Word: orbiteer
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...ground controller was unmistakably clear to the astronauts "You are go for TLI ' All of the systems aboard their spacecraft and the attached S-4B rocket were operating perfectly, and nothing stood in the way of making the final thrust. As Apollo passed over Hawaii on its second orbit of the earth, the astronauts fired the S-4B engine It was a perfect burn The spacecraft increased its velocity from 17,400 to 24,200 m p h. The speed was enough to enable the spacecraft to escape from the earth's gravitation pull. At long last...
There was good reason for both exhilaration and apprehension. As they began their pioneering journey, Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders were pushed into space by a rocket that had never before been used in manned flight. Only minutes after they were propelled out of earth orbit toward the moon, they were farther than man has ever been from his home planet (the previous record of 850 miles was set by the US. Gemini 11 mission...
...clearly defined perils, and perhaps some uncharted ones as well, Power-or oxygen-supply failures so far from earth might well doom the astronauts. Failure of the key Service Propulsion System (SPS) at crucial junctures could send them crashing into the moon or leave them stranded in lunar orbit...
...HALF-HOUR after thrusting out from earth orbit toward the moon, the astronauts faced a test that was crucial to the first actual lunar landings. They successfully separated their spacecraft from the third-stage S-4B rocket, moved 50 feet ahead of it, then turned to inspect it. After sending the S-4B off into orbit around the sun, Apollo was to continue coasting toward the moon, firing its engine briefly only if a mid-course correction was needed to put the craft precisely on its path...
...Apollo was due to curve around the western edge of the moon at a speed of 5,720 m.p.h. Around 5 a.m., behind the moon and cut off from radio contact with earth, the astronauts were to fire Apollo's rocket to cut their speed and drop into orbit around the moon. Some 20 minutes later, they would emerge from behind the eastern edge of the moon and resume radio contact. At 7:30 a.m. and again at 9:31 p.m., they were scheduled to transmit live TV pictures of the lunar surface and of the earth, hanging like...