S-63-05290 (NAA lunar lander, BP-25 & more - Hangar 135, Ellington AFB, DVIDS website download)
Hangar 135, Ellington Air Force Base, sometime during 1963.
Quite the assortment of no longer needed items, ingloriously stored in the corner. From left to right, I think they’re; the Big Joe (Big Joe 1) capsule (farthest back), a wrapped unidentified Mercury capsule (possibly from a Little Joe test flight?), BP-25 (maybe BP-1?), maybe BP-25’s (BP-1’s?) forward heat shield, an unidentified Mercury parachute/drop-test boilerplate capsule, and last, but not least, the exotic, NAA-manufactured, ‘JFK co-star’ concept lunar lander.
The large machine along the wall, to the left of the lunar lander is a Cincinnati mechanical press brake, a machine used for bending sheet metal & metal plates. So, fabrication of aircraft/aerospace parts was performed here? As part of making repairs? Modifications? Interesting.
In front of the covered Mercury capsule is a radial drilling machine/radial drill press, used for drilling, boring, reaming, and thread cutting, particularly on large or heavy workpieces that are difficult to move.
The above has caused me to rethink what transpires in hangars. Ignorantly & passingly, I’d vaguely considered maintenance & repairs, but not to a degree that requires press brakes & radial drill presses. Those would seem to be associated with construction. Then again, who’d have considered them housing above-ground pools with boilerplate capsules in them???
Image at/from:
share.google/161JXGTuROngSelLK
Credit: DVIDS website
A similar drop-test Mercury capsule:
airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/boilerplate-capsule...
Credit: NASM website
S-63-05290 (NAA lunar lander, BP-25 & more - Hangar 135, Ellington AFB, DVIDS website download)
Hangar 135, Ellington Air Force Base, sometime during 1963.
Quite the assortment of no longer needed items, ingloriously stored in the corner. From left to right, I think they’re; the Big Joe (Big Joe 1) capsule (farthest back), a wrapped unidentified Mercury capsule (possibly from a Little Joe test flight?), BP-25 (maybe BP-1?), maybe BP-25’s (BP-1’s?) forward heat shield, an unidentified Mercury parachute/drop-test boilerplate capsule, and last, but not least, the exotic, NAA-manufactured, ‘JFK co-star’ concept lunar lander.
The large machine along the wall, to the left of the lunar lander is a Cincinnati mechanical press brake, a machine used for bending sheet metal & metal plates. So, fabrication of aircraft/aerospace parts was performed here? As part of making repairs? Modifications? Interesting.
In front of the covered Mercury capsule is a radial drilling machine/radial drill press, used for drilling, boring, reaming, and thread cutting, particularly on large or heavy workpieces that are difficult to move.
The above has caused me to rethink what transpires in hangars. Ignorantly & passingly, I’d vaguely considered maintenance & repairs, but not to a degree that requires press brakes & radial drill presses. Those would seem to be associated with construction. Then again, who’d have considered them housing above-ground pools with boilerplate capsules in them???
Image at/from:
share.google/161JXGTuROngSelLK
Credit: DVIDS website
A similar drop-test Mercury capsule:
airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/boilerplate-capsule...
Credit: NASM website