Word: spacecrafts
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...first time a spacecraft had ever come back to earth tailfirst, although similar landings have been made on Mars and the moon. "My jaw dropped," says Tom Williams, director of communications for McDonnell Douglas, the defense contractor that built the odd-looking rocket. "I'd never seen a space vehicle stop on a dime before. It was like something in a monster movie...
...engineering projects rather than ideas, as if NASA's only constituency were the aerospace industry, has retarded rather than advanced the agency's true mission of exploring the universe. Such genuine marvels as the Hubble Space Telescope (which has returned spectacular results despite a slightly misshapen mirror), the Galileo spacecraft now on its way to Jupiter and the COBE satellite, which last year revealed details of the origin of the universe, have had to operate in the shadows, delayed and beggared by NASA's other concerns...
There is yet one slim hope for a space station that plays a positive role in the universe. The special outside panel helping Clinton evaluate these plans recommended strongly that the space station go into a high-inclination orbit so that Russian spacecraft can visit from the Baikonur spaceport and perhaps perform rescue operations. Even that, however, might be too much for our partners. Launching at high inclinations reduces the shuttle's payload because the rockets get less of a boost from the earth's rotation; as a result, the Japanese and European modules may be too heavy...
Direct contracts are issued to the Smithsonian, but many scientists and doctors who work at the center hold joint appointments with Harvard. Researchers prepare experiments and equipment for the spacecraft but do not participate in the launching preparation...
That was before NASA came under severe pressure to cut costs dramatically and justify its decisions on what missions to fly. Budget constraints have already led to the cancellation of some projects and to the development of a bargain-basement mini-spacecraft that could scout out Pluto for a fraction of the cost of a typical planetary flight...