Word: orbital
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...decade runs out, no longer seemed a fanciful goal for overambitious scientists. From the scorched launching pads of Cape Kennedy to the lonely tracking ships in the Pacific, Gemini had pumped new life into U.S. space work. And a public grown almost blasé about news of men in orbit waited for the astronauts' return with singular pride...
Higher in Orbit. The Gemini 7 astronauts chalked up some other, more significant firsts. Once in orbit, they fired thrusters to turn Gemini and adjust its velocity, then flew in formation with their detached, third-stage booster for 16 minutes. By aligning the spacecraft with setting stars on the earth's horizon, they were able to navigate precisely without aid from computers on the ground. They were also able to track the first three minutes of the spectacular flight of a Polaris missile as it was fired from beneath the Atlan tic by the nuclear submarine Benjamin Franklin...
Late in the week, when accelerated preparations at Cape Kennedy all but guaranteed that Gemini 6 and Astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford would be ready to blast off by Sunday, Gemini 7 was ordered into a new orbit...
Because these violent outbursts never occur at the same point on the planet's eccentric orbit, some astronomers have suggested that they are caused by the erratic release of internal heat. This would indicate that Jupiter is behaving like a star as well as a planet-radiating not only energy absorbed from the sun but also giving off heat generated in its own interior. Jupiter's split personality has now been confirmed by a University of Arizona astronomer...
...Space Administration officials the opportunity to launch 6 and 7 nine days apart in an attempt to achieve the first meeting of manned craft in space. The challenge was to compress the normal launch preparation time so that Gemini 6 could go up while Gemini 7 was still in orbit...