Word: orbiteer
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...OAMS-Orbit Attitude Maneuvering System, the 16 rocket engines that control the movements of the Gemini...
White's exhilarating space stroll provided the moments of highest drama during Gemini 4's scheduled 62-orbit, 98-hour, 1,700,000-mile flight. White spent twice the time outside the spacecraft that Soviet Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov did last March 18, and he had much more maneuverability; all Leonov did was somersault around at the end of a tether, getting dizzy, while White moved around pretty much at will...
Watching It Go. Gemini 4's ascent went precisely according to plan: accelerating to 17,500 m.p.h., the spacecraft entered into an orbit that took it 175 miles high at apogee, 100 miles high at perigee. At 6 min. 6 sec. from liftoff, Command Pilot McDivitt set off a string of explosive bolts that set the capsule free from its second-stage booster. The booster dropped loose...
...from the very start, McDivitt had trouble staying within range of the booster. "I have been struggling here not to let it get too far from me," he told Houston Control shortly after the booster fell away. McDivitt manipulated the capsule's Orbit Attitude Maneuver ing System (OAMS) comprised of 16 rocket engines mounted about the cap sule to allow changes in altitude and direction. The fuel supply for OAMS was separate from the crucial fuel cache McDivitt would need to fire the retrorockets for his return to earth later...
...craft headed over Mexico to ward the end of its first orbit. The ship's OAMS fuel supply had gone from 410 Ibs. to 228 Ibs. in the hide-and-seek game with the booster. Director Kraft told McDivitt to take it easy on the fuel in chasing the errant booster. The astronaut replied: "It's out farther than we expected." A little later he asked Houston, "Do you want a major effort to close with this thing or save the fuel?" The instant answer: save the fuel and forget about the booster. Resigned, McDivitt said, "I guess...