PDF Review: Chance-Vought Apollo Lunar Lander design

 art, drawings, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jun 142019
 

One of the documents lost from the NASA Technical Report Server when NASA gutted it in 2013 was a Chance Vought corporation report on a simulator for their lunar lander. The “Apollo Rendezvous Simulator Study” from July 1962 focuses of course on a ground-based simulator, not on a detailed design of their lunar lander… but fortunately the documents do show art and diagrams of the lander. It is an odd looking little bug, with giant windows and a configuration similar to the Soviet LK in that there were no distinct descent and ascent stages, but a single manned vehicle that would leave the landing legs and some tanks behind when it lifted off.

Fortunately, even though it was scraped from the NTRS it can still be found on the Internet Archice/Wayback Machine. Huzzah!

Support the APR Patreon to help bring more of this sort of thing to light! Alternatively, you can support through the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.

 Posted by at 12:42 am

Forthcoming updated

 aircraft, APR, awesomeness, blather, drawings, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Launch Vehicle Projects  No Responses »
Jun 082019
 

Some further tinkering to the USLP06 diagrams. There will be further revisions (especially with Star Raker), but I believe this will be the complete set of vehicles shown. I had to split the set up into two separate files; the unified diagram set was causing my computer headaches. You might not think that 2D diagrams can overload computers that can render things in 3D, but you’d be wrong.

This latest effort has taken a *really* long time. Lots of work involved with this. As a result, it has been a long time since I’ve published anything else, and since my income is based on getting stuff published… yay, welcome to poverty. If you want to help out, consider Buying Stuff or subscribing to the Monthly Historical Documents Program. Even a buck fifty a month helps out.

 Posted by at 10:43 pm

Space Station concept art

 art, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, projects, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jun 072019
 

Two pieces of Boeing concept art for mid-1960’s zero-gravity, single-Saturn V launched spacecraft. The first one looks like an interplanetary spacecraft, complete with drop-probes in the aft skirt.

I have uploaded the full resolution scan of the illustrations to the 2019-06 APR Extras Dropbox folder, available to $4 and up subscribers to the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.

 

 

 Posted by at 3:57 pm

Ad Astra

 art, Hmm..., rockets, science fiction, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Jun 052019
 

This looks…interesting. There seems to be a whole lot in here, and a lot of it doesn’t seem to make sense. It’s clearly set a good deal of time in the future, but a lot of the engineering looks like it’s from the 60’s. The “space station” at the beginning is either hanging at the end of a space elevator at the upper reaches of the atmosphere or it’s violating the laws of physics.

 Posted by at 12:03 pm

“For All Mankind”

 art, awesomeness, history, Hmm..., rockets, science fiction, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Jun 032019
 

Ron Moore, he of “Deep Space Nine” and “Battlestar Gallactica” fame, is coming out with another new series that looks pretty fantastic:  “For All Mankind.” It’s an alternate history show where the Soviets make it to the Moon before Apollo… and as a result, the US doubles-down and, seemingly, goes for the “let’s conquer the whole damn universe” approach.

Downside: it’ll be on Apple TV+, yet another streaming service I ain’t gonna pay for.

I have often wondered if the Soviets succeeding would have led to the US either expanding Saturn/Apollo, or just giving up.For Apollo to have gone on to greater things, I suspect history would have required a different, better President than LBJ who squandered Apollo in favor of micromanaging Viet Nam and in bloating the budget with the Great Society programs.

 Posted by at 3:37 pm

May 2019 Monthly Historical Documents

 aircraft, APR, art, awesomeness, drawings, drawings&documents, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, new products, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jun 022019
 

On May 31st, APR Patrons and Monthly Historical Documents program subscribers were sent emails containing links to the May, 2019, rewards. This months set of documents and diagrams included high-rez copies of:

Document: “Manned Lunar Vehicle Design,” a General Electric paper from 1962 describing a direct-landing Apollo concept

Document: “AP-76 Project 1226,” a highly illustrated Republic Aviation report from May 1955 describing their design for the X-15

Diagram: “DNI-27C, VFX Design Study Fixed Wing/Buried Engine,” September 1968 North American Aviation fighter design

CAD Diagram: three-view of the Dandridge Cole/Martin Aircraft “Aldebaran” giant nuclear powered launch vehicle notional concept

 

If this sort of thing is of interest and you’d like to get in on it and make sure you don’t miss any of the forthcoming releases, sign up either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.

 

 



All prior “back issues” are available for purchase by subscribers. Recent months rewards have included:

 Posted by at 11:49 pm

RIP Stratolaunch

 aircraft, Hmm..., news, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jun 022019
 

In the least shocking news of the day…

Space firm founded by billionaire Paul Allen closing operations – sources

Right now it’s not official, it’s “sources say.” But Stratolaunch never made a lick of business sense, and going belly-up has seemed inevitable. As an ego project for a bajillionaire… sure. It’s no worse than a Russian oligarch or a Saudi prince splurging on a yacht the size of a battlecruiser; but once that bajillionaire is out of the picture – in this case, dead – the driving force behind it evaporates. And without a sound business case… shrug.

 

 

 

 Posted by at 2:48 pm

This appeals to me somehow

 art, awesomeness, Hmm..., science fiction, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
May 312019
 

A little CGI fan film based on the idea of “what if Star Trek technologies were available more or less now.” An American starship, an EU starship, a Russian starship. This is how it should be. Throw in a Brit starship, an Aussie starship and a Japanese starship, and I think we’ve pretty much got it covered. Maybe a SpaceX starship…

 

One wonders if any of the heads of CBS/Paramount ever look at what fans design and hang their heads in shame.

 Posted by at 9:38 am
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