Word: soft
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Castro has the Cuban moralistic streak in spades, showing no apparent affection for money or soft living. He considers himself a Roman Catholic but is also impressed by Patriot José Marti's anticlerical tomes. He has to be cajoled into changing his filthy fatigue jacket. His only luxury is 50? Montecristo cigars...
When the wintry winds blow and the snowflakes fly, think of those, somewhat more sportingly talented than us, who are seeking the sun in the Southland. Imagine them, lying on the soft sand, sipping exotic potions, or joyfully exhorting their comrades on to greater heights in a friendly game of catch...
...space art improves, instrumented vehicles will make soft landings on the moon, braked gently to the airless surface by retrorockets. Once they get there, they can look around with television eyes, telling the earth what they see. When the probes get good enough to tackle the planets, they can swoop into the atmosphere of Venus for a look at its unknown surface, swing around Mars looking for signs of life...
...program is roughly similar. A "soft" instrument landing on the moon may be accomplished in 1960. Putting a man in space will take longer. A protected capsule to bring him back alive is already under development. One of the preliminary research tools toward this project is the X-15 rocket-plane, which will meet its first tests in a month or so. It is designed to start its flights in the atmosphere, then shoot out of it to a probable height of 150 miles. Its descent on stubby wings will build experience for controlled returns from deeper space...
...oceans, crept slowly and painfully out on land, into the hostile air and searing sun. Man is venturing forth again into a new element. From the bottom of the air ocean where he has lived so long, the emptiness overhead looks almost impossibly hostile. Its vacuum kills a soft-bodied human in a few seconds; its radiation and heat and cold are almost as quickly fatal. But man has his daring and his intelligence. His body will not have to change. He can take with him into space an artificial environment that simulates the familiar bottom of the atmosphere...