Word: spacecrafts
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...seemed as if the U.S. and Soviet Russia were racing each other to Mars. No sooner had the U.S. launched Mariner IV from Cape Kennedy than the Russians put up Zond (for Probe) II. Scientists speculated that the Soviets' more powerful rockets might have given the Red spacecraft enough extra push to carry it past Mariner on the 228-day, 325 million-mile voyage to the red planet. But the race was not so much a contest between nations as it was a confrontation with the inexorable geometry of planetary orbits. Both Russia and the U.S. had rushed their...
...will not guarantee a successful mission. There are still some 323 million miles to go. The 138,000 parts on board are subject to radiation damage, and to unexplained failure caused by undetected flaws. Only if Mariner survives all such hazards, can the U.S. count on its purple-winged spacecraft taking the first detailed photos of mysterious Mars...
...planet Mars follows such an eccentric orbit around the sun that it is accessible to probing spacecraft from earth only one month out of every 25-a period referred to by scientists as "the window." All through November the window was open, but the first U.S. attempt to peek inside failed when the Mariner C spacecraft, unable to jettison its 300-lb. fiber-glass protective shield, could not attain the necessary speed...
...mile-high parking orbit over the Indian Ocean, the rocket engine reignited, kicking the 575-lb. Mariner D payload toward Mars at the required speed-25,600 m.p.h. At week's end all was going well with Mariner D and its 138,-000 individual parts. But the spacecraft still has quite a way to travel-325 million miles along a route that is expected to carry it past Mars by mid-July...
...years, the loudest noises in the aerospace business have been the rumble of liquid-fueled boosters blasting spacecraft into orbit, the sharper roar of solid-fuel military missiles climbing into their long trajectories, and the continuing, wordy battles between the promoters of each type. Now, back of the racket, can be heard the insistent voice of still another competitor in the rocketry race-the hybrid that manufactures its power by combining liquid oxidant with solid fuel. Detractors may scoff that the hybrid combines all the dangers and difficulties of both solids and liquids. Its champions are confident that...