High overhead, the slim, elegant shape of a space ferry vehicle moves slowly into sight of awed spectators waiting below. It changes course slightly as it nears an orbiting space station; tension mounts as the two vehicles maneuver for the delicate docking procedure.
Gradually, the space between them narrows as the ferry points its tapered nose toward the docking aperture. One false move at this point in an actual space rendezvous and the two vehicles might bounce apart in a disastrous collision, damaged beyond repair or skewered into wild orbital paths.
But all goes well as the ferry makes a bull’s-eye thrust into the docking aperture at one end of the space station and is locked into place.
The space procedure just described is realistic enough to be realistic enough to be a true rendezvous. Actually, it is a simulated rendezvous at the New York World’s Fair, due to open on April 22.
Space travel is only one of the scientific and industrial marvels you’ll be seeing at 1964’s biggest show on earth.
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