Word: orbiteer
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...official Soviet announcement was a mixture of specific information and cagey reticence. "The launching was done," it said, "by means of a multistage rocket carrying an automatic interplanetary station. After reaching the necessary speed, the last stage of the rocket put the station into the required orbit...
...space jargon would probably substitute "moon probe" for "interplanetary station" (if U.S. space jargon had any right to set the terms) and "trajectory" for "orbit," but the Russians left no doubt this time about what they hoped their bird would do. "The orbit," they said, "will ensure the passage of the station near the moon and its flight around the moon. The station will pass at 10,000 kilometers (6,200-odd miles) from the moon, and after flying around it, will continue its movement to the vicinity of the earth...
Whipping around the moon and returning to the earth is considerably harder than hitting the moon, as Lunik II did. A little too much speed could toss the probe beyond the moon and into an orbit around the sun. Slightly bad aim or timing could make the probe crash into the moon. Even harder is putting an object into a permanent orbit around the moon, but the Russians apparently did not hope to do that-not this time...
...anybody's guess. It might burn up in the earth's atmosphere or miss it widely, shooting far beyond and returning again. It might make many different swings, perturbed by the influence of the moon. One thing was certain: it would not go into a permanent orbit around both earth and moon. The moon is relatively fast on its own orbit around the earth; by the time Lunik III swung back, the moon would have moved...
...Edward McCauley, U.S.A.F. (William Lundigan), sometimes seem tailored to the familiar serial formula: Will the expedition land successfully on the moon? Will the space tanker explode? Will the colonel get lost among the stars? But the action is always trimmed closely to expert predictions. The show should spin into orbit...