Currently scheduled for 10:45 PM Mountain time (12:45 AM Eastern). Live coverage of it *should* be available on the YouTube window below starting at 10:25 or so. This launch is sending an unmanned Dragon capsule to the ISS and, hopefully, a booster stage to a safe landing back at Cape Canaveral. The Dragon is carrying a new docking adapter that will allow automated docking of the SpaceX and Boeing capsules.
Update: Huzzah! The payload is in orbit, the first stage is resting comfortably on the landing pad.
My interview on the Space Show is now available for downloading as a 26 megabyte MP4 right HERE. This one covers Project Orion, ol’ nuclear bang-bang. The discussion kinda wanders around some.
So, download, give it a listen, point and laugh. I’m listening to it now and recognizing once again that while I have a face for radio, I have voice for print. At least this time, the audio troubles that plagued my last interview don’t seem to have arisen this time.
Every now and then ebay provides some interesting items that are just plain too expensive. One such is a Boeing presentation on using the 747 to carry and air-launch MX ICBMs. The original Buy It Now price was over two grand; consequently, the document remained on ebay for something like a year. However, I negotiated down to $250. Still too expensive, but crowdfunding makes it reasonably affordable.
I currently have about 9 people interested in splitting the cost. Nine plus me means the cost is $25 per person… suddenly not quite so horrible. If more people come on board, the price will fall even more. Twenty people total drops it to $12.50 each. Thirty drops it to $8.33, and so on. Each contributor gets a complete high-rez scan of the document.
If you are interested in getting in on this, it’s open to APR Patreon patrons at all levels. Check out the APR Patreon for this and other rewards. The most recent posting at the APR Patreon has a place to comment and express your interest in getting a copy of this document.
The opportunity will be open until the document arrives in the mail, which should be a few days.
NOTE: Not the best photos, but… ehh, what’re ya gonna do…
I have a new batch of physical media… digital prints and old-school cyanotype blueprints. What sets these apart is that they are BIG.
First, a book: Space Transportation System Diagrams. This is a collection of 27 wide format (the standard 11 inches high… but up to *40* inches wide) Space Shuttle diagrams. They are all official NASA.industry diagrams, painstakingly cleaned, depicting all aspects of the STS. Includes numerous instrument panel diagrams as well as structural arrangements, general arrangements, insulation/tile layouts, etc. This is available for $75. Ten were printed. NOW SOLD OUT..
STS Diagrams book: $75
Second, some very large digital prints of the Shuttle orbiter underside tile maps. Three maps provided… left wing, right wing and fuselage. They are all 20 inches high, with the centerline diagram being about 80 inches long. Shows you where every tile goes, all for only $30.This has sold out. If you are interested, send me an email and I’ll let you know when/if more are made available.
Third: 1/72 scale cyanotype blueprints, handmade, of the Space Launch System Block 1 launch vehicle. This blueprint is 24 inches wide by about 67 inches long, based on a CAD layout of my own creation and is available for $80.
1/72 SLS Cyanotype Blueprint: $80Sold out
All of these are likely going to be available for only a limited time. I’ve had ten copies of the STS Diagram Book printed; each is individually numbered. So far, one sold. The 1/72 SLS is also likely to be only limited print run; while undeniably awesome, it is kinda big, and I think I’d do better to replace the 1/72 diagram with a 1/144 version. So snap ’em up fast before they become collectors items!
As always with physical items, postage is required. A single flat fee is charged no matter how many items… if you’re in the US, you pay $10 in postage is you order one item or a dozen (so order a dozen). Elsewhere… costs a little more.
Several futuristic concepts here, several old ones. Of particular interest is the “Supersonic Multirole Fighter,” which looks like a cross between the old Lockheed Hopeless Diamond concept and the Northrop XST design… tailless with an inlet on top, with features reminiscent of the F-117, but blended rather than faceted.
Of these “Emerging Concept Needs,” several are distinctly old. The middle row of three designs are all 20+ year-old concepts.
A 1966 NASA film about hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, for employees who will work around those propellants. Just in time to help you with that hypergolic fire walking ceremony!
These Earth-storable propellants used to be quite popular (they fueled the Titan II and Titan III and IV core stages, frex), but are far less so today.
A General Dynamics concept for a logistics spacecraft (personnel and cargo transfer to/from space stations) from 1966. The VL-3A was a narrow lifting body design to be launched by a Titan IIIc, and featured flip-out wings and turbojets for runway landings. The VL-3A and other spaceplanes were presented in US Spacecraft Projects #2.
“Last Saturn V Rocket” in this context means “last unrestored S-IC Saturn V first stage.” It has been in storage at Michoud for 45 years, and will now be restored and put on display at the INFINITY Science Center. This booster was meant for Apollo 19.
Every time I see one of these I get a little bit more annoyed at Lyndon B Johnson who had production stopped in 1968. The Saturn V should have remained in production, with incremental improvements, into the early 1980s.
