With all the hullabaloo about the reinvigoration of the Space Race recently, I started checking out the NASA website. Just came across a section called 'GRIN' (GReat Images in Nasa). There is a bunch of neat stuff in there, but this is probably my favourite so far. Heaps of stuff on the lakebeds and no doubt there will be some cool support vehicles in the background. But that's not what this thread is about. It's about that pioneering spirit and the brave/crazy guys that flew those experimental planes back in the late 50s and early 60s. Man... why aren't we all flying around in our personal spaceships by now? Neil Armstrong and X-15 #1. Back then he was 'just' a pilot. And here's one just because I can relate a small story about it. Back in 1979 I was a 12-year-old kid living in Kalgoorlie. It's a large country town about 400 miles east of Perth (where I live now). It had been in the news that Skylab was about to crash out of orbit and it would be landing somewhere in the Southern Ocean, south of Australia. Well... that wasn't quite the case and a few big chunks of it hit Australia. I can't remember the exact time, but it was around midnight I think, my dad woke me up. He'd stayed up all night keeping an eye out for this lump of space junk that might hit us. I jumped out of bed and in the southern sky you could see a trail of brightly burning debris, kind of like a whole bunch of shooting stars. Anyway, it didn't look anything like this.
OK... I've just found the best pic out of all of them. The description says... "Nichelle Nichols, NASA Recruiter" It's BLOODY Lt. Uhura from Star Trek! LOL Where do I sign?
Those firse 4 photos are closer to the space program than most realis. They were from the lifting body program that directly ended with the Space Shuttle. I love this shit! Thank you Brootal. Doc.
NASA has meant little to my life. My hotrod can do without teflon, and what ever else the investment in that sort of stuff over the years has given us.
Speak for yourself Holmes....... <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/v8OQMin-DpQ&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/v8OQMin-DpQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
nomex Mettalurgical research Faith in ones own country's ability to achieve the seemingly impossible.
FUCK that made me laugh!! OMG some people can be ignorant! I live literally on the other side of the planet and what the US Space program had done for us all affects me and everyone else every day. Just out of interest, do you have a colour TV? Used a ball point pen? Ever been to a hospital or doctors where they used an automated BP machine or had an ECG done? Anyone in your family alive after an accident?? Thank NASA. They have almost done more for the medical world than space flight! Doc.
The second pic is of the Northrup M2-F2. Remember the crash during the intro of the Six Million Dollar Man? That was it. Soooo, without NASA, we wouldn't have the bionic man! Rich
The pilot was Bruce Peterson who survived the crash but retired from test flying once he recovered. I wonder if he had relatives in publishing? Doc. (I'm such a NERD for this older aviation stuff, why can I remember all this but not my new cell phone number?)
I'm really amazed at how many people, even those from around the world, geek-out on this stuff! The projects are not as glamorous and the general public isn't as interested in "space race" stuff as they once were. Sometimes I wish I had a job pumping septic tanks with all of the poop I have to deal with on a day-to day basis. But, it is pretty cool when you get to see the end result and be able to say "I helped do that"!
I always wonder where we would be if they had stayed into the space program with the fervor Kennedy ignited? The same drive and focus? I always loved the Werner Von Braun ideas of space travel. The cool illustrations in Life and Look and Nat Geo back in the 50's and 60s. Where would we be. On Mars? Moon colonies.
The Black Bird SR 71 was the last aircraft designed on a slide ruler, can you imagine the R&D to accomplish such a feat,.................... Love that 'bird
I saw the actual retured to earth Gemini space capsule at NAS Museum (also slide rule designed). The window, being a last minute decision, had to be roughed in. Because of that about 1.5" of the backside of the main control panel was somewhat visible. If you put your eye right up close to it you wouldn't believe it! That panel had tons of toggle switches that were plain old store bought hardware with SCREW TERMINALS holding the wires on them! The harness was a RAT'S NEST. I swear it looked like a bad homebuilt aircraft panel. Can you imagine the balls it took to strap yourself to a rocket with an 18% failure rate and ride that shaking pile of crap toward what could be a very horrible and weird death?
Here's a great site with pictures, video and audio of the Apollo 11 mission, in case you missed it: http://wechoosethemoon.com/ And a headline from the day:
Well, yes they used slide rules, but they also had computers as well. Actual real electrical computers go back well into WWII. The US gov./military and later NASA too were obviously big early developers and users of computers for whatever they could find them useful for. I learned how to use a slide rule back in high school in the 70' from an old school science teacher. He made us learn it. It was pretty easy once you figured it out. Not that I could probably remember today. Also, the graphics on the slide rulers kind of sucks and no sound. Regardless, these pics are definitely super cool - Thanks! Reminds me when we actually embraced and looked forward to the future as a country and the world. Now, most think the future is somehow in the past - kind of sad really. Hell, a scary amount of us don't seem to even believe in science anymore or bother with things like facts, etc.! I like old cars and trucks to remind me of the past, but I also like my future to be just that, the future and better than the past. The guys in these photos weren't yearning for the good old days of bi-wing prop planes, as charming as they may be. They were after way more than that and you can feel it in the images. Thanks for the post! Enjoyable and Inspirational.
Don't forget rechargable batteries with decent life, gasket and sealing technologies and plastics improvements.
I'm still just trying to to figure out why NASA spent Millions developing a pen that writes in zero gravity while the Ruskies used a pencil.....
Space program-derived imaging technology was used to detect and stifle at least one Russian attack/invasion, comrade. And we really have no idea how many actual threats have been deterred by space technology. Do you believe the seven North Korean-fired Soviet-built missiles launched late in 2008 all fizzled into the Sea of Japan on their own? Get real.
..and lasic eye surgery, GPS, maps that are accurate to within 6 feet(i.e.real mapping or topographical maps), lasers, the jet engine (you know-the ones civilian airliners use-that would SUCK to fly cross country in a prop job), fighter jets (the ones that protect your freedom, but that's easy to forget), missiles, GPS guided bombs...well, kind of...I'm off the soap box, out of witty shit to say
I read a great article in Popular Mechanics interviewing Dean Kaman, who some of you guys may know invented the Segway, and lots of other cool crap. He Spoke at my graduation when I got my MSME. He said something along the lines of "We need to get our kids interested in Science and Engineering, and make Engineering mean something. Until our country celebrates people who do more than 'bounce, bounce, throw' all we're gonna get are kids who want to 'bounce, bounce, throw.'" True words. Cool post, thanks. Pete
Thanks for posting this, Brootal!! Very cool stuff. Growing up, I always wanted to be an Astronaut, because they get all the Tang they want. Malcolm
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