Word: spacecrafts
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...years since Russia launched Sputnik 1, man has steadily pushed back the frontiers of space. Astronauts have walked on the moon, the Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 has soft-landed on Venus, and three U.S. Mariner spacecraft have swept past Mars, transmitting detailed pictures back to earth. Now scientists are preparing for an even more far-reaching journey. Last week NASA discussed its plans to launch the first unmanned planetary probe to the outer part of the solar system-a 550-lb. spacecraft that will fly past Jupiter...
HIGH above the Pacific, some 900 miles south of American Samoa, the spacecraft suddenly plummeted from the sky. A voice crackled over the radio: "Things are looking good." Then, in clear view of the recovery task force and millions of television watchers round the world, three big white-and-orange-striped parachutes unfurled, braking the descent of Apollo 14's command module, Kitty Hawk. Moments later, only 900 yards off the predicted target and just four seconds behind schedule, the heat-seared ship splashed into the water in a spectacular finale to man's third and most successful...
...fellow travelers were in high spirits and apparently good health, and doctors later discovered that Shepard had actually gained weight (1 Ib.) during his 941,825-mile journey. Indeed, the astronauts' condition-and the fact that no alien organisms had been found on the Apollo 11 and 12 spacecraft-strongly suggested that the lunar travelers' 21-day quarantine is unnecessary; it probably will not be imposed on the next mission...
...they began their investigation of Apollo 14's 96 Ibs. of rock, equal to the total haul from Apollo 11 and 12, geologists in Houston were optimistic that the samples would yield new and important facts about the moon. Dr. Robin Brett, chief of the Manned Spacecraft Center's geochemistry branch, noted that "in a preliminary look, the rocks appear to be quite different from what we saw on Apollo 11 and 12." Since most lunar rocks are gray, the geologists were particularly eager to analyze a fragment chipped from a puzzling white boulder that the astronauts spotted...
...mission was in serious trouble. After cutting Kitty Hawk loose, turning it about in space, and trying to extract the lunar module Antares from the nose of the third-stage S-4B rocket, Command Ship Pilot Stu Roosa encountered a mysterious docking problem. Five times he edged his spacecraft toward the lunar module, but Kitty Hawk's docking probe stubbornly refused to catch inside the funnelshaped receptacle atop Antares. Inexplicably, the probe's three spring-loaded latches, which worked flawlessly on previous missions, refused to grab...