Word: spacecrafts
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...almost unbelievably calm. But behind every word was an unmistakable note of triumph. From 185 miles above the earth, Air Force Major Thomas Stafford reported that he and his fellow astronauts had just made the first manned rendezvous in space. Moving with exquisite precision across the night sky, the spacecraft Gemini 6 tracked down its partner, Gemini 7. As the two ships edged closer to fly in formation, then circle each other in a stately orbital ballet, Stafford and Command Pilot Wally Schirra joined Gemini 7's Lieut. Colonel Frank Borman and Commander James Lovell at the farthest reach...
...over past delays and put the U.S. space program back on schedule. Pure science and practical engineering had cooperated to solve the incredibly complex equations of orbital mathematics. Human skill and human courage had added the vital ingredients that made the computations correct. Now the dream of docking two spacecraft while they whirl through their curving courses promised to be no more of a problem than parking a compact car; rescue of astronauts adrift in space became a definite possibility. A manned orbiting laboratory suddenly seemed more than an imaginative scheme; a space station that can be constructed aloft seemed...
...miles above the earth; following the laws of orbital mechanics, though, it also reduced Gemini 6's closing speed on Gemini 7, now only 500 miles ahead. Later, he moved his flight path sideward and edged into the same orbital plane as Gemini 7 by yawing his spacecraft 90°, then firing a brief but finely timed thrust toward the south at right angles to his direction of motion...
Over the Atlantic, during the third orbit of Gemini 6, the radar transmitter in the spacecraft's nose locked onto a transponder on Gemini 7. The transponder returned signals that were translated into position data by a computer aboard Gemini 6, now only 235 miles behind. At about the same time, the two capsules established voice contact. "We are reading you loud and clear," called Borman. "Good, Frank. See you soon," replied Schirra confidently. "We will be up there shortly...
Higher in Orbit. The Gemini 7 astronauts chalked up some other, more significant firsts. Once in orbit, they fired thrusters to turn Gemini and adjust its velocity, then flew in formation with their detached, third-stage booster for 16 minutes. By aligning the spacecraft with setting stars on the earth's horizon, they were able to navigate precisely without aid from computers on the ground. They were also able to track the first three minutes of the spectacular flight of a Polaris missile as it was fired from beneath the Atlan tic by the nuclear submarine Benjamin Franklin...