Astra: that didn’t go quite right…

 AARRRGH, awesomeness, news, rockets, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Aug 292021
 

This had a very “Early Atlas Test Flight Anomaly” feel to it.

This launch went wrong right form the get-go… but it did a *magnificent* job of recovering. It just wasn’t magnificent enough; seems it never did have enough thrust due to one of the five engines failing right after liftoff. Went terminally goofy at Max-Q, apparently on a command to terminate the flight due to being outside of its launch corridor.

This is the third flight for the Astra in a year… and the third failure. SpaceX also failed a lot, as did the Ranger lunar missions. if the funds and the will are there, they can fix the problems and make a success of it. *If.*

 Posted by at 2:15 am

Boeing: oy.

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Aug 152021
 

Remember when Boeing was a company of engineers, a company that could get the job done?

Sigh.

 

As should be well known hereabouts, I have great hopes for SpaceX. That’s both for their ability to get craft such as Starship working, *and* to make spaceflight far cheaper. But in order for them to truly succeed at the latter goal, they will need to be challenged by a realistic competitor. I would rather by far that SpaceX’s greatest competitor be another American company. Boeing, historically *should* have been one of those competitors.

They are not.

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 12:46 am

Now that’s *stylish*

 art, history, projects, science, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 082021
 

A 1963 USAF report describes work on an emergency “space suit.” It’s meant to be something that can be worn as a normal outfit and then zipped up at a moments notice in the event of a pressure drop. This includes a flexible helmet with a flexible “faceplate.” the end result looks like something out of a bad 1970’s pre-Star Wars disco-era sci-fi flick. Note, though that the actual test item is substantially less Giant Polyester Leisure Suit Lapels and more Cheap Plastic Poncho.

Report Number: AMRL TDR 63-82
Author: Seeler, Henry W.
Corporate Author: Aerospace Medical Research Labs Wright-Patterson AFB Ohio
Laboratory: Biomedical Laboratory
Date of Publication: 1963-09
Pages: 13
 Posted by at 12:35 pm

Super Heavy stacked

 awesomeness, news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 022021
 

Substantial grid fins…

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 7:45 pm

Books!

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, Book X, books, drawings, history, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Origins and Evolution, news, projects, rockets, spacecraft, SR-71 Origins and Evolution  No Responses »
Jul 232021
 

Two boxes with fifty copies of “SR-71” showed up yesterday. Woo! These will be signed and with any luck at all sold.

 

As previously mentioned, I’m working on a pair of 18X24 prints to go with the signed copies. if you’re on the mailing list, you should have recently received a message (or three… email continues to be problematic) about this.

Here’s a glimpse of the work in progress.

 Posted by at 5:19 pm

And now it’s Blue Origin’s turn

 Hmm..., news, rockets, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Jul 192021
 

Full transparency: I visited Blue Origins office in Seattle a while back and dropped off my resume, aiming to be a conceptual designer. That was… 2003, I think? I’m sure they’ll get back to me on that any day now.

Anyway, tomorrow (Tuesday) morning the plan is for Jeff Bezos and three other passengers to ride the New Shepard rocket to the edge of space at 6:30 AM central time.

 Posted by at 9:52 pm
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