Word: orbiteer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...boom in Georgia, the U.S. space program ran afoul of a fizzle in Florida. At Cape Kennedy the three liquid-fuel motors of an Atlas-Centaur rocket ignited on schedule, but the missile that was supposed to toss a dummy Surveyor (soft-landing vehicle) to the moon's orbit, climbed only a few feet before a valve misfunctioned and the rocket fell back on its pad. Thin-walled fuel tanks ruptured, and more than 100 tons of liquid oxygen and kerosene burst into flames. The hydrogen-burning second stage added tons of liquid hydrogen to the holocaust...
...west, last week mounted a considerable effort to show off its growing economic strength. The Leipzig Trade Fair, celebrating its 800th anniversary, attracted an alltime-high 10,300 exhibitors, including thousands from 75 nations. The outsiders tended to agree that the most Stalinistic satellite in the Soviet orbit lately has made progress of sorts. The East Germans displayed and sold their own well-wrought machine tools, electronic devices and office equipment; they reached into their foreign-exchange reserve to order millions of dollars' worth of British trucks and a West German chemical plant. They also announced the signing...
...week of intense activity. First rocket off the pad was a giant Saturn, its eight-engined booster still the most powerful the U.S. has ever aimed at space. With deceptive ease it ignited, accelerated and climbed out of sight. A few minutes later, the second stage blasted into orbit. Sizable pieces, which are dummy Apollo parts, detached themselves and moved away, leaving a curious folded apparatus exposed to space. Slowly that great gadget expanded its accordion pleats and flattened into a shiny aluminum wing for the Pegasus of the 20th century...
Correct Correction. The first step toward a precision Ranger shot is to put the spacecraft on a parking orbit around the earth. That orbit is then analyzed by computers; the spacecraft's altitude, speed and direction must be measured with infinite care, for the next burst of power must boost the spacecraft through an imaginary target 120 miles above the earth and only ten miles in diameter. Only then can a mid-course correction of trajectory put the spacecraft inside the selected area...
...study the effects of such a long period of weightlessness on humans. Plans also call for the men to release a "pod" with a flashing light, and to practice maneuvering their craft around the pod to get the hang of making a rendezvous with another space vehicle. While in orbit, the astronauts are expected to open a hatch and lean out into space; one of them may actually step out altogether...