Word: orbital
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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That after-image haunted all Americans, in a week that brought successes for their nation almost everywhere save in the unillumined corners of its own big cities. The U.S. could look proudly to the skies, where the Gemini 5 capsule whirled in orbit; to far-off Viet Nam, where raw young marines scored the war's most notable victory against a well-entrenched, battle-seasoned Viet Cong force; to their own boundless farm lands, where record crops were ripening...
...nest of trouble that had postponed the flight for two days. Fuel cells running low on fuel, liquid hydrogen boiling uselessly away, telemetering equipment turned suddenly unreliable, fire near the launch pad, thunderstorms aloft−all seemed problems of the past. Now everything was going well; Gemini's orbit was incredibly exact. "Everything is fine," reported Command Pilot Gordon Cooper. "You are go! You are go!" exulted Astronaut Jim McDivitt, capsule communicator in the Mission Control Center near Houston...
...Pressure. At 56 minutes after launch, Cooper began the mission's first important maneuver. By firing his aft thrusters at just the right moment for just the right length of time, he gave his craft a "kick in the apogee" and moved it into an even more precise orbit. Curving between 107 and 217 miles above the earth, Gemini was now ready for its next test: release of the 76-Ib. Radar Evaluation Pod (REP). Fitted with bright, flashing lights and radar transponders, the REP would be an orbiting target for a carefully planned attempt to check the techniques...
...untried in orbit, fuel cells were installed in Gemini 5 because they were smaller and lighter than the conventional batteries used on all previous space flights. Unlike conventional batteries, they can supply electricity for as long as they are fed their fuel−an ideal trait for long-duration power supplies. They produce electricity through the continuous chemical reaction of oxygen and hydrogen, and in the process they form water, a most valuable byproduct...
...only did the trouble-plagued Pratt & Whitney hydrogen engines take full charge in flight, but the guidance for the General Dynamics rocket sys tem checked out perfectly. Centaur soared into an orbit that was so exact that had Surveyor carried the proper equipment, it could have made a slight mid-course correction and been on its way to the moon...