See Apollo 17 from the Statendam!

 AARRRGH, Gah., history, Hmm..., new products, Patreon, rockets, ships, spacecraft  5 Responses »
Oct 072014
 

In 1972 the Holland America cruise ship S.S. Statendam set sail for a spot off the coast of Florida where the passengers got to watch the launch of Apollo 17. Also held on board was the 4th Conference on Planetology and Space Mission Planning. This conference, as described at http://up-ship.com/blog/blog/?p=6879 , was a complete disaster. It was a sad, sad tale of lost opportunities and odd choices. It has also largely faded from memory.

I have a photocopy of the brochure selling the cruise and conference, and have scanned it in as a PDF. The quality is not spectacular, but it’s nevertheless an interesting bit of aerospace history. I’ve posted the PDF for $5 APR Patreon patrons over HYAR.

 Posted by at 10:30 am

Latest arrivals

 awesomeness, drawings, drawings&documents, history, news, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Oct 062014
 

A box of documents showed up today. They are loans, to be scanned and returned, but I figured some of y’all might find a few of interest. If you are interested in making sure that these sort of things are preserved, I recommend wandering by the APR Patreon and signing up. And just as importantly… tell anyone else you know who might be interested. The more people signed up, the more I’ll be able to do (and the more of these documents will be made available to you).

documents

 Posted by at 3:38 pm

PDF Review: “Advanced Supersonic Technology Concept”

 aircraft, APR, drawings, history, Patreon, projects  No Responses »
Oct 012014
 

After a substantial delay, I’ve posted the first of two PDF Reviews for September over at the APR Blog. This one covers a Ling Temco Vought concept for an SST from 1973.

 
Pages from Advanced supersonic technology concept study reference characteristics_stitch1

 

These PDF Reviews are brought to you by the APR Patreon. For as little as 75 cents per month, you can help me dig into the forgotten corners of aerospace history… and get yourself some goodies in the process. Head on over!

 Posted by at 9:11 pm

Patreon: September 2014 rewards

 aircraft, drawings, history, new products, news, Patreon, projects, rockets, science, spacecraft  No Responses »
Sep 202014
 

After a bit of a delay, the September rewards have been released. These include a large-format inboard profile of the North American Aviation F-108 Rapier Mach 3+ interceptor:

2014-09 ad2

And “Notes on Space Technology,” a compilation of notes by the Flight Research Division of the NACA Langley Research Center based on a space technology course given in the early part of 1958. A hefty 670+pages in length, this covered just about every aspect of space travel as understood in 1958. While I haven’t read the whole thing, it appears to be not only of historical interest, but also useful to get a pretty good general grasp of space travel science, principles and technologies.

2014-09 ad1

Also included for the higher level patrons are three CAD diagrams:

Boeing Bird of Prey stealth, manufacturing and materials testing prototype aircraft from the 1990’s

Zenith Star experimental space based laser anti-missile system, 1988

Hypersonic Test Vehicle 2, a maneuverable hypersonic glider for missile-launched warheads

2014-09 ad3

The September rewards are about a week and a half late in being released. Since I hope to get the October rewards out a little earlier than normal, that means that the September releases will probably be available for a short time.

If you would like to access these items and support the cause of acquiring and sharing these pieces of aerospace history, please visit my Patreon page and consider contributing.

patreon-200

 Posted by at 9:41 pm

PDF Review: “Advanced Atlas Launch Vehicle Digest”

 APR, art, awesomeness, history, news, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 282014
 

I’ve posted another “PDF Review” over at the APR blog, this time on a 1967 Convair publication on the Atlas family of launch vehicles. This document was originally found on NTRS… but it doesn’t seem to exist there anymore. I’m guessing it was a victim of the March, 2013, lobotomy that NTRS underwent.

PDF Review: “Advanced Atlas Launch Vehicle Digest”

I have the full PDF file available for download over yonder. If this proves of interest and/or value, please consider participating in my Patreon campaign.

YUNoDonate “Only people who hate cats refuse to donate to the APR Patreon. You don’t hate cats… do you?”

 Posted by at 8:09 am

Patreon: August rewards released

 aircraft, art, drawings, history, news, nukes, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  7 Responses »
Aug 102014
 

The rewards for my Patreon patrons have now been released. This months selections include:

Diagram: a very large, very nice layout of the Avro Arrow. This was voted on by the top-level patrons.

Document: a report on the Vought Regulus II cruise missile which includes some very nice layout and inboard diagrams of both the operational and test missiles. This was voted for by the top-level patrons.

Document: “Introduction to Kistler Aerospace Corporation,” a full-color brochure from 1995 describing the K-0 sorta-SSTO launch vehicle (which would use an “launch platform”).

Additionally, for the higher-level patrons ($5 and up) there are three all-new CAD diagrams:

1) The Boeing “Big Onion” SSTO from the 1970s, meant to launch Solar Power Satellite components

2) The Space Shuttle Main Engine

3) The Northrop Tacit Blue stealth testbed. This is, so far as I’m aware, the first time that a clear and accurate three-view of this aircraft has been released publicly.

I’ve changed things a little bit from last month. At each patronage level, there are different levels of rewards. Each level has its own message under the “Creations” tab just above the APR logo at my Patreon page. And in the upper righthand corner of each message is a little gray rectangle with “Zip” in it. This is the link to the ZIP archive containing the files for that specific patronage level. If you are a higher-level patron, this may not include all the files you are entitled to. You should be able to download everything from the lower-level patron messages.

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 Posted by at 1:48 am

Last chance for July Rewards

 aircraft, drawings, history, news, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  2 Responses »
Aug 072014
 

I’ve got the August rewards just about ready to go. When I make them available for the current Patreon supporters, the July rewards will be replaced. So if you are interested in the July items, time runs real, real short.

1) A large format diagram of the B/J-58, a Convair concept for a two-engine tactical B-58

2) A PDF document, “Manned Space Stations and Alternatives” which covers Gemini and Dyna Soar-based small MOL-like station concepts, and includes info on the Gemini satellite inspector/interceptor

3) Two CAD diagrams, one of the McDonnell-Douglas Model 192 ISINGLASS hypersonic rocket-powered recon platform, the other comparing the Titan IIIC with the Titan IIIC/Dyna Soar and the Titan IIIM/MOL.

If you’d be interested in helping me dig up and release this sort of obscure aerospace historical material, or if you want to get in on the rewards, please consider joining my Patreon.

patreon

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 Posted by at 9:22 pm

New aerospace acquisitions

 drawings, history, news, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  2 Responses »
Aug 022014
 

Thanks to the funding made available via my Patreon campaign, these recently arrived:

Document: “A Recoverable Air-Breathing Booster,” 1964, Chrysler Space Division. This report describes a ring to be fitted to the base of a Saturn I booster; the ring is equipped with either 4 or 8 additional H-1 rocket engines for additional liftoff thrust, as well as a similar number of turbojets to be used to return the ring-booster to Cape Canaveral for a vertical landing.

Diagrams: “Plans for Scale Model Construction of the LONG TANK DELTA” and “Plans for Scale Model Construction of the LONG-TANK THOR AGENA,” from McDonnell-Douglas, 1971. These came in an envelope, and illustration on which depicts the Delta rocket, the Honest John (the diagram of which I have previously obtained), the Saturn I, the Genie AAM, the Nike Ajax and the Nike Hercules. If anyone knows of the latter 4, please enlighten me.

These will be added to the list of drawings/documents available to my Patreon patrons to vote on.

WP_20140801_006

patreon-200

 Posted by at 2:58 pm

AeroBits: Shuttle Landing Passes

 history, Hmm..., Patreon, rockets, spacecraft  1 Response »
Jul 302014
 

Two passes – Public and Press – for parking to witness the landing of the first Space Shuttle orbital flight, STS-1. The government threat/verbiage on the back is a little creepifyin’ but I’m pretty sure it’s expired by now (probably expired the moment it landed). These passes were scanned at 300 DPI and are presented at Blog-Rez. Higher rez versions are available at the APR blog, and full rez at my Patreon.

shuttlepass1a shuttlepass2a

 

These passes were obtained via an eBay purchase, and were “extras” to the items I was actually after (detailed large format diagrams of the Shuttle flight instrumentation). This purchase was made possible by my Patreon contributors. So if you like this sort of thing, please consider contributing to my Patreon campaign. Every little bit helps! The full-rez scans are available to all Patreon contributors.

 

patreon

 Posted by at 12:25 pm
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