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Titusville

(Encyclopedia)Titusville tīˈtəsvĭl [key], city (1990 pop. 39,394), seat of Brevard co., E Fla., on Indian River (a lagoon); inc. 1886. It is a growing, regional trade center. The construction in the 1950s of th...

Baikonur Cosmodrome

(Encyclopedia)Baikonur or Baykonur Cosmodrome both: bīˌkəno͞orˈ [key], formerly secret aerospace launch complex, Qyzylorda prov., S central Kazakhstan, near Baikonur (originally, 1958–95, Leninsk) but c.200 ...

Vesta, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Vesta vĕsˈtə [key], in astronomy, the fourth asteroid to be discovered. It was found in 1807 by H. Olbers. It is the third largest asteroid in size, with a diameter of c.326 mi (525 km). Its averag...

vacuum

(Encyclopedia)vacuum, theoretically, space without matter in it. A perfect vacuum has never been obtained; the best human-generated vacuums contain less than 100,000 gas molecules per cc, compared to about 30 billi...

Graham Land

(Encyclopedia)Graham Land, part of the Antarctic Peninsula, W Antarctica. This ice-covered, mountainous area was thought to be a group of islands but further exploration (1934) showed it to be peninsular. Claimed b...

Jesuit Relations

(Encyclopedia)Jesuit Relations, annual reports and narratives written by French Jesuit missionaries at their stations in New France (America) between 1632 and 1673. They are invaluable as historical sources for Fre...

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...

Alexander, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Alexander, Samuel, 1859–1938, British philosopher, b. Australia. From 1893 to 1924 he was professor of philosophy at Victoria Univ., Manchester. Strongly influenced by the theory of evolution, Alexa...

Armstrong, Neil Alden

(Encyclopedia)Armstrong, Neil Alden, 1930–2012, American astronaut, b. Wapakoneta, Ohio, grad. Purdue Univ. (B.S., 1955), Univ. of Southern California (M.S., 1970). A U.S. Navy fighter pilot during the Korean War...

presbytery

(Encyclopedia)presbytery prĕzˈbĭtĕrˌē, prĕsˈ– [key], in architecture, the space in the eastern end of a church reserved for the higher clergy. It was also known in the early Christian Church as the apse, ...