He tried again, turned as an exclamation of dismay burst from the astronomer. Morrow bent to look at the plotting board.
Jones had sketched a circle of the Earth, placing it in the heart of the ellipse the space station was drawing around it.
From 9600 miles out, the line curved down and down, and down....
But it did not meet the point where the station had departed from its orbit 500 miles above Earth's surface.
The line came down and around to kiss the Earth—almost.
"I hope it's wrong," Jones said huskily. "If I'm right, we'll come in 87 miles above the surface."
"It can't!" Morrow shouted in frustration. "We'll hit stratosphere. It'll burn us—just long enough so we'll feel the agony before we die."
Jones rechecked his figures and shook his head. The line was still the same. Each 10 seconds it was supported by a new radar range. The astronomer's lightning fingers worked out a new problem.
"We have about 75 minutes to do something about it," he said. "We'll be over the Atlantic or England when it happens."
"Station I, this is...."