Word: orbiter
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Even before the first manned orbital flights were launched into space in 1961, scientists were haunted by the nightmare of men stranded in orbit in disabled ships, unable to return to earth. Though 22 U.S. and Russian manned spacecraft have spent more than 1,450 hours in orbit, neither nation has developed a system that could have rescued any of them from space...
Within the past two years, however, radar observations of Mercury's surface have disproved the theory. Instead of revolving once on its axis during the 88 days it takes the planet to complete one solar orbit-as it would have to do to present the same face to the sun-Mercury was found to rotate once every 59 days. This would mean that to a Mercury man-if there were one who could stand its temperatures (as high as 790° F.)-the sun would seem to move slowly across the sky, providing daylight for about 88 days. Then...
Robot in Space. In Bradley's system, a ground-based astronaut would strap himself into a control harness or frame that would be a virtual duplicate of a telefactor aboard an orbiting spacecraft (see diagram). Should the astronaut want to adjust a cabin control, for example, he would reach his arm toward a knob on a duplicate of the spacecraft's instrument panel. His every motion would be translated into electronic signals and transmitted to the telefactor in orbit. Servomechanisms on the telefactor would move its arm toward the actual spacecraft control panel. Feedback devices on the telefactor...
...ORBIT by Wright Morris. 153 pages. New American Library...
...price is expected to drop to $1 a pound. And when that time comes, engineers should be ready with preprogrammed manufacturing processes that will require the vacuum and weightlessness of space. Joining some of the newer, tougher metals, for example, is a devilishly difficult problem on earth. In orbit, outside any artificial atmosphere, some of them need only be touched together to make a perfect weld...