Word: orbiter
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...nighttime lift-off was necessary to accomplish one of the mission's major goals: the launch for the government of India of a $45 million communications and weather satellite, known as Insat-lB. According to the laws of orbital mechanics, it was the only time of day that Challenger could leave Kennedy and be in position to place Insat-1B into the proper orbit over India...
NASA officials had hoped that Reagan's call would be electronically routed to Challenger through the troubled Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TORS), which failed to reach its proper orbit for more than two months after its April launch. The satellite is supposed to enable continuous transmissions from space to ground while the shuttles orbit around the globe. TDRS made successful hookups with Challenger earlier in the mission, but by the time Reagan placed his call, the $1 billion radio relay system was temporarily on the fritz. The cause: computer failure at the radio receiving station in White Sands...
NASA's nighttime dazzler, while useful practice for future shuttle service, is required by the mission's major objective: putting into orbit a giant communications and weather satellite for India. The $45 million instrument will be spun away from the Challenger on the second day of the flight. To site it correctly, the shuttle has to be placed in a different orbit from its seven predecessors, one that can be achieved only through a night launch. And because of the rigid rules of orbital mechanics, only a night landing is possible. Otherwise, the spaceship would have to circle...
Scientists have long assumed that stars beyond the sun are the hubs of their own solar systems. Indeed, some of these worlds may include planets where life perhaps has evolved. Yet even the closest stars are too distant for earth-bound telescopes to discern any planets in orbit around them. Indications that Vega, which lies 26 light-years (150 trillion miles) away, has a solar system may be the most important finding so far made by IRAS, a joint effort of the U.S., Britain and The Netherlands that was launched last January. When Astronomers H.H. Aumann of the Jet Propulsion...
...sharp enough to pick out any separate objects at such a great distance. Still, indications are that in the cosmic debris swirling around Vega there is a solar system in the making. Now it will be up to more powerful eyes, either on earth or in orbit, to get a better look at this new world...