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report on project mercury
Apr. 22nd, 2011 08:32 pm
Found by my awesome housemate Matthew at the neighbor's garage sale: "Results of the Second United States Manned Orbital Space Flight" (or, big pdf).
I love that cover illustration.
Found by my awesome housemate Matthew at the neighbor's garage sale: "Results of the Second United States Manned Orbital Space Flight" (or, big pdf).
I love that cover illustration.
one hell of a post-doc
Aug. 6th, 2009 10:35 pmSomehow I sort of assumed that the Apollo astronauts were selected for their skills as pilots and their success in the military. It turns out that they were wicked smart too.
Case in point: Buzz Aldrin, who, after graduating from West Point and serving in the Korean War, earned a PhD in astronautics from MIT. His thesis is titled "Line-of-sight guidance techniques for manned orbital rendezvous". Its dedication reads:
Case in point: Buzz Aldrin, who, after graduating from West Point and serving in the Korean War, earned a PhD in astronautics from MIT. His thesis is titled "Line-of-sight guidance techniques for manned orbital rendezvous". Its dedication reads:
In the hopes that this work may in some way contribute to their exploration of space, this is dedicated to the crew members of this country's present and future manned space programs. If only I could join them in their exciting endeavors!Six and a half years later, he walked on the moon.
Do I look like a kid in a rocket park?
Dec. 24th, 2006 12:45 pm
F-1 Rocket Engine on display at Space History Museum, Alamogordo, NM. Dec 19, 2006.
In Alamogordo we visited the Space History museum, housed prominantly up in the desert foothills on "2001 Avenue" in an imposing copper-colored monolith of a building. The best thing about the museum is actually outside: a garden of discarded rockets and rocket engines.
Pictured here is an F-1 rocket engine, the most powerful liquid-fuel rocket engine ever made, five of which powered the first stage of the Saturn V rocket (on the way to the moon!) for the first two and a half minutes of flight. Here's a Wikipedia summary:
The F-1 burned two short tons (1.8 t) of liquid oxygen (LOX) and one ton (0.9 t) of RP-1 (kerosene) each second generating over 1.5 million pounds-force (6.7 meganewtons) of thrust. During their two and a half minutes of operation, the five F-1s propelled the Saturn V vehicle to a height of 52 km (32 miles) and a speed of 8,700 km/h (5,400 mph). The combined propellant flow rate of the five F-1s in the Saturn V was 3580 U.S. gallons (13552 liters) per second. The flow rate could empty a 30,000 U.S. gallon (113,562 liter) swimming pool in 8.5 seconds. Each F-1 engine has more thrust than all three space shuttle main engines combined.I'm not quite sure what all the plumbing is about;
Here's a pretty impressive picture of Werner von Braun standing in front of a rocket bearing these engines. I also enjoyed the V-2 rocket remains; it seems there's something very Ray Bradbury about a crashed rocket rusting amongst cacti and red soil. Had I remembered that the U.S. Space and Rocket Center is in Huntsville, Alabama, we might have had to go through that state!
(no subject)
Dec. 22nd, 2006 09:59 amLo and behold, the Space Shuttle might land at White Sands—we were just there! I saw some cryogenic tanker trucks hauling towards Alamogordo on US-380 out in the middle of the desert. Related? Now we are in Gallup, New Mexico, just a few miles from the Arizona border. Gallup is a "route 66" town with a very active rail line and a zillion motels.
![[Rochester from space (S115E06635)]](https://static.flickr.com/97/253046931_94132073a1.jpg)
