. planes last week, including a record 16 on a single day. All missed, thanks to a highly sophisticated defense-part electronic trickery, part "jinking" (violent evasive maneuvers)-used by U.S. pilots. When a mission goes in, radar-rigged C121 Constellations, called "the Big Eyes," orbit off the Tonkin coast, able to pick up a missile launch at the moment of ignition. The Big Eyes flash an instantaneous radio warning to the fighter-bomber pilots, who wrench into tight turns and deep dives that the SAMs cannot follow...
Liquid hydrogen is the most effective rocket fuel ever developed. Some 40% more powerful than the kerosene fuel used in the Saturn booster, it will place the Apollo spacecraft in earth orbit, then be used again in the same flight to hurl the spaceship toward the moon. The trouble is, its virtues are not bought cheaply. Its extreme volatility and the - 423° F. temperature necessary to keep it in liquid form make it difficult to deal with both on the ground and in space. NASA spacemen had theorized that once weightless in orbit, liquid hydrogen would scatter around...
...Question. Under such conditions, how could an engine in orbit be restarted for a flight to the moon? Engineers speculated that if an Apollo vehicle were accelerated slightly, the inertia of the liquid hydrogen would force it toward the bottom of the tank. To provide that acceleration, they installed controllable, backward-pointing vents at the top of the SIV B's fuel tanks. They hoped that the gases gradually produced by the evaporating liquid fuel and oxidizer could be released into space to provide slight thrust and acceleration...
...aloft, the TV screens at the Houston control center showed the liquid hydrogen settled and calm on the bottom of the tank, its surface barely rippling. After the first stage had dropped away and the SIV B's engine was fired to insert it into orbit, the level of the liquid hydrogen could be seen dropping rapidly as fuel was consumed in the combustion chamber...