Word: orbiter
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...Armstrong and Aldrin will fire the LM's ascent engine, using the four-legged descent stage as a launch pad. If all goes well, they will rendezvous with Collins and transfer to the command module, taking their precious rocks with them in sealed boxes and leaving the LM in orbit around the moon. From that point on, they will again follow the path of Apollo 10. After firing themselves into an earth-bound trajectory, they will splash down in the Pacific Ocean some 1,160 miles southwest of Hawaii just before 1 p.m. (E.D.T.) on Thursday, July 24, their places...
...originate? Was it torn Eve-like from the side of the earth, or did it form separately out of the same primordial dust cloud? Was it a planetary interloper captured by the earth's gravity when it wandered too close, or did it coalesce from small asteroids in orbit around the ancient earth? Did it ever have an atmosphere? water? life...
...laser beam, scientists will be able to fix the distance between the earth and the moon at any time to within 6 in. of the exact figure. This precise measuring rod should help answer a number of vexing scientific questions. By revealing previously unmeasurable variations in the orbit of the moon, for example, it should provide a better understanding of the nature of gravity. For if scientists can determine precisely how much the moon's orbit is increasing each year, they may finally be able to confirm?or disprove?the theory that the force of gravity is gradually diminishing...
...Force Lieut. Colonel Mike Collins, who will orbit the moon in the command module while Armstrong and Aldrin land and return from the surface, is by all accounts the most likable member of the crew. Though he comes from a distinguished military family, he goes out of his way to slop around in jeans and act as unmilitary as possible. He enjoys cooking gourmet dinners and knows his way around French wines. To Collins, everybody is "Babe," and he likes to poke fun at the bloated titles that the simplest pieces of space hardware carry. "What we need...
...John C. Houbolt, 50, former chief of theoretical mechanics at NASA's Langley Research Laboratories in Hampton, Va. Houbolt, a civil engineer, is responsible for the lunar-orbit rendezvous that is the key maneuver in Apollo's entire flight plan. In what he remembers as "an intuitive flash," Houbolt realized that tremendous weight savings would be gained by this rendezvous method, permitting the use of a smaller launch vehicle. Often scorned by colleagues, Houbolt fought a two-year battle, finally put his job on the line by appealing directly to NASA headquarters. His arguments prevailed in the fall...