Word: orbiteer
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...easy to see why. After all, the shuttle is simply a glorified tow-truck, carting satellites into space. The shuttle was never meant to be exciting--it was designed as a less expensive method for placing military and communications satellites in orbit...
...shuttle may serve some auxiliary role in the space program, but the thrust of the program should be to further scientific knowledge of space. Even sending astronauts beyond earth orbit would be a welcome break from the cargo-hauler routine of the shuttle, for it would at least appeal to the imaginatior of the average person. Clearly, however the greatest scientific returns come from increased use of spacecraft. Although the shuttle is back in service, the United States still lacks a successful space program...
...heavy black lines, elemental colors and vigorous figures, Byron Barton follows the exploits of a futuristic young traveler who says I Want to Be an Astronaut (Crowell; $12.89). All the experiences are cataloged and exhibited: zero gravity, concentrated meals, a space walk, even the building of a factory in orbit. Once upon a time such adventures seemed the stuff of daydreams. This user-friendly manual makes them not only plausible but likely...
Just how destabilizing such systems could be was illustrated last week when the Army conceded that SDI could severely threaten the Soviet Union's satellite system. Both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. depend heavily on low-orbit satellites for military intelligence, navigation and communications. The Star Wars antimissile weapons, sitting in space, could easily be turned against Soviet satellites traveling in predictable orbits. Such a prospect is as unacceptable to the Soviets as it would be to the U.S. Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara describes SDI as so destabilizing that he believes the Soviets would "be justified in shooting...
...space shuttle reflects these tendencies; of the next seven missions, three are secret military shots and two are for the investigation of Jupiter and Venus. One cannot deny the prudence of orbital reconnaissance or the nobility of interplanetary research, but our recent record in putting up communication satellites is not a good one, nor has our progress toward performing significant technological research in orbit been very swift. The shuttle itself may not be the optimal vehicle when war is no longer a significant threat. As James Bamford, author of "The Puzzle Palace" noted in Monday's Christian Science Monitor, "Nobody...