A Ryan concept for recovery of the Saturn I first stage. Somewhere around here I have a report on using such a system to recover a Saturn I used to launch a Dyna Soar…
The idea was that the stage could glide back to a runway landing in Florida. As memory serves, in order to pull that off some propulsive capability was needed, such as restarting the engines and doing a retro-burn while still above the sensible atmosphere. The stage would return unmanned.
I’ve started posting my diagrams created for APR, USBP, etc. over on “Deviantart.” Unless I get bored and wander away (gosh, what are the chances of *that*), the plan is to eventually post virtually *all* of my diagrams, at a rate of about one a day.
Check it out:
Feel free to tell anyone you care to tell.
Coming soon to a sky near you, hopefully:
Now available: US Spacecraft Projects #02, the “Spaceplane Special.” This is done in the same style as the other US Aerospace Projects publications, but this issue is focused specifically on lifting spacecraft… and is more than twice as long as usual with more data and more diagrams.
USSP #02 includes:
USSP #02 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $6:
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Illustrations of a Martin concept from 1961 called “DEIMOS” (Development and Investigation of a Military Orbital System). Pitched to the Air Force, this entailed a modified Titan II launch vehicle, a standard cargo hauler and a scaled-up two-man Mercury capsule (this was before Gemini was finalized). The result was something akin to a smaller version of the later MOL (Manned Orbiting Laboratory). The Titan II described here (modifications unknown) could put a 10,000 pound payload into a 300 nautical mile orbit.
Capabilities and roles of DEIMOS were not provided, but it would presumably serve much the same role as MOL, though simpler and lighter weight: basic science as well as reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. The claim as of August 1961 was that if work began soon DEIMOS could begin flying in 1963.
I’ve made available to all APR Patreon patrons full-rez scan of of an article from Mechanix Illustrated, March, 1956. “Why Don’t We Build an Atoms-For-Peace Dirigible” was written and illustrated by Frank Tinsley and is, to say the least, kinda technologically optimistic. But it demonstrated a difference in psychology between then and now… sixty years ago, thinking this kind of big was not seen as crazy as it would be today.
If this is of interest, please consider signing up to become a patron. For a pittance per month, you get all kinds of aerospace history goodies.
The bulk of the drafting is done. A few more minor bits, some cleanup and annotations, and the drafting portion of the exercise will be completed.
I have been plugging away on USSP#2, pretty much to the exclusion of all else, for a little while now. Shown below is the current status of the diagrams. USSP#2 has substantially more diagrams than the usual US Aerospace Projects publication. The empty spots are for two further spaceplanes. I really wish I was a faster draftsman, but there it is.
Generally I release these sort of things two at a time, but this might be released on its own.
This is one of the more unlikely-looking launch vehicle designs I’ve seen… a 1961 Saturn I first stage with an S-IV second stage and a nuclear upper stage. In and of itself that’s not that unusual… but the upper stage is *really* long and thin and appears to be devoid of a recognizable payload. The result, if it managed to survive launch and bending forces, is that at burnout it would be accelerating *really* hard.
However, the great probability here is that this was not an actual serious engineering study for a launch vehicle, but instead a notional concept, useful for studying the whichness of the why regarding the use of automated systems for nuclear rocket preparation an launch.
As soon as I branched beyond just Bombers in the “US Aerospace Projects” publications, a series on launch vehicles became both inevitable and mandatory. I haven’t yet put any together, however. I’ve been thinking about how to format them. The series on Spacecraft, of which a grand total of a single issue has been released, is very eclectic, with everything from work pods to space stations to starships; I asked the “up-ship emailing list” if that worked, and the result is that the *next* issue will be focused on a single type of spacecraft, and the one after that eclectic, rinse and repeat.
For Launchers, though, I’m considering following a pattern for each issue. As with Bombers, Transports, Spacecraft and so on, each issue will cover eight vehicles. I’m considering:
1) Designs leading up to the development of the Saturn I and V
2) Designs derived *from* the Saturn I and V
3) Heavy lifters… Nova, Post-Saturn and beyond
4) Aerospaceplanes of various types (airbreathing and non, just so’s they’re launch vehicles not payload)
5) early Space Shuttle designs
6) Shuttle derived vehicles
7) & 8) Misc
Here’s the thing: early Shuttle might often be *two* designs… the Booster and the Orbiter.
Comments? Complaints? Suggestions? Large bags of cash?