The odd, long-nosed rocket that rose from its pad at Cape Canaveral last week contained the most practical crew of explorers yet launched into space: a three-part package of instrument-crammed satellites. Heftiest part of the load (175 lbs.) was Transit IVA, latest of the Navy's navigation satellites, which looked like a bass drum spangled with bright solar cells and patches of white paint. Perched on top of it like the gobs of a three-scoop ice cream cone were a polished aluminum sphere, the Naval Research Laboratory's Greb III solar radiation satellite, and a...
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