Word: orbits
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Before some of the events of these past 60 years, the only proper human reaction might have been an awed silence. How else to respond to the concentration camps? To man's escape from the earth's orbit? To nuclear destruction? Even perhaps to the computer? Yet journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air. TIME has spoken once a week for 60 years and, in so doing...
Nonetheless, all connected with the film rush to claim that no special consideration was given to the character of Glenn. "As Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth, his story is more dramatic than most of the others'," says Irwin Winkler, one of the film's producers. "By condensing Wolfe's book into the drama of a film, Glenn became more sympathetic." Kaufman points out that shooting was wrapped up in October 1982; he contends, somewhat ingenuously, that it was only in December, when Senator Edward Kennedy announced he would not seek the Democratic nomination...
...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...
...near fringe of farm country, where no statistics establish their health. What seems clear is that more and more city dwellers are fleeing to them, though not all of the newcomers can entirely flee the economic pull of metropolises. Most jobs are still in the cities, and ruburbanites orbit them like far-flung asteroids...