A Boeing concept from 1983 for an Orbital Transfer Vehicle. This vehicle would change the orbit of the payload not only propulsively, but by using aerodynamic drag to slow the vehicle at perigee. When returning a payload from geosynchronous orbit, it would dive into the upper atmosphere and use aerodynamic lift and drag to slow…
Watch in amusement as these two witness “The Exorcist” for the first time. This is one of the most “Nope, I’m out” flicks ever made, and both recoiling in horror and laughing yourself fuzzy are appropriate and allowable responses.
Currently on ebay is an aluminum model of a lifting body. The rear of the vehicle is that of the M1 or M2, but the nose is distinctly conical. The lack of useful volume leads me to think that if this is a legit wind tunnel model (rather than something someone just knocked out at…
Bell artwork circa 1983 depicting the proposed JVX tiltrotor, which would become the V-22 Osprey. The cockpit and the sponsons display the greatest obvious differences from the aircraft that would eventually be built, but the design seems to be largely just about there.
A photo of a wind tunnel model of a Republic Aviation design for a Manned Hypersonic Test Vehicle configuration. The photo was published in 1969, but the program was circa 1965. It used a configuration previously studied as both an Aerospaceplane (airbreathing SSTO) and Mach 10 recon. That latter design was written about and illustrated…
NOTE: these are not new. This is basically just a test-post. However, feel free to purchase these… Now available… four new issues in the US Aerospace Projects line. US Fighter Projects #3 Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be US Fighter Projects #03 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue…
Three magazine advertisements from 1960, depicting the East German Type 152 jetliner (which would have been a *fantastic* jetliner in the late 1940’s), the Convair F-106 and the Fiat G91 T jet trainer. The full-rez scans of these ads have been uploaded into the 2022-10 APR Extras folder on Dropbox, available to all $4…
Over the years there have been suggestions of using “lithobraking” as a means of reducing the cost of transporting payloads to the lunar surface. As the name suggests, the idea is to use the lunar surface itself – the lithosphere – to slow the craft. Meteoroids do this all the time, of course, though in…
Art from 1966 showing the S-IVB stage as launched on the SA-203 flight of the Saturn Ib, launched July 5, 1966. This flight put an S-IVb stage into orbit and demonstrated engine restart in microgravity, needed on the upcoming Apollo moon missions.
While scanning for other topics, I also scanned this sizable magazine ad for Toys R Us from 1987. I found it fairly entertaining… there are some things that stood the test of time, a lot that didn’t. For example: the Sega and Nintendo systems are of course horribly obsolete, but these are fondly remembered *and*…
