Word: thruster
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Although the Russians have so far provided few details, Western experts believe that Komarov ran into real trouble on the 15th orbit, when an attitude thruster misfired, sending Soyuz tumbling wildly. It was the same kind of malfunction that nearly proved disastrous to America's Gemini...
After they had awakened, Young and Collins swung their craft into position and burned Agena's large thruster for eleven seconds. Again the astronauts felt the kick of the big engine. "It may be only one g.," said Young, "but it's the biggest one g. we ever saw." Because the thrust was against the direction of flight, it had a braking effect, reducing Gemini-Agena's velocity and cutting the apogee of its orbit from 476 to 245 miles. A final maneuver placed the astronauts in a 240-mile circular orbit slightly inside the path...
...Entry Endangered. As the roll rate increased to a terrifying one revolution per second, Armstrong realized that Gemini was at fault; he quickly threw circuit breakers that cut off the flow of fuel and oxidizer to all of the attitude thrusters, including No. 8. The roll-with no friction or counterfiring thruster to stop it-continued undiminished. It was at this point that Armstrong resorted to the independent reentry rocket system to bring Gemini back under control. Once the vital re entry control fuel had been tapped, however, Gemini's ability to make a successful re-entry was endangered...
...malfunction might have been even more serious had it occurred when Scott was taking his scheduled walk in space. Some experts believe that outside the spacecraft Scott would have quickly spotted the firing thruster and warned Armstrong in time for him to shut off its propellant. Others are convinced that the rolling Gemini would have whirled Scott around in space at the end of his 75-ft. tether, eventually slamming him against the spacecraft and probably causing fatal injuries...
...tragedy, but determined to put its lessons to good use on the remaining four Gemini flights, NASA officials last week continued to sift telemetry data to pinpoint the location and determine the cause of Gemini 8's short circuit. They indicated that they will probably include new attitude-thruster instrumentation on future flights. And as if to demonstrate their confidence that the U.S. space program will continue on schedule, they designated Space Veterans Virgil Grissom and Edward White and Rookie Roger Chaffee as crew members on the first three-man U.S. space mission-an earth-orbiting flight late this...