Jul 232022
 

Shortly after WWII the US Air Force funded studies on long range missiles, wit the intent of incorporating what had been learned from the Germans. One design, the 1947-vintage North American Aviation model 704, was derived (through numerous steps) from the German A-4 (V-2), but made longer range by way of adding wings and two ramjet engines. This would eventually evolve into the “Navaho” intercontinental cruise missile; an impressive but ultimately doomed system that used a large liquid rocket booster to shove a large Mach 3+ ramjet aircraft into the sky. In the end, ICBM were easier and cheaper.

The full rez scan of the diagram has been made available to APR Patrons/Subscribers at above the $10 level.

 

 Posted by at 12:40 am
Jul 222022
 

A little over a year ago I posted about a group of whackos, led by a particularly whacko whacko, planning on building a utopian ethnostate in the mountains. I suggested that they would turn out to be an endless source of entertainment; instead, they failed far too quickly for actual entertainment value. Never even got to the Donner Party stage. Sigh. But they managed to get themselves back into the news. This video lays it out, and boy howdy they seem like fun. The story, however, seems to be finally over.

 Posted by at 12:29 am
Jul 212022
 

This should prove interesting:

Buzz Aldrin is auctioning off the NASA jacket he wore to the moon, other items from time in space

The jacket is estimated at one to two million dollars. One could hope it’ll go to someplace like the NASM. One could backup-hope that if it looks like it’ll go to a foreign bajillionaire, someone like Musk or Bezos will step up to make sure it stays in the US.

The link to the auction:

Buzz Aldrin: American Icon

There are 69 items, a number of which are items that flew with him to the lunar surface on Apollo 11. It would be *fantastic* if they all ended up in the same collection… preferably NASM.

 

 Posted by at 8:04 pm