We jacked our rocket into a vertical position, from which an interplanetarytakeoff could best be made.
A month before takeoff time, Craig, Klein and I took Etl, in a small air-conditioned cage, to White Sands.
They practiced for months at bomber takeoff from a field the same length as the deck of a carrier which had never been done.
After the first ride he would let us do the takeoffand landing.
I should mention here that Ullo was always playing cribbage, and he and Snyder would often be playing on the wing of a plane right up to takeoff time.
Without training, no one could manage takeoff and landing.
Then the monitors confirmed they were rotating to takeoff attitude, seven degrees.
In military aircraft they were used to produce surges in thrust during takeoff and dogfights.
On takeoff the vehicle rotated very nicely into a lift- off attitude of six point five degrees.
As he finished adjusting the cockpit seat, he monitored the roll-out on his liquid crystal helmet screens, calling up the visual display that provided pre-takeoff and line-up checks of the instruments.
An Army six by six came bumping across a bridge that led from the takeoff strips to this parking area of the airport.
Takeoff would be no problem, any more than it would for the other small transports at the far end of the strip.
There was little in his handling of the plane to resemble the fine takeoff of the morning.
It's light enough to takeoff now, fellows, so get going and good luck.
Down the center of the valley the wind had swept the snow clean and hard, ideal for a takeoff if there was room enough to get the plane into the air before it crashed into the ice on the shore.
Both Tim and Ralph knew that their real task, that of making a successful takeoff from the narrow ledge, was their biggest problem and they turned to it with determination.
Ralph lapsed into a grim silence as Tim and the pilot of the express ship prepared their planes for the takeoff on the eastbound trip.
It's possible this is an underground hangar for their vessels, perhaps an embarkation station, from which the ships were towed to the takeoff area.
Between them, the launching ramp stretched lengthwise down the runway, inclining steeply for the first fifty feet, then leveling out so that the cruel blast of the takeoff would be dispersed harmlessly over the edge of the precipice.
In a liner, the takeoff was little more than an inconvenience--and, despite exhaustive tests, there was no telling how an old heart would react to a series of blackouts.
Once before during the trip a forced landing had been made due to engine malfunctioning, and a successful takeoff was accomplished in spite of a moderately rough sea.
This time, however, storm conditions probably made the takeoff impossible.
He had to check the last and most important dial examined before takeoff; the one which told him that each of the fifteen takeoff racks in the ship were occupied.
When I entered the Phobos, I checked beneath the canvas covering on one of the takeoff racks.
He had to know that, because takeoff thrust on a human being not snugly in his padded rack would probably squash him to pieces against a bulkhead.
I got 'em all aboard, made sure they were secure in the takeoff racks, and then I set my coordinates for Earth and took off.
In fact, the gauges in the pilot's compartment plainly show that the ship's mass was, on landing, within a fraction of an ounce of its takeoff mass.
Stand by to start the takeoff and reel him in if I hook him, Sandy.
As the jeep's motor roared and the takeoff spun, Pepper was snatched from his perch and dragged helter-skelter through the wild waters.
The Indian fastened one end of the cable to the power takeoff at the rear of the jeep and coiled the rest of it with great care at the edge of the gorge.
