Word: orbiter
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Advocates conjure up visions of death rays flashing across thousands of miles of space to zap Soviet missiles as they rise. Critics counter with derisive pictures of the most supersophisticated Star Wars weaponry foiled by something as simple as grains of beach sand scattered in orbit. Back and forth go the millions of words of argument that have been resounding since Ronald Reagan unveiled his Star Wars plan in 1983. But the essential question raised by all the debate can be put into just three words: Can it work...
...investigation of the alleged security breach. The shuttle's main cargo was a military intelligence satellite called a SIGINT (for "signals intelligence"), which is able to intercept electronic messages. The 6,000- lb. bird was to be spring-ejected from the shuttle, then rocket-propelled into a geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above the equator. The satellite will allow the U.S. to eavesdrop on traffic between Moscow and Soviet missile command centers. Using radar and infrared, the SIGINT will also be able to "see" Soviet launches. Said a U.S. military official: "Our country needs to have a better assessment...
...children: "I was using my loud voice." Instead she will display a compulsion for propriety at all costs. "Let's not talk about it any more," she exclaims. "It's a holiday!" And on holiday, Sternhagen's trill ascends to a wail, and she practically flutters into orbit over her brood...
...stations. Earlier rocket-launched versions weighed a little more than a ton. The shuttle, with its greater thrust and ample cargo bay, permits the U.S. to launch a satellite three times as large and boost it to a height of 22,300 miles, where it can stay in "geosynchronous" orbit, maintaining its position over the same spot of the earth...
Ustinov earned the prestigious award a second time in 1961, from Nikita Khrushchev for his work in ensuring that the first man to orbit the earth was a Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin. The irascible Soviet Premier valued Ustinov's managerial skills enough to appoint him First Deputy Premier and place him in control of the civilian economy in 1963. When Leonid Brezhnev took power, Ustinov returned to the defense industry and took charge of developing the Soviet Union's strategic bomber force and intercontinental ballistic missile system...