Word: orbiters
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...been verified by the sky-scanning radars of the North American Air Defense Command. While watching for unfriendly bombers and missiles. NORAD's sharp electronic eyes also spot every other high-flying metallic object that comes into range-including research spacecraft. NORAD has counted 273 man-made objects orbiting earth. Some are satellites, living or dead, but most are "garbage": the burned-out rockets, connecting rings, nose covers, and other bits and pieces that are abandoned after accompanying spacecraft into orbit. The oldest of these far-out travelers is Explorer I, launched Jan. 31, 1958. Its orbit is beginning...
...change in its mission. Before Sputnik, it had largely been concerned with military missiles, now it became the scientific center of an invigorated U.S. space campaign. In only 83 days, JPL quickly modified a test rocket, the Jupiter C, and tossed Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite, into Earth orbit...
Mariner II, golden and gleaming, was ready on the pad by Aug. 27, when Venus was still in friendly position. This time the launch went perfectly. The Agena second stage, with Mariner II in its nose, went smoothly into parking orbit. After 16 minutes, its engine fired again, soaring out on a curving course that would lead to Venus. A few minutes later, a cluster of exploding pins popped and the spacecraft spread its, wings into the hard sunlight. All this was reported by telemetry to JPL's 85-ft. dish antenna in South Africa and relayed...
...next task is to determine the definitive orbit for Syncom I," Menzel said. "The satellite may be repairable, but that will be a job for NASA technicians...
Menzel said that the satellite is visible only to observers in South Africa and nearby areas because it is circling the earth in an orbit synchronized with the earth's rotation. The orbit is tilted about 30 degrees to the equator which makes the satellite appear to trace a figure-eight once every 24 hours...