Word: pads
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Soviet Union's first reusable spacecraft orbited the Earth twice today and landed eight miles from its launch pad in Central Asia, marking the first unmanned space shuttle flight ever, a spokesperson for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said yesterday...
...crowd of families and college students from all over the world, which last year numbered 280,000 strong, will line the river, watching races, enjoying the fall day or scoping out the party scene. Harvard will become a crash-pad for many students in the latter category this weekend...
Sure, the new type of clubs pad resumes and make "networking" easier in the dreaded Real World. But most of them exist because most students do possess altruism along with personal ambition. Public service groups involve about a quarter of Harvard's students, and the rest of the clubs give something to the rest of the college each year, whether it's a performance, an exhibition, a literary magazine or a greater understanding of one's fellow students...
Finally, spectators joined in for the last 15 seconds of countdown, the engines ignited and the shuttle rose majestically from the pad, carrying its crew of five veteran astronauts. Over the space center's loudspeakers came the triumphant announcement: "Americans return to space, as Discovery clears the tower." But the cheers were muted as the crowd -- many with clenched fists, gritted teeth and teary eyes -- nervously watched the spacecraft rise on its pillar of flame, then begin its roll out over the Atlantic. Again the visions of Challenger arose. Now the loudspeakers carried the voice of Mission Control in Houston...
NASA took steps to improve the astronauts' chances of survival should such a mishap occur. For the first time since the summer of 1982, the crew left the launch pad ensconced in bulky space suits, each partly pressurized and equipped with an oxygen tank, a parachute and an inflatable raft. In addition, a new emergency escape system was designed to give the astronauts a chance to leave the orbiter quickly in the event of a "benign disaster" after the boosters had fallen away. In such a crisis, the crew would jettison the huge external fuel tank and stabilize the winged...