Word: spacecrafts
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Electronic Tag. At Houston's Manned Spacecraft Center, unflappable Chris Kraft every day faced the decision of whether to keep Cooper and Conrad going for still another day. From start to finish, the "go-no go" decision hinged on Gemini's cantankerous fuel cell. A failure in its liquid oxygen supply tank nearly terminated the mission on the first day, and the faulty heating unit that caused the problem never did kick on. As the flight soared into the second day, the oxygen pressure slowly moved upward-and optimism soared at Houston command. "The morning headline," broadcast Kraft...
First (see diagram below) he fired a short burst of backward burn from the thrusters, lowering Gemini's apogee by 13 miles. Almost 40 minutes later, he triggered a forward burn to raise the perigee ten miles. Next he yawed the spacecraft and fired the aft thrusters to move it onto the same orbital plane as the phantom. After one last forward thrust to raise the apogee, Cooper had his craft in a co-elliptical orbit with the phantom Agena-close enough so that the pilot, using on-board radar and computer, could eventually bring his craft to within...
...required them to use the thrusters to get into a picture-taking position. Ground control was also worrying about the fuel-cell system again. The process of generating electricity by mixing hydrogen with oxygen was producing much too much of that inevitable byproduct: water. Ground control feared that the spacecraft was running out of storage space for water and that it threatened to back up into the cells and knock them out. Kraft informed Conrad of the problem and asked, "How's that for a surprise?" Cracked Conrad: "Nothing surprises me after lift...
...seventh day, water from the fuel cell no longer seemed a threat, the astronauts managed to bring the spacecraft's tumbling under control-and so it was "go" for the eighth day in space...
...reconnoiter targets, detect nuclear blasts and spot missile firings. Already the Navy has asked the Air Force to investigate whether MOL can keep track of Russian and Red Chinese submarines. Eventually, MOL will be able to double as a floating fortress capable of intercepting and knocking down hostile spacecraft...