Word: targets
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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What made the pews even more difficult to believe was that the day had begun with almost letter-perfect precision. And now, after the flawless twin launch of the Agena target vehicle and the Gemini, after making space rendezvous seem almost routine, and after the first successful docking of two spaceships, something had gone wrong...
...Pacific, Armstrong reported: "Object in sight." There was the Agena, 76 miles ahead, its beacon flashing against the dark sky. After gradually closing the gap, Gemini 8 eased up and in front of the Agena, while swinging around so that it was flying backwards, 150 feet ahead of the target. "We are station keeping" (flying in formation), reported Armstrong at 5:40 p.m. America's second space rendezvous had been accomplished...
...next 25 minutes, Armstrong and Scott electronically checked the Agena's complex systems. Assured that all was in order, they nudged to within five feet of the Agena's nose, close enough for them to read a small, lighted instrument panel over the target craft's docking cone. Using his maneuvering stick, Armstrong fired a brief burst from two of Gemini's 100-lb. thrusters. The gap between Agena and the spacecraft closed at about six inches per second, until the craft gently bumped its nose into the docking cone...
Slowly the word is circulating up and down the Harvard administrative heirarchy: "The old grads are dying off." And, in terms as simple as the news itself, one implied message is clearly understood. Memorial Hall is approaching the day when it will become a target for the bulldozers...
Some members have insisted on pre-inspection of their purchases-a shocking innovation in fraternal Communist economics. COMECON clearly needs reform, and Rumania's next target on the list of Communist sacred cows may well be the Warsaw Pact. Already, Rumania has unilaterally reduced obligatory service in its army from 24 to 16 months, and Rumanologist George Gross says it is "quite likely that the Rumanians (like the French in NATO) have balked at infringement of their sovereignty...