Word: saturn
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Nevertheless, the solar system we knew ten years ago pales in comparison to the picture we have of it now. Back then, there were very few definable worlds: the Earth, the moon, fuzzy pictures of Jupiter and Saturn, and a few cryptic shots of Mars...
...beyond the asteriod belt, Jupiter has been visited by several unmanned spacecraft, most recently Voyagers I and II. The most massive planet in the solar system has no surface to speak of, but the patterns in its stormy atmosphere and bands of swirling colors would please Dali. Also, Saturn no longer has a monopoly on rings. For hundreds of years, it looked that way, but since 1977 rings have been discovered around both Uranus and Jupiter. Surprise...
...fact, Skylab's history of glitches demonstrated both the futility of taking technological shortcuts and the agility of men working in space to remedy unexpected ailments. When Skylab was launched by a Saturn 5 booster rocket on May 14, 1973, a large section of its meteoroid and heat shield ripped away, taking one of its prematurely extended solar-energy wings with it. A second wing jammed in a retracted position. The craft both overheated in orbit and was dangerously underpowered. But in the space age's first salvage mission, on May 25, 1973, Astronauts Charles ("Pete") Conrad Jr. and Joseph...
...robot, is streaking past Jupiter, directing its color cameras and multiple instruments at the giant, banded planet and its great moons. Seized by Jovian gravity, Voyager 2 will swing around the planet and then fly off in the cosmic wake of its twin, Voyager 1, for a reconnaissance of Saturn in August...
...will be with the moon. When we go there again, it will be in vehicles that will make the Saturn 5-for all it's staggering complexity and its 150 million horsepower-look like a clumsy, inefficient dinosaur of the early space age. And this time, we will stay...