Word: padded
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...propellant system that disabled half of its steering jets. Aviation Week & Space Technology quoted one U.S. space official as saying, "Salyut 7 is essentially dead in the water." Eighteen days later a Soyuz ferry ship loaded with a fresh crew and additional supplies exploded on the launch pad. The two cosmonauts escaped certain death by lifting off from the flaming launch site with a small escape rocket that let them drop down two miles away by parachute...
Glenn left Iowa simmering. By the time he reached Florida last Monday, at an appearance 20 miles from the Cape Canaveral pad where he was first launched to prominence 21 years ago, he had a retort to Mondale written out: "For him to criticize me is a little like the first mate on the Titanic criticizing someone for going for a Lifeboat." He tagged Mondale as part of the Carter Administration that had given the country 21% interest rates and 17% inflation, leaving behind a deep economic mess. Glenn conceded that he had voted for some of Reagan...
...rocket either exploded or caught fire when its fuel tank, containing some 270 tons of kerosene and liquid oxygen, suddenly ignited and turned the launching pad into a flaming ball. In such emergencies, the capsule, its crew snugly strapped inside, blasts away from the pad within milliseconds after the blowup. The rocket tip arcs up to an altitude of several thousand feet, where the capsule then rolls out of its casing (much like a tennis ball out of a tin can) and parachutes safely back to earth...
...injuries. When the capsule shoots away from the rocket, its occupants suffer a terrific jolt comparable to the one received in a car hit from the rear at high speed. Besides conducting a time-consuming investigation into how the accident happened, the Soviets will have to rebuild the launching pad, one of three at the facility. The estimated cost of repairs, including underground fuel lines: between $250 million and $500 million...
...Apollo program featured similar safety measures, but not all disasters can be handled so smoothly. In 1967 Virgil ("Gus") Grissom, one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, and his two crew members were asphyxiated in a launching-pad fire at Cape Canaveral...