Word: spacecrafts
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...deaths of the astronauts brought to a head longstanding differences between advocates of pure-oxygen atmospheres for spacecraft and those who favor a two-gas system. The fire hazard inherent in a pure-oxygen system had discomforted space officials for years. In 1962, two crewmen in a space-cabin simulator at San Antonio were overcome by fumes from an instrument-panel fire but were rescued without serious injury. The same year, four men in an oxygen-filled test chamber in Philadelphia suffered second-degree burns when a short circuit in a lighting fixture caused a fire...
Things progressed smoothly enough; a few "glitches" (minor problems) stalled the operation. At countdown-minus-10-minutes, the procedure was stopped again because of static in the communications channels between the spacecraft and technicians at the operations center. It took 15 minutes to correct the problem, and the simulated count was ready to begin again. Then, at 6:31 p.m., a voice cried from inside the capsule: "Fire aboard the space-craft...
Grissom got that chance when he was picked as the pilot of America's first two-man spacecraft. With the launching of Gemini 3 on its three-orbit flight on March 23, 1965, Grissom became the first man ever to journey twice into space. Aided by Co-Pilot John Young, he scored yet another space first when he took over the controls himself, skill- fully piloted the craft through a series of tricky orbit-changing maneuvers. After that success, Grissom seemed to loosen up. The Apollo flight would have made him the only man to enter space three times...
Although the moon has lately been giving up many of its ancient secrets to prying spacecraft, it has clung stubbornly to one-the genesis of its own existence as an earth satellite. With monotonous regularity, scientists have punched holes in theories that the moon was torn, Eve-like, from the earth's side; that the earth and moon condensed simultaneously, as neighbors, from the same blob of primordial dust; or that the moon was a planetary interloper accidentally captured by the earth's gravity. Says Nobel Laureate Chemist Harold Urey: "All explanations for the origin of the moon...
Died. Lieut. Colonel Virgil I. ("Gus") Grissom, 40, Lieut. Colonel Edward H. White, 36, and Lieut. Commander Roger B. Chaffee, 31; in an explosion while testing their Apollo spacecraft; at Cape Kennedy, Fla. (see THE NATION...