Word: spacecraft
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Thus it was that the ill-fated Apollo was equipped with a hatch that took 90 seconds to open-much too long to save the astronauts, who died within 20 seconds of asphyxiation by carbon monoxide. Thus it also was that the spacecraft contained materials that had been tested for flammability under pure oxygen at a pressure of 5 Ibs. per sq. in. but not under the more dangerous 16 Ibs. used in the ground test...
...prevent another such disaster, the space officials said they were working on a new Apollo escape hatch that could be opened in two seconds in a ground emergency. Less flammable materials are also being studied for space suits and the spacecraft interior. As a further precaution, the Apollo cabin during future ground tests will probably be filled with normal air, rather than the pure oxygen that fed the fire...
Even before the first manned orbital flights were launched into space in 1961, scientists were haunted by the nightmare of men stranded in orbit in disabled ships, unable to return to earth. Though 22 U.S. and Russian manned spacecraft have spent more than 1,450 hours in orbit, neither nation has developed a system that could have rescued any of them from space...
Robot in Space. In Bradley's system, a ground-based astronaut would strap himself into a control harness or frame that would be a virtual duplicate of a telefactor aboard an orbiting spacecraft (see diagram). Should the astronaut want to adjust a cabin control, for example, he would reach his arm toward a knob on a duplicate of the spacecraft's instrument panel. His every motion would be translated into electronic signals and transmitted to the telefactor in orbit. Servomechanisms on the telefactor would move its arm toward the actual spacecraft control panel. Feedback devices on the telefactor...
Telefactors built with present skills and off-the-shelf equipment would come close to providing a human presence aboard a spacecraft without requiring the complex and bulky life-support systems that provide food, water and oxygen to astronauts. Because a telefactor is expendable, it could be used on missions too hazardous for man; its spacecraft would not require the retrorocket system, extra fuel and heat shield necessary for a safe return trip to earth...