Color artwork from NASA circa 1964 depicting Apollo-derived logistics spacecraft. The BALLOS (BALlistic LOgistic Spacecraft) was studied by several corporations such as Lockheed and McDonnell-Douglas as well as NASA; the artwork was done *for* NASA, but it’s unclear if it was done *by* NASA.
The full resolution versions of these artworks have been posted into the 2015-11 folder in the APR Extras Dropbox. Please check out the APR Patreon!
A magazine ad from 1963 depicting an S-IV stage (with six RL-10 rocket engines, as separate from the later, larger S-IVb stage with a single J-2 engine) staging from a Saturn I first stage. It should be noted that the RL-10 is *still* a top-of-the-line rocket engine, more than fifty years later.
Sure, computer generated art might be more accurate and clear, but good ol’ fashioned paint has a life to it.
NASA has posted some new photos of the Antares launch vehicle explosion to their Flickr account. Some of them are *really* impressive.
Gentlemen… BEHOLD:
Be sure to check out the remarkably high-rez versions at the link.
Found this online a while back, thought it was a sadly entertainingly little metaphor for the US space program. Even more sadly, it would seem to apply to the last *40* years of the American space program.
Here’s an ad from the Feb 9, 1959 issue of “Missiles & Rockets.” It is for the “Astromatic Panel” concept, a missile launch display and control board system. Sure, it was probably little more than a metal panel with some lightbulbs, colors glass bits and an old-school mechanical numerical counter. But dayam, it sure looks like it’d fit in on a Star Trek: The Next Generation instrument panel, or on a modern tablet.
A General Dynamics magazine (“Missiles & Rockets,” to be exact) ad for the Atlas missile, from 1959. This sort of thing can really only be assumed to be public relations… you’re certainly not going to sell an ICBM to Joe Schmoe, and anyone in a position to actually procure an ICBM is certainly already aware of the Atlas.
However: the idea wasn’t to actually directly convince people to buy the Atlas, but instead to just keep a positive image of the Atlas in the eye of the public. In this case, the “public” would be the kind of people who would read M&R magazine… aerospace workers and military men.
Two McDonnell Douglas illustrations showing versions of their “Big Gemini” logistics spacecraft, and a similar concept for an Apollo-derived 9-man logistics spacecraft (not, seemingly, named “Big Apollo,” though that would have been appropriate). Both featured enlarged capsules to transport crew up and down, with an attached propulsion/cargo module which would be jettisoned to burn up.
All through the 1960’s – or at least up until the last few years, when “Great Society” spending ate into NASA’s budget – the assumption was that NASA would soon have numerous space stations in orbit and some preliminary lunar bases, with Mars missions soon to follow. In order to support those, NASA would have to have a cost effective means to launch sizable crews into orbit. A number of approaches were proposed, including Big Gemini and, in the end, the Space Shuttle. One approach that probably would have been quite workable was to simply scale up the Apollo capsule into something capable of holding more than three; a slight scaleup seats six, a further scaleup seats twelve. These would have been launched atop the Saturn Ib and/or Saturn V boosters, and would come with their own basic orbital maneuvering systems, and could carry up some amount of cargo in the conical transition/propulsion sections. At the end of the mission, the capsule would return to Earth for recovery, refurbishment and reuse; the propulsion module would be allowed to burn up.
Of course, none of these were ever built.
The full resolution versions of these artworks have been posted into the 2015-10 folder in the APR Extras Dropbox. Please check out the APR Patreon!
A Rockwell diagram showing the configuration of the Shuttle for ferry flight, with the aerodynamic tailcone.
A three stage vehicle to transport 10 passengers to space stations and the like. I’ve recently come into possession of a whole bunch of reports on the Reusable Aerospace Passenger Transport and Reusable Orbital Transport programs; at some point these might make the makings of an APR article.
The third stage bears a vague similarity to the Boeing Dyna Soar in configuration, but is an entirely different vehicle. This concept helped set the course towards the Space Shuttle.
