Articles of general interest

Walter Nissen (dk058@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Wed, 4 Mar 1998 08:37:52 -0500 (EST)

Lots of details at flatoday.com today.  Articles about the latest shuttle 
preparations, one about the latest (minor) problems on Mir, quoted below, 
and also one titled "Drink to oldest man-made orbiter", about 
Vanguard 1 = 5 = 58-  2B, also quoted below. 
 
Cheers. 
 
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"It's the oldest man-made object still in orbit, and is destined to 
retain that distinction for hundreds of years to come," says Bob 
Gray of Cocoa Beach. 
 
The Vanguard 1 satellite "was the first separable satellite (rather 
than being attached to the final booster stage, like Explorer I) 
and was the first to use solar cells. And it discovered the Earth 
to be pear-shaped," said Bob. 
 
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"There are no direct reprimands for the crew, but we are sure to 
conduct the due analysis," he said. "The crew's actions were not 
completely proper, and we had to resort to help from the American." 
 
The mood at Mission Control was gloomy, and Solovyov snapped at the 
cosmonauts as problems piled up. "Don't do anything without our 
command," Solovyov said at one point.