A few years ago I found this in Jay Miller’s giant stack of stuff down in Arkansas. It was devoid of context, just a loose photocopy. Most likely it represents some Bell Helicopter illustrator having some fun spoofing the modifiability of the Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter. I’m guessing this dates to the 1980’s.
The AIAA-Houston chapter newsletter “Horizons” has published an article I wrote on a 1963 concept for a variable geometry spaceplane capable of both space station logistics and combat missions. You can download the May/June 2012 here: http://www.aiaahouston.org/
From the NASA HQ history office, a NASA chart illustrating the NERVA nuclear rocket as of 1968.
A 1955 NACA concept for a hydrogen fueled subsonic bomber. Cruise altitude was 80,000 feet; gross weight was 150,000 pounds; wing span was 345 feet; a mission radius of 4300 miles; a payload of 15,000 pounds.
A 1955 NACA concept model of a supersonic bomber fueled with liquid hydrogen.
From the NASA HQ history office, a photo of a Martin Marietta model of the HL-10. The ID plaque on the base of the model reads “NASA HL-10 LIFTING ENTRY RESEARCH VEHICLE,” but the interior clearly shows that this design was intended for transportation of crew, and possibly cargo, to space.
This most likely dates from around 1967, when Martin was studying HL-10-type orbital craft for NASA. This appears to be the “D/3” configuration, one of a fairly large number of HL-10-based designs. The D/3 was capable of carrying three crew (up to six) and would be launched atop a Titan IIIc launch vehicle.
The “Orphans in Space” DVD set contains a bunch of really rather odd old films about space, from the early part of the 20th century up to the 1980’s. The video of most interest to readers of this blog is a Martin-Marietta promotional video for the Zenith Star laser satellite, featuring snippets of a speech by President Reagan at the Martin Marietta facility (near Denver?) in front of a full-scale Zenith Star mockup.
The video was copied to DVD from a videotape, which is why the resolution is a bit low.
NASA-Lewis artwork depicting a simple solid-core nuclear thermal rocket, circa 1962.
A 1955 NACA concept model of a supersonic interceptor fueled with liquid hydrogen. Similar in design to the JP-5 fueled design, but with a ceiling of 80,000 feet and engines of shorter length due to the faster combustion of hydrogen.
A 1955 NACA concept model of a supersonic interceptor powered by JP-5 burning turbojets. With a gross weight of 25,000 pounds, it would be capable of combat at Mach 2.5 to 3.0 with a ceiling of just over 60,000 feet.
