a_v_bw_o_n (1959, NASA photo no. 219, poss. plate no. 3110, 10th IAFC Rosen & Schwenk presentation)
NASA artist's concept of the nighttime launch of a Nova rocket on a “Lunar Return Mission”, aka “Lunar Landing”. The image was part of a presentation entitled “A Rocket for Manned Lunar Exploration”, given by Milton W. Rosen and Francis C. Schwenk at the Tenth Congress of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), London, 31 August 1959.
The abstract:
"One of the significant human accomplishments of the next decade will be the manned exploration of the moon. Previously, the uncharted regions of the earth, the Arctic and Antarctic, the Amazon and Himalayas challenged the skill and fortitude of explorers. But these regions cannot long retain their status—the new frontier lies beyond the confines of our planet—on the nearest sizeable aggregation of matter in space—the moon.
Significantly, man’s exploration has been paced by his technical progress. The discovery of America was made possible by ships and sails of sufficient size and by advances, however crude, in the art of navigation. Oxygen masks made possible the conquest of Everest, and rockets—the exploration of the upper atmosphere.
The exploration of the moon is within view today. If it may be assumed that Project Mercury in the U.S.A. and similar efforts by the U.S.S.R. will establish that man can exist for limited periods of time in space, then a trip to the moon requires mainly the design, construction and proving of a large rocket vehicle.
In one concept of a manned lunar vehicle the entire mission, the trip to the moon and the return, is staged on the earth’s surface. A highly competitive technique, one favored by many engineers, is to stage the lunar mission by refueling in a low earth orbit. This would permit the use of a smaller launching vehicle but would require development of orbital rendezvous techniques. In any case, a vehicle of the larger type will be needed for lunar as well as other exploratory missions.
This paper presents a parametric study of vehicle scale for the direct flight manned lunar mission. The main parameter is the take-off thrust which is influenced by many factors; principally the propellants in the several stages and the flight trajectory. A close choice exists in the second stage where conventional and high energy propellants are compared. The size of the final stage and hence the entire vehicle is governed mainly by the method of approach to the earth’s surface, whether it is elliptic, parabolic or hyperbolic. The various methods are applied to an illustrative vehicle configuration.
Reliability will be a major factor in the success of any manned lunar flight. While no formula is proposed for improving component reliability, certain operational procedures can be used to advantage in enhancing the probability of a successful round trip to the moon."
There are multiple neat & amusing things going on here:
The exotic launch site; semi-mountainous, near a shoreline, inlet, or whatever it is, that’s deep enough to accommodate a battleship or destroyer, which I assume is maintaining watch. And it’s got palm trees! I’ve got it - it’s Nova Scotia...Southern Nova Scotia! Get it, NOVA...? Never mind. Obligatorily featuring the beckoning destination in the sky.
Oddly, the gantry looks like an elevated/stretch version of Launch Complex 36 at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), which I believe had yet to be built?/used, for Little Joe II launches. Being 1959, I guess there weren’t a whole lot of examples to draw from, especially for a rocket this size.
Finally, the folded up/retracted landing gear ringing the conical-shaped lander, are visible. The circular shape of the footpad of the one ‘facing’ the viewer is discernible as well.
Wait, wait, there’s more! M. W. Rosen is none other than Milton “Milt” Rosen, of Viking sounding rocket ‘fame’, the real deal. Confirmation:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Rosen
Credit: Wikipedia website
Francis C. Schwenk, possibly/probably originally of the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory/Lewis Research Center (btw, Cleveland Rocks) appears to have been a prolific researcher & valued asset to NACA/NASA. He even worked on the Satellite Power System concept, as late as 1980! Super smart, motivated, with longevity; traits you want in a rocket scientist. Also the real deal.
So, as part of a NASA presentation, I assume this to be an in-house NASA work, which of course substantially reduces the chance of artist identification, especially for something from 1959. Damn.
See:
www.alternatewars.com/SpaceRace/SP-4205/Chapter_01.htm
www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch1-2.html
Yet again, as is all too often the case, a superior & far more informative read - at a non-NASA site:
www.wired.com/2014/01/rosen-schwenks-moon-rocket-1959/amp
Credit: WIRED website
An unexpected & welcomed surprise. Although not an artist’s identification, a small win nonetheless, filling in at least a few additional pieces of a historical puzzle that no one gives a rat’s ass about...anymore. Despite such, I’m still pleased:
link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-39914-9
Specifically:
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-662-39914-9_27
Credit: Springer Nature Switzerland AG/Springer Link website
Last, but NOT least, the following obscure website appears to have the entire presentation available to view, which includes the artist's concepts. Bravo!:
dokumen.tips/reader/f/a-rocket-for-manned-lunar
Credit: Indonesia DOKUMEN website
HOWEVER, this presentation should ALSO reside & be readily available at some NASA or otherwise ‘official’ site, for free, with no log-in, no 'mother-may-I' BS required. Something like what the NTRS once was.
BUT, it doesn’t seem to be. Pretty historic, with ‘pictures’, and it seems to ONLY be available on an Indonesian document sharing site. Although I’m grateful, you’re kidding me, REALLY???
a_v_bw_o_n (1959, NASA photo no. 219, poss. plate no. 3110, 10th IAFC Rosen & Schwenk presentation)
NASA artist's concept of the nighttime launch of a Nova rocket on a “Lunar Return Mission”, aka “Lunar Landing”. The image was part of a presentation entitled “A Rocket for Manned Lunar Exploration”, given by Milton W. Rosen and Francis C. Schwenk at the Tenth Congress of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), London, 31 August 1959.
The abstract:
"One of the significant human accomplishments of the next decade will be the manned exploration of the moon. Previously, the uncharted regions of the earth, the Arctic and Antarctic, the Amazon and Himalayas challenged the skill and fortitude of explorers. But these regions cannot long retain their status—the new frontier lies beyond the confines of our planet—on the nearest sizeable aggregation of matter in space—the moon.
Significantly, man’s exploration has been paced by his technical progress. The discovery of America was made possible by ships and sails of sufficient size and by advances, however crude, in the art of navigation. Oxygen masks made possible the conquest of Everest, and rockets—the exploration of the upper atmosphere.
The exploration of the moon is within view today. If it may be assumed that Project Mercury in the U.S.A. and similar efforts by the U.S.S.R. will establish that man can exist for limited periods of time in space, then a trip to the moon requires mainly the design, construction and proving of a large rocket vehicle.
In one concept of a manned lunar vehicle the entire mission, the trip to the moon and the return, is staged on the earth’s surface. A highly competitive technique, one favored by many engineers, is to stage the lunar mission by refueling in a low earth orbit. This would permit the use of a smaller launching vehicle but would require development of orbital rendezvous techniques. In any case, a vehicle of the larger type will be needed for lunar as well as other exploratory missions.
This paper presents a parametric study of vehicle scale for the direct flight manned lunar mission. The main parameter is the take-off thrust which is influenced by many factors; principally the propellants in the several stages and the flight trajectory. A close choice exists in the second stage where conventional and high energy propellants are compared. The size of the final stage and hence the entire vehicle is governed mainly by the method of approach to the earth’s surface, whether it is elliptic, parabolic or hyperbolic. The various methods are applied to an illustrative vehicle configuration.
Reliability will be a major factor in the success of any manned lunar flight. While no formula is proposed for improving component reliability, certain operational procedures can be used to advantage in enhancing the probability of a successful round trip to the moon."
There are multiple neat & amusing things going on here:
The exotic launch site; semi-mountainous, near a shoreline, inlet, or whatever it is, that’s deep enough to accommodate a battleship or destroyer, which I assume is maintaining watch. And it’s got palm trees! I’ve got it - it’s Nova Scotia...Southern Nova Scotia! Get it, NOVA...? Never mind. Obligatorily featuring the beckoning destination in the sky.
Oddly, the gantry looks like an elevated/stretch version of Launch Complex 36 at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), which I believe had yet to be built?/used, for Little Joe II launches. Being 1959, I guess there weren’t a whole lot of examples to draw from, especially for a rocket this size.
Finally, the folded up/retracted landing gear ringing the conical-shaped lander, are visible. The circular shape of the footpad of the one ‘facing’ the viewer is discernible as well.
Wait, wait, there’s more! M. W. Rosen is none other than Milton “Milt” Rosen, of Viking sounding rocket ‘fame’, the real deal. Confirmation:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Rosen
Credit: Wikipedia website
Francis C. Schwenk, possibly/probably originally of the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory/Lewis Research Center (btw, Cleveland Rocks) appears to have been a prolific researcher & valued asset to NACA/NASA. He even worked on the Satellite Power System concept, as late as 1980! Super smart, motivated, with longevity; traits you want in a rocket scientist. Also the real deal.
So, as part of a NASA presentation, I assume this to be an in-house NASA work, which of course substantially reduces the chance of artist identification, especially for something from 1959. Damn.
See:
www.alternatewars.com/SpaceRace/SP-4205/Chapter_01.htm
www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch1-2.html
Yet again, as is all too often the case, a superior & far more informative read - at a non-NASA site:
www.wired.com/2014/01/rosen-schwenks-moon-rocket-1959/amp
Credit: WIRED website
An unexpected & welcomed surprise. Although not an artist’s identification, a small win nonetheless, filling in at least a few additional pieces of a historical puzzle that no one gives a rat’s ass about...anymore. Despite such, I’m still pleased:
link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-39914-9
Specifically:
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-662-39914-9_27
Credit: Springer Nature Switzerland AG/Springer Link website
Last, but NOT least, the following obscure website appears to have the entire presentation available to view, which includes the artist's concepts. Bravo!:
dokumen.tips/reader/f/a-rocket-for-manned-lunar
Credit: Indonesia DOKUMEN website
HOWEVER, this presentation should ALSO reside & be readily available at some NASA or otherwise ‘official’ site, for free, with no log-in, no 'mother-may-I' BS required. Something like what the NTRS once was.
BUT, it doesn’t seem to be. Pretty historic, with ‘pictures’, and it seems to ONLY be available on an Indonesian document sharing site. Although I’m grateful, you’re kidding me, REALLY???