Another one from Lockheed Horizons, a rare color photo of a later STAR Clipper configuration. This one-and-a-half-stage-to-orbit design dates from the early days of the Space Shuttle program. Much, much more on the STAR Clipper and its Shuttle descendants can be read about in issue V3N2 of Aerospace Projects Review.
One of the pleasant surprises from my recent trip to D.C. was obtaining a scan of a color version of an illustration I’ve only ever seen in B&W… the Goodyear “METEOR” spaceplane design from about 1956. This was part of a truly audacious plan put forward by Goodyear’s Darrel Romick and others to develop a “city in space,” a giant space station with artificial gravity and giant hangars for spacecraft.
The color seems to be off, due, likely, to the fading effects of half a century. But even after some “fade correction” processing, it’s clear that the spaceplane was painted red… an interesting choice.
And it’s a little difficult to tell, but a closeup focusing on the crew seems to either show that the heads were pasted on, or are surrounded by some sort of bubble helmets.
Much more on the METEOR plan is available HERE.
The latest AIAA-Houston newsletter Horizons, January/February 2012, has a brief article by me on the Phoenix-E tourism SSTO. Free to download!
A painting from an old issue of “Lockheed horizons” depicts a STAR Clipper 1.5-stage-to-orbit early Space Shuttle design lifting off from a desert launch facility (probably White Sands or Vandenberg).
Much, much more on the STAR Clipper can be found in issue V3N2 of Aerospace Projects Review.
A late 1950’s NASA concept for utilizing Atlas launch vehicle systems to send a sizable payload to the moon and the planets. While this never came close to being built, it was vaguely similar in concept to the actual Saturn I.
Another PR card showing an X-30 NASP configuration, this being a 1990 Rockwell configuration. It’s similar to but noticeably fatter than the earlier generic configuration (shown HERE).
You can download 6.7 and 2.2 megabyte JPG files of the illustrations. The links to the JPG files are HERE and HERE. To access them, you will need to enter a username and password. The username: the first word in the body of the text on page 5 of APR issue V1N1. The password: the first word in the body of the text on page 11 of the same issue. Note that both are case sensitive.
In the days before the web came to domination, aerospace companies and government organizations would stamp out glossy propaganda/PR informational cards by the truckload. The X-30 NASP (National Aero Space Plane) program was no different. Below is one such card released by NASA. Note that first flight was expected by 2000 or so… just slightly behind schedule at this point. The design shown here is the final publicly revealed configuration, with the wide flat “spatula” nose. Not shown in this – or pretty much any – illustration are the rocket engines needed to put the spaceplane into a circular orbit.
You can download 2.7 and 3.5 megabyte JPG files of the illustrations. The links to the JPG files are HERE and HERE. To access them, you will need to enter a username and password. The username: the first word in the body of the text on page 5 of APR issue V1N1. The password: the first word in the body of the text on page 11 of the same issue. Note that both are case sensitive.
A NASA illustration of the NERVA nuclear rocket, dated December 1963. Near the top of the engine are two vernier rocket nozzles for thrust vector control.
If NERVA is a subject of interest to you, I have scheduled a trip to Washington D.C the last week of March for the express purpose of spending an entire business week in a NASA archive doing scanning and photocopying and photoing of as much as I can, starting with NERVA, moving to SPS and then to early shuttle concepts. I’ve visited this archive before, always for no more than a day, and that was only enough to show me that they had a lot, not enough to let me actually copy what they had. This time will be different. To help me pay for the trip (travel is *not* cheap these days), I am taking subscriptions or investors or whatever you want to call it. If you give me $100, when I return I will send you DVDs that will include all scans, and scans of all photocopies, and all photos taken at the archive. This offer is good up to the time I leave; once the trip is underway, it will be closed. If interested, either comment here or send me an email: scottlowtherAT up-ship.com
You can download a 13.4 megabyte JPG file of the illustration. The link to the JPG file is HERE. To access it, you will need to enter a username and password. These are available on the first page of the Aerospace Projects Review V3N2 Addendum (available HERE) Note that both are case sensitive.
I keep getting asked the same questions, so I guess I should have a Frequently Asked Questions page for my downloads. Well, here it is.
Q01: How does this work?
A: It’s not an automated system. The way it works is that when you place an order through Paypal, Paypal sends me an email notifying me of the order. I then reply to the email address listed in the order, providing you with the web address where you can find your document, plus the username and password you’ll need in order to access it.
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Q02: “I just ordered a document. It’s been a whole 2 seconds, and I don’t have it yet. Where is it?”
A: I’m asleep/out buying groceries/fighting off hordes of zombies. I’ll respond to your email just as soon as I can.
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Q03: “I just ordered a document. It’s been a whole 24 hours, and I don’t have it yet. Where is it?”
A1: Check your “spam bucket.” Some spam filters see response messages such as you’ll get from me as spam, since there is a web address listed in it.
A2: Are you using the email address attached to the Paypal account? The response email with all your download info will be sent to the Paypal-listed email address. If you are using someone else’s Paypal address, or something like that, then *they* will receive the reply.
A3: On rare occasion, the automated Paypal system that sends me order notifications fails to do so. Thus I don’t know you’ve ordered something. Feel free to send a “where’s my stuff” email to: 
A4: Search your inbox. You might have gotten the message, but not noticed or recognized it. The header will be something like “Re: Notification of payment received” or “Re: Payment received from YourEmail@YourEmailDomain.com.”
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Q04: “I ordered a document for downloading, but the username and password aren’t working.”
A: By far the most common reason for this is either you’re typing the password wrong… or if you are using cut-and-paste, you are grabbing a spurious blank space. Try again, making sure to cut *just* the password.
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Q05: “I tried that, but it’s still not letting me in.”
A: The second biggest offender is your web browser. Something or other to do with cookies, or something. If you have another web browser (Netscape, Explorer, Firefox, whatever), try that.
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Q06: “I’ve downloaded a PDF file. What do I need to open it?”
A: Adobe Reader. It’s a free program.
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Q07: “I’ve downloaded a ZIP file. What do I need to open it?”
A: Any modern computer should have come with an unzipping program built in. If not, do a search for “unzip,” and download a program to your liking.
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Q08: “I ordered a drawing set, and can see the files named ‘XYZ halfsize.gif’ and ‘XYZ quartersize.gif,” but not the full size image. Why?”
A: Some of the full size images are quite large. Sometimes they are so large that operating systems and/or image viewing and processing programs simply refuse to show them. All of the full-size images I sell are viewable on *my* system, which is a bit antiquated… but that doesn’t mean that they will be viewable on *all* systems. This is why I include the “halfsize” and “quartersize” versions, so that everybody should be able to see the images. You do still have the full-rez image… try looking at it on another computer.
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Q09: “Ooops, I ordered the wrong thing. I wanted A, but I seem to have actually ordered B. Can I have A?”
A1: If the error is due to something screwy in the webpage – rare, but it has happened that a typo in the HTML coding can lead to this sort of thing – then I’ll fix you right up with a proper download of A. Keep the other item, free of charge.
A2: A slightly more common error is on my part… you order SDOC4, say, and I mistakenly send you the link to SDWG4. In that case, let me know, and I’ll fix you right up with what you actually ordered. Keep the other item, free of charge.
A3: If the error is due to you simply ordering the wrong thing… well… the problem with digital files is that you can easily make copies of them, and thus cannot really be returned. So if my policy was to automatically “correct” “mistakes,” then it’d be the easiest thing in the world to scam me right out of half my catalog.
So… no. If you wanted A but mistakenly ordered B, I’ll be happy to fill your *next* order for A.
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Q10: “I bought one of your documents, and want to extract the images from it for my own devious purposes. However, it’s password protected. Gimme the password. Gimme.”
A: The documents (air docs, space docs and APr’s, but not DCD’s) are password protected *solely* to try to minimise piracy of ’em. The documents will open just fine and will print just fine at high rez, but image and text extraction will present a challenge. I’ve had issues with people taking the data I’ve worked hard to find and prepare and then turning it around and reselling it (grrr). However, if you have a valid use for extracted images, let me know, and I’ll almost certainly fork over the relevant password.
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Q11: “I want you to add me to your mailing list.”
A: No can do. The system I use now requires that the person who wants on the mailing list add themselves (I can add you, or the system will think I’m a spammer). So, simply go HERE and add your email address.
I’ll update this FAQ as questions come in. Feel free to comment
Aerospace Projects Review has been re-working and re-releasing the original run of issues in order… until now. Just finished and uploaded is an issue that might not be expected… issue V0N0. Prior to publishing the first issue of Aerospace Projects Review, I put together issue V0N0, a short prototype issue that I released for free to see if people liked it and if it would be worth continuing with. There was much that could have been improved about that issue… and it has been improved. Issue eV0N0 is now greatly expanded to 56 pages… small by modern APR standards, but a massive increase compared to the original. The original articles have been greatly expanded, and all-new articles have been added.
Preview the issue here:
The table of contents for eV0N0:
The Drawbridge and the Pancake: One of the more unusual Space Shuttle configurations
Northrop N-31 Flying Wing Bomber: A series of turboprop-powered bomber designs
Martin XB-68: A supersonic tactical bomber concept
Aerospace History Nugget: Mach 6.0 SST: Three fuselages for the price of one
Kaiser Tailless Airplane: A flying wing cargo carrier
Boeing VTOL Intercity Transport: A jetliner that can land on your office building
Boeing Transport-To-Space: The spaceplane that needs to be assembled in space
Aerospace History Nugget: Curtis High-Speed Fighter Concepts: Hypothetical fighters designed for maximum speed
Aerospace History Nugget: Convair VTOL Tailsitter: An early VTOL jet fighter capable of supersonic speeds
It is available in three formats. Firstly, it can be downloaded directly from me for the low, low price of $6.50. Second, it can be purchased as a professionally printed volume through Magcloud; third, it can be procured in both formats. To get the download, simply pay for it here through Paypal.
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To get the printed version (or print + PDF version), visit my MagCloud page:
