An RCA concept from some time in the 1960’s for an astronaut maneuvering unit that was to use voice controls. This would negate the need for hand controls, but it seems unlikely that 1960’s technology was quite up to the task. Image from HERE. Note that while the backpack is depicted in some detail, the Apollo spacecraft in the background is quite inaccurate and minimally detailed.
NOTE: this is the third official “PDF Review.” The idea is to present interesting online resources for those interested in the sort of aerospace oddities that you can find in the pages of Aerospace Projects Review. This little project is supported through my Patreon campaign; at current levels, I’ll post two such reviews per month. If you’d like to see more, or just want to contribute to help me along, please consider becoming a patron. This PDF was originally on the NASA Technical Report Server. But it seems to no longer be there… probably a victim of the needless security panic, NTRS shutdown and subsequent database lobotomy. So, I’m hosting the 17 megabyte PDF file HERE: Advanced Atlas Launch Vehicle Digest
In the mid-1960’s, Convair produced an unknown number of issues of a a magazine-like publication about the Atlas, this being issue #2 from April, 1967. This described the state of the Atlas space launch vehicle at the time… recent successes and configurations available or soon to be available.
Described and illustrated are the various strap-on solid rocket boosters, upper stages and payload fairings available. This is done with quite a number of reasonably high quality engineering diagrams and paintings, trajectory diagrams, data tables and graphs showing payload and velocity ranges. This “digest” would be useful for preliminary payload planning, for missions from 100 n.mi. circular orbits, to geosynchronous transfers, lunar impact missions and planetary flyby missions as far as Pluto.
The illustrations are, as might be expected from a 1967-vintage publication, all non-computer generated.
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Found on ebay, an artists impression of a Hamilton Standard concept for a one-man rocket propulsion system for use by lunar explorers. Dating from 1964, this is a “rocket belt” similar to that built and flown by Bell. The lack of atmosphere would give the rocket nozzles better performance than in Earths atmosphere, and the lower lunar gravity would mean that lower thrust would be needed. Still, performance would likely have been rather disappointing… at best a few minutes of thrust.
North American Aviation artists impression of the Apollo CSM and LEM, circa 1963. There are quite a few details here that are substantially different from the vehicles actually built and flown.
Found on ebay, a bit of NASA promo art depicting a 1966 Apollo Applications Program concept for a LEM Shelter. This would have been a more or less stock descent module with an ascent module without the ability to ascend. It would thus have been capable of transporting more cargo to the surface, including a habitat better capable of supporting a crew for a week or more. Transport back up to lunar orbit would have been accomplished via another LEM.
From 1973, a magazine ad for the Garrett Corporation (avionics manufacturer) showing Robert McCall paintings of the Space Shuttle system as then envisioned. At that point, the basics of the Space Transportation System were worked out, but the details were up in the air…
As shown here – which appears to represent a Rockwell design – the Orbiter features a “ridge” down the centerline of the cargo bay doors. This was originally where the manipulator arm (or “arms” as shown here) was supposed to go. The cargo bay was a cylindrical volume, and when filled with a cylindrical payload there would obviously be no room for an arm. So the arm had to fit *outside* that cylindrical volume.
Additional details: it was originally thought that exposed RCS thrusters on the sides of the nose would get roasted on re-entry, so they were hidden behind doors in earlier designs. The proboscis at the front o the ET was a solid rocket motor, used to de-orbit the tank. As originally envisioned, the tank would make it to orbit, or nearly so; it would need to be propulsively de-orbited so that it would come down over the ocean and cause no damage. In the end, the role of the orbital maneuvering system was bumped up so that staging off the ET was carried out just a bit below stable orbit; as a result the ET would naturally re-enter over the Indian Ocean without further effort.
And a lot of early art depicted the Shuttle with lots and lots of paint. Not only on the External Tank, but on the *underside* of the orbiter. I assume that this is just artistic license rather than anyone actually believing that white paint would survive re-entry.
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.
A 1963 Douglas concept for a simple lunar base: a small pressurized hab that carries with it a robotic “snowblower” that, under control from Earth, spews lunar dirt atop the hab. This is done to provide radiation/thermal/meteoroid shielding. If the hab is actually a “wet lab,” i.e. the actual upper stage, formerly filled with propellants, then this could be a reasonably cost effective approach. The robot is nuclear powered, but it appears that the reactor is not mounted permanently on the robot. instead, the first thing it would seem to do is haul the reactors some distance away, dig a hole, and then burying it (or at least place the reactor in the hole). Extensive power cabling would be needed.
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.
A 1963 General Dynamics film about the EMPIRE program (early manned interplanetary missions), starring Krafft Ehricke. Included are a lot of artists concepts that I haven’t seen before, or have only seen poorly reproduced before. Includes a color version of the Mars lander illustration I posted a few months back, numerous illustrations of manned interplanetary craft and several paintings of the NEXUS SSTO super-booster. It also includes Ehrickes trademark optimism about the schedule for manned space exploration… humans to Pluto by 1995, for instance.
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