Word: rocketeers
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...unseen fiery deaths of Sputniks I and II, the edge of space near the earth had belonged to three small U.S. satellites, playing like baby bluefish in an ocean. Last week the Russians launched a shark: a cone-shaped satellite weighing 2,925 Ibs., not counting the empty rocket casing on a separate orbit...
...orbiting mass of Sputnik III (official name: 1958 Delta) may not be more than dog-carrying Sputnik II, which remained attached to its rocket. The Russians gave the weight of Sputnik II's payload as 1,120 Ibs., but the whole assembly, including the rocket, was about 84 ft. long, and U.S. scientists believe that it may have weighed 7,000 Ibs. Sputnik III is probably as heavy all told, but may not be heavier...
...nose cone of a three-stage rocket, a man lies on his back with his knees drawn up, waiting for the explosion that -will thrust him into space. Blastoff. The roar swallows him; intense vibration courses through his shackled, layer-enveloped body. He is hurtling into the inky empyrean where the sun's rays give no light, where there is no such thing as height, where there is no up and no down -where, if he drops his guard for an instant, the irresistible forces of the cosmos will destroy...
...drag of gravity forces (far more powerful than the earth's) from the rocket's acceleration piles tip a crushing impact on the spaceman, whose normal weight -say 150 Ibs. -multiplies to three-quarters of a ton. On the outer skin of his capsule, hurtling away from earth at 25,000 m.p.h., the friction of the atmosphere generates temperatures tip to 1,600°F. Beyond the atmosphere, the outside temperature drops to -454°F. -close to absolute zero -and gone is the atmospheric pressure that keeps man's organs from exploding like a blood bomb...
...seconds for only 54 seconds up to a maximum of 12 g. Fortunately, from Dr. Stapp's work and other tests, researchers at Wright A.F.B. have found that a man quickly recovers his ability to withstand a new g onslaught: after first-stage burnout of a three-stage rocket, he coasts for several seconds at high but steady speed; when the second stage blasts off, he can take it, and his body is also ready for the acceleration of the final blast. On reentry, the g forces loosed by deceleration are likely to be far more perilous. Impact...