Word: countdowns
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...more than 1 million Americans who crowded the beaches and causeways around the Kennedy Space Center last week, and for millions of other Americans clustered around TV sets, the tension was palpable. As the countdown clock flashed out the number of seconds until lift-off, the eyes of an entire nation focused on Launch Pad 39-B and the gleaming white shuttle Discovery, flanked by its two solid rocket boosters and clinging to the side of the giant, rust- colored external fuel tank. In the minds of many, however, another vision intruded: the hellish yellow-orange burst in the middle...
Finally, spectators joined in for the last 15 seconds of countdown, the engines ignited and the shuttle rose majestically from the pad, carrying its crew of five veteran astronauts. Over the space center's loudspeakers came the triumphant announcement: "Americans return to space, as Discovery clears the tower." But the cheers were muted as the crowd -- many with clenched fists, gritted teeth and teary eyes -- nervously watched the spacecraft rise on its pillar of flame, then begin its roll out over the Atlantic. Again the visions of Challenger arose. Now the loudspeakers carried the voice of Mission Control in Houston...
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.--Discovery's five astronauts, anxious to break an agonizing 32-month drought in American spaceflight, were "elated to be headed for space" yesterday as the overnight countdown began for a midmorning launch today...
...ship, obscured for weeks behind a giant scaffold, stood in full view after NASA retracted the structure. The process took place hours early, so "workers will have a head start" on final countdown procedures. The count resumed at midevening yesterday after a daylong, scheduled hold...
...anxiety attack. "Am I doing the right thing?" she asked. The father had one answer: "He wants to become a functional human being. We shouldn't deny him the chance to fight for that." Reza gave her the definitive response in the early-morning hours of April 5, during countdown to surgery. "When this is over," he told his mother, "I'm not going to be nice to those who don't deserve it." He ticked off recollections of deep, silently tolerated anguish inflicted by pitying glances, patronizing caresses, crass jokes and outright ridicule. "I've survived because...