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space exploration

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Moon mission assembly CE5 Stages in a moon mission shown counterclockwise from launching on the first day to splashdown on the ninth day. space exploration, the investigation of physical co...

Young, John Watts

(Encyclopedia)Young, John Watts, 1930–2018, American astronaut, b. San Francisco. A Navy test pilot, he joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's astronaut program in 1962. Young served as pilot ...

John, Elton Hercules

(Encyclopedia)John, Elton Hercules, 1947–, English popular singer, pianist, and composer, b. Reginald Kenneth Dwight. By the mid-1970s he had become famous presenting his own and other composers' songs in spectac...

Kuiper, Gerard Peter

(Encyclopedia)Kuiper, Gerard Peter or Gerrit Pieter gĕrˈĭt pēˈtər kīˈpər [key], 1905–73, American astronomer, b. the Netherlands. Kuiper is considered to be the father of modern planetary science for his...

Challenger

(Encyclopedia)Challenger, U.S. space shuttle. It exploded (Jan. 28, 1986) 73 seconds into its tenth flight, killing all seven crew members, including the first civilian in space, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Th...

Karman, Theodor von

(Encyclopedia)Karman, Theodor von tāˈōdôrˌ fôn kärˈmän [key], 1881–1963, American aeronautical engineer, b. Hungary, grad. Royal Technical Univ., Budapest (1902), and Univ. of Göttingen, Germany (Ph.D.,...

Edwards Air Force Base

(Encyclopedia)Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the wo...

McDonnell, James Smith

(Encyclopedia)McDonnell, James Smith, 1899–1980, American aviation pioneer, b. Denver, B.S. Princeton, 1921, M.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1925. He designed the Doodlebug (1929), a small monoplane, ...

Tanega-shima

(Encyclopedia)Tanega-shima tänāˈgä-shĭmä [key], island, 176 sq mi (456 sq km), off S Kyushu, Japan. Fishing and farming are important there. It is the site of Japan's main rocket launch center and a space sat...

tank, military

(Encyclopedia)tank, military, armored vehicle having caterpillar traction and armed with machine guns, cannon, rockets, or flame throwers. The tank, together with the airplane, opened up modern warfare, which had b...
 

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