Word: orbiter
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Before the three astrophysicists try catching a black hole by the tail to orbit around the earth [April 1], they had better try using the black holes they seem to have in their heads...
Assume that they could do the impossible and get the thing into orbit between the earth and the moon. In the vacuum of space, what would the tremendous pulling power of the black hole do to the moon and its effects on our tides? What if the black hole crashed into the earth's surface because of the pull of the earth's gravity? If they tamper with the forces of nature in space, they might destroy...
...What a fascinating story! Imagine catching a virus-sized black hole [April 1], placing it in orbit over the earth, and then drawing from it the energy to serve all of mankind's needs for the foreseeable future. Great, but it won't work. After it is in place and operating, here is what will happen...
Florida's briny ocean winds ceaselessly whine through the deserted tower on Cape Canaveral's Pad 14, where John Glenn rocketed into space on Feb. 20, 1962, to become the first American to orbit the earth. The spindly tower sways under the gusts, and bits of rusting steel are flecked into the jumble of weeds and decaying cables entwined around its feet...
Beyond next year's mission lies the $5.1 billion U.S. space shuttle-a recoverable crossbreed of spacecraft and airplane designed to ferry men, equipment and satellites back and forth between earth and orbit. One of the few signs of future activity at Canaveral is the line of surveyor stakes laid out for a new three-mile runway to land the shuttle on its returns to earth. But the first shuttle is not expected to be launched until around 1979-an eon away in spacemen's terms. Meanwhile, the hulking, $117 million Vehicle Assembly Building, which covers eight acres...