Risk

 art, awesomeness, history, rockets, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Jan 202020
 

So, SpaceX lobbed a Dragon into the sky, willingly destroying a Falcon 9 booster system to prove out the abort capability of their capsule. This was a ballsy move; had anything gone wrong, their opponents in government, industry and media would have pounced, likely causing SpaceX to have to delay for months or years before daring to risk an actual astronaut. Boeing, in contrast, opted to replace a very visible, very public flight test of their capsules abort system with a mountain of paperwork that, if printed out, very likely would have massed more than the capsule if not the whole booster.

And so I was reminded of this old, old TV ad for the financial firm AIG. I’ve posted this video before (going on two years, also referencing SpaceX), but damn if it just doesn’t seem relevant.

Every time I watch this the room somehow gets dusty.

 Posted by at 11:29 am

SpaceX Dragon abort test

 news, rockets, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Jan 192020
 

Well, here they go (hopefully):

UPDATE: the flight seemed to go entirely successfully, from launch to engine shutdown, capsule abort, trunk jettison, re-orientation, re-entry, drogue chutes, main chutes, splashdown. The videos cut off prior to the rescue boats getting to the capsule, but at this stage I image everything is hunky dory within the capsule. As expected, the booster tumbled and kerploded quite spectacualrly.

 

 Posted by at 8:14 am

Return to space: March?

 awesomeness, blather, Hmm..., news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jan 172020
 

SpaceX is doing an abort test of their Dragon 2 capsule tomorrow. All goes according to schedule, the Falcon 9 will launch normally at 8 AM eastern time tomorrow and 84 seconds later the capsules abort motors will fire. The Falcon 9 first and second stages will be destroyed, but the capsule will – hopefully – be successfully recovered. With that success and a few more tests, SpaceX could be ready to send astronauts to the ISS in March.

Pending test outcomes, NASA says SpaceX could launch astronauts in early March

The US hasn’t launched a human into space since 2011. A good argument can be made that the US ceased to be a superpower at the point, since it was now dependent upon another nation for vital functions. Falcon and Dragon sending crews to the ISS would be a good *start* at returning the US to superpower status, though to really deserve that title the US will need to resume the project of advancement into space. And that means doing something better than simply going in circles.

 Posted by at 4:38 pm

Sea Dragon Launch

 APR, art, awesomeness, Hmm..., projects, rockets, science fiction, youtube  1 Response »
Jan 052020
 

Apparently the Apple+ series “For All Mankind” ends with a post-credit scene of a Sea Dragon lifting off…

Giggity!

It’s an imperfect depiction (it’s far too submerged for starters), but it’s still spiffy as hell. If only it had an Orion as a payload, I *might* be tempted too plunk down the funds to spend on yet another unnecessary streaming channel.

If you are wondering just what the “Sea Dragon” was and whether it was a real concept… take a look at Aerospace Projects Review article on it HERE. That article was originally published as part of APR issue V4N6 and is available separately, or with a complete Volume 4 bundle.

 

 Posted by at 2:24 pm

Large format scanning in progress

 aircraft, drawings, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Dec 062019
 

As hinted at here and there, I’ve recently moved from rural Utah to non-rural elsewhere. One of the benefits of the move was that it put me a LOT closer to large format scanning services. Previously getting a large blueprint scanned meant several hours on the road and then a return several days later to pick it up; now the drive is a matter of a few minutes. Consequently, my rather extensive backlog of large format aerospace art and diagrams is finally getting scanned in bulk.

Behold some recent results, mostly involving early Titan III, Saturn and Dyna Soar studies:

Some of these will end up in the monthly “catalogs” for the APR patrons to vote on… and some will end up as “extras” for patrons, particularly for above $10-level patrons. If these sort of images are of interest, or if you are interested in helping to fund the preservation of this sort of thing, please consider becoming a patron, either through the APR Patreon or the Monthly Historical Document Program.

Additionally: if you have large format diagrams that you feel are of aerospace historical interest, let me know. I’m always in the market to buy, rent, borrow such things.

 Posted by at 2:46 pm

NASA space art: Shuttle contributions

 art, history, Hmm..., nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Nov 282019
 

Sometime around 1973/74, NASA put out a report on future aeronautics and space opportunities. While lean on technical detail, and devoid of diagrams (bah), it did have some vaguely interesting 1970’s-style art. The painting below illustrates some of the “other” things that the forthcoming Space Shuttle could do, like launch solar power satellites, lob nuclear waste into deep space and be used for point-to-point Terrestrial passenger transport. Yeah, about that…

 Posted by at 9:31 am

“Passenger Carrying Space Shuttle”

 art, drawings, history, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Launch Vehicle Projects  No Responses »
Nov 262019
 

Here’s an article from “Future Life” magazine, May 1979, describing a Rockwell concept for a passenger module for the Shuttle. This could carry 74 passengers, a loadout that seems perhaps excessive until you realize that it was meant to transport the crews who would build the miles-long solar power satellites. If this concept is of interest, be sure to check out US Bomber Projects #06, the Solar Power Satellite Launch Special. There, another concept for a Shuttle “bus” was described and illustrated.

 Posted by at 3:40 pm
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