Word: orbits
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's Polish-born National Security Adviser, had somehow engineered the election of Pope John Paul II the previous year. Brzezinski's supposed purpose: to use the Pope to inspire further unrest in Poland and eventually to wrench the country out of the Soviet orbit. Mantarov claims that he was told that as the troubles in Poland mounted, and as the Pontiff came to be identified with the budding Solidarity movement, Soviet authorities gave the command to "eliminate" the Pope. They allegedly handed the assignment to the Bulgarians, long known for their subservience...
Challenger's cargo is a revolutionary new satellite called TDRS (for tracking and data-relay satellite). It will open up communications with spacecraft beyond the range of ground stations. Additional delays would play havoc with NASA's timetable, postponing the placing in orbit of as many as 30 other satellites. Rescheduling would also stall the launch of Spacelab, Western Europe's contribution to the shuttle program, now listed for a September flight on Challenger. Says one irreverent NASA official: "Abrahamson is praying, 'Engines, heal thyself...
Richard Condon's 1974 novel Winter Kills took off from the shooting of John Kennedy and flew into an orbit of conspiratorial delirium that made the flakiest assassination theories seem like whitewash. Richert's film starts off from Condon, streamlines the plot and adds a few new quirks. Nineteen years after the event, Nick Kegan (Bridges) follows a zig-zag trail of clues, threats and intuitions to find out who killed his President brother. But who will help him? His father (John Huston), a wily priapic megamillionaire who lopes through his several palaces in flaming red Jockey shorts...
...reflected light of the moon or a bright planet like Jupiter would ruin the observations. For protection, IRAS has a highly polished gold-plated sun shield. But its main insurance is its precise course. Circling the earth once every 103 minutes at an altitude of 560 miles in an orbit that carries it from pole to pole, IRAS roughly follows the line on the earth's surface where day meets night. Along this pathway, the telescope can always face 90° away from the sun, yet catch rays of sunlight on its solar panels to make electricity to power...
...orbit since Jan. 25, the satellite became operational last week when, on command from the British tracking station, the telescope's cover was successfully exploded away. Two quick test scans produced such a flood of data that cheering broke out in the Chilton control room. Said Caltech's Gerry Neugebauer, IRAS' co-chief scientist: "Everything is going even better than we thought it would...