Dec 272013
 

Be sure to check out the Complete Catalog for all the drawings and documents.

 

Saturn I Summary

A 44 page NASA brochure (from somewhen around 1965) describing all the Saturn I vehicles that were launched. Includes diagrams showing the different configurations and provides mission data and highlights.

sdoc65
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The Retro-Glide Booster Concept

A 20-page collection of information on the Martin-Marietta “Retro-Glide Booster,” an early Shuttle idea for using a winged and recoverable derivative of the Saturn V first stage. A 1971 NASA Space Shuttle History Project document.

sdoc66
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NB-36H Aircraft Descriptive Data

30 pages of Lockheed data on the Convair NB-36H (the B-36 equipped with a nuclear reactor for test purposes). This comes from the Lockheed “Competitive Data Group,” which was Lockheed’s collection of intelligence data on *other* companies designs and proposals. This report, largely hand-written, provides a program history as well as weight and dimensional data, with a number of sketches showing the general arrangement and internal layout.

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Handbook on Guided Missiles

212 pages of a 1946 War Department report on German and Japanese rocket powered missiles and aircraft. This rarely-seen classic (scanned from a photocopy) provides a vast pile of information, including a great many diagrams.

adoc26
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Saturn Foldout

A NASA-Marshall publicity brochure on the Saturn V, dating to the mid-late 1960’s. Prints out full-size to 34 1/4 inches by 9 1/2 inches

sdoc67

 Posted by at 3:59 pm
Dec 242013
 

Well, now. Here we have the Apollo Image Atlas, which brings together a whole bunch of official Apollo Program photos taken on or around the moon.

One of my favorite sets is  70mm Hasselblad Image Catalog Apollo 11, Magazine S

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The Apollo Image Atlas can be accessed in the following ways:

  • Browse Image Catalog
    • 70mm Hasselblad
    • Mapping (Metric)
    • Panoramic
    • Apollo Lunar Surface Closeup Camera (ALSCC)
    • 35mm Nikon
  • Search
    • Search by Feature Name
    • Search by Coordinate
    • Search by Description
 Posted by at 10:35 pm
Dec 242013
 

Forty Five years ago today, the crew of Apollo 8 read a bit of Genesis to the people of Earth from lunar orbit.  No matter what your religious views, this was a pretty neat thing (unless you’re a bit of  a dick).

[youtube vFUx_KC1bHQ]

As reenacted in “From the Earth to the Moon:”

[youtube z_NZ4rSvBCg&feature=player_detailpage#t=209]

 Posted by at 2:14 pm
Dec 202013
 

Normally CGI reconstructions of historic events… meh. But this is actually pretty spiffy: NASA took photos and audio tape from Apollo 8 and lunar map data from the Lunar Recon Orbiter to reconstruct the famous Earthrise.

[youtube dE-vOscpiNc]

 

From “From the Earth to the Moon.” Note that the dialogue is reasonably close, for Hollywood, but not exactly as recorded.

[youtube JlV2YtCUnpg]

 Posted by at 9:15 pm
Dec 192013
 

I’ve recently brought up a few movies that I think touch on the popularity and/or importance of space exploration (the trailer for “Interstellar” for importance, the film “Gravity” for popularity). I was reminded of a 2001 TV commercial for the financial company AIG that impressed the hell out of me back in the day, though it didn’t seem to have *squat* to do with… errrr… whatever it was AIG did. But by combining the whiny cowardice described in TS Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” with the boldness and daring of the early space program, I thought it produced a powerful pro-space-exploration message.

(Yes, I know I’ve posted a YouTube link to this before. Bite me. I like it.)

[youtube At6F0M4bSP8]

 

 Posted by at 11:42 pm
Dec 172013
 

Not long ago I mentioned that there was a suggestion that China use the Moon as a launch site for nuclear weapons. Apparently, there is some subtle propaganda bolstering that notion:

Chinese rover diorama shows Europe being nuked

The photo is  Reuters shot, and being unthrilled with the notion of being sued I’ll just let y’all go look if you want. But it’s an industry show with a mockup of the Yutu lunar rover with a stock image of Earth (“Nuclear Explosion on Earth from Space”) as a backdrop…. but it’s an Earth with a ginormous mushroom cloud over Europe.

nuke

UPDATE: It’s *not* really a “stock image” so much as a piece of art posted on Deviant Art.

“EDIT: Many thanks to the chinese goverment for stealing & printing my work, with no credit. www.n-tv.de/wissen/China-will-….

I hope your Jade Rabbit falls into a ditch on the moon and is unable to recover, you communist bastards.”

 Posted by at 7:12 pm