Word: orbiter
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...three-stage Douglas Delta rocket that rose above Cape Kennedy last week tossed its 85-lb. payload into a high elliptical orbit with neat precision. Early Bird, first satellite to be sent aloft by Comsat (Communications Satellite Corp.), climbed as high as 22,300 miles above the earth, then curved down as low as 776 miles. When this original orbit had been analyzed and Early Bird was at an apogee, a signal from the earth fired a small rocket motor to give just enough extra speed to put the satellite into a circular orbit that matched the earth...
Early Bird gets its electric power from 6,000 solar cells; its orbit is so far from the earth that the earth's shadow seldom forces it to depend on storage batteries. Its electronic equipment will pick up radio-telephone and TV signals from earth, amplify them and transmit them back to earth far beyond their normal range...
...either case, the 85-lb. Early Bird is destined for a high orbit (22,300 miles above the Atlantic at the equator), will eventually transmit TV broadcasts and telephone messages between Europe and North America. Within 40 hours after launch, it is scheduled to be in position, orbiting at the same speed as the earth's rotation and thus, in effect, providing a stationary relay station in space. After several days of testing, it will beam a series of international telecasts. Then its 240 two-way voice channels will be switched on for telephone calls-Comsat's first...
...Flying" his ship with brief bursts of energy from the appropriate rockets, Capsule Commander Grissom brought it absolutely level. Then he fired two forward-pointing rockets for precisely 73 seconds. Molly slowed down; the apogee of her orbit dropped by 34 miles. The spacecraft was now on an almost circular course...
...into space. Computers carefully checked out all Gemini's systems before the launch, kept precise track of the spacecraft's position in the heavens at every moment, plotted trajectories and issued precise commands to the astronauts. On their detailed instructions, the astronauts made the first change of orbit ever achieved in flight; computers not only designed the new orbit, but also told the command pilot at what time and for how long he should fire his thrusters to achieve...