Word: spaces
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...clear the earth with speed to spare, says Professor Herrick, a space ship should start at 8 miles per second. Once clear, it becomes a miniature planet with an orbit of its own. The gravitation fields of surrounding bodies pull it hither & yon. By taking advantage of these pulls, the space navigator can guide his ship...
...voyage to Venus, for example, the space ship would start at 8 miles per second in the direction opposite to the motion of the earth (see diagram) * Since the earth moves at 18½ miles per second, the space ship's net forward motion would be 10½ miles per second (18½; minus 8 miles per sec.). This speed is too slow...
...voyage would have to start at exactly the right moment, so that Venus would be on hand to meet the space ship. If the timing was wrong, the space ship would miss Venus, spiral toward the sun, and circle around it forever...
...toward Mars. To reach Mars, the space ship would take off in the same direction as the earth's motion. Its increased speed (8 plus 18½ equals 26½ miles per sec.) would make it spiral outward toward the rendezvous...
...planning any voyage, the space navigator would have to allow for a host of "perturbations." Distant objects such as Neptune or comparatively small objects such as the moon might pull the ship off its course. A round-trip voyage would be ticklish. The ship would have to circle the objective planet and come back just in time to meet the earth. A miss would mean a plunge toward...