Word: spacecrafts
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...week, after months of stagnation, there were slight signs of movement in the talks between the U.S., Britain, France and Russia on Berlin. Next month the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks will resume; in addition, Russian and U.S. space experts will soon begin consultation on cooperative rescue procedures for disabled spacecraft...
...lunar surface. After bouncing and rolling to a stop, the sphere unfolded its panels like petals of a flower, righted itself and exposed its TV camera and transmitter. Luna 16 was a far more sophisticated instrument. Although the Soviets revealed few details, Western space experts believe that the spacecraft that descended to the lunar surface weighed about a ton (compared with the Apollo LM's 8 tons); it was braked first by its main engine and then in the last few yards of descent by smaller thrusters. The landing operation on the Sea of Fertility, an unexplored portion...
Shortly after the successful touchdown, Soviet ground controllers performed a number of checks to determine the spacecraft's exact orientation and location on the moon-information vital for calculating Luna 16's correct homeward course. Then came the main business of the mission. On a signal from earth, an electric-powered drilling device, capable of moving horizontally and vertically, reached out like a mechanical hand; Western observers speculated that it was positioned by controllers watching it on TV. The drill then burrowed about 14 in. into the adjacent lunar soil and brought up a core sample, which...
...Brevard County, site of Cape Kennedy, houses and stores are boarded up, new offices stand empty, and the most lucrative profession in the area seems to be that of resume writer for the thousands of space workers who have been looking for new jobs. At Houston's Manned Spacecraft Center, the five giant computers are working at a sharply reduced rate (operating cost: about $10,000 per hour), one of the two mission-control centers has been put in mothballs, and astronauts have been asked to cut back their pilot training flights in T-38 jets. Apollo 14 Commander...
NASA insists that the economies will not bring new dangers. Kennedy Space Center Director Kurt Debus says that only one case of sloppy workmanship attributable to morale has come to his attention: having accidentally snapped a screw on a key spacecraft section, a workman glued the other half into place. He feared that he might be laid off if his company-a private contractor -had to go to the time and expense of drilling out the screw...