Word: space
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...going to have a lot of fun doing it." Several hours later, astronauts Mike Lounge and David Hilmers, manipulating controls in the cabin, raised and tilted the TDRS package in the cargo bay, and activated springs that pushed it out of the open doors into space. After Hauck and pilot Dick Covey had maneuvered the shuttle to a safe 45 miles away, the TDRS rocket ignited, sending the satellite farther away from earth. Later that night, the TDRS rocket's second stage precisely nudged the satellite into a geosynchronous orbit, where it hovered 22,250 miles above the Pacific Ocean...
...Birmingham hope to learn more about the structure of the proteins, which may enable researchers to create new disease-fighting drugs. Other experiments scheduled during the mission included the production and study of crystalline organic thin films, evaluation of an onboard infrared communications system and the production in four space furnaces of special metallic alloys...
...similarity was only skin deep. Responding to the recommendations of the Rogers commission, the 13-member panel appointed by the White House to investigate the causes of the Challenger tragedy, NASA spent $2.4 billion redesigning and replacing crucial components of its shuttle fleet. Over the past two years, the space agency has made more than 400 changes in the winged orbiter -- including a much touted new escape system -- the solid rocket boosters, the orbiter's three liquid-fuel engines and the huge external fuel tank. What is more, each of the modifications or changes was laboriously reviewed by the Discovery...
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...
Right up to the moment of Discovery's launch, the space agency displayed caution -- and in the view of some critics, excessive caution -- in preparing to resume shuttle flights. Time and again during the past year, as problems cropped up during tests of new and redesigned shuttle equipment, officials pushed back Discovery's launch date, from February to August, finally settling on Sept. 29. Even during the final stages of the countdown, mission manager Crippen polled top weather advisers individually before waiving the restriction about the winds aloft...