Orion_vr_c_o_AKP (1964-69, GD/GA, poss NAR photo no. 700-01-116A)

A gorgeous model of a version of the interplanetary, nuclear-pulse Project Orion spacecraft.

 

Just me I know & irrelevant...to anything; however, I find the presence of the date/photo ID number to be perplexing, with regard to the subject, that is. Its format & placement, even the font used, is that of official North American Aviation (NAA)/North American Rockwell (NR/NAR) photographs of the time. If so, the first grouping of numerals might even be missing the normally trailing "8".

Orion - to the best of my knowledge - was primarily, if not exclusively, a General Dynamics (GD)/General Atomic Div. effort/proposal, and the USAF. GD never became affiliated with, nor consumed by NR/NAR. Further, Orion was cancelled as of 1964/65.

If I’m correct, why would NR/NAR reissue what I assume to originally be a GD photo, from ca. 1960-64? The program itself was never resurrected. And if not a reissue, and indeed by NR/NAR, in 1969…why?

 

Not surprisingly, there’s no shortage of material pertaining to Project Orion.

 

e05.code.blog/2022/03/28/0025-bx094-fd001_020/

Credit: The Superlative “Station E05” blog

 

And:

 

LOTS of FANTASTIC stuff here, specifically page 2 in this instance:

 

edan.si.edu/slideshow/viewer/?eadrefid=NASM.2003.0025_ref...

 

ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max_w=90&id=NASM-NASM....

 

ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max_w=90&id=NASM-NASM....

 

ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max_w=90&id=NASM-NASM....

All above credit: Smithsonian Institution/Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives (SOVA) website

 

Also:

 

www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/enginelist3.php#boo...

 

www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/images/realdesigns/...

Both above credit: ATOMIC ROCKETS website

 

A model of a different and the most prevalent variant in diagrams & literature, with the forward-located toroidal “crew/personnel accommodations” module/station:

 

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Model_of_proposed_Orion_N...

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

 

Other than the photos I’ve linked to above of what is likely the same model, my rather extensive searching hasn’t yielded nothing depicting/referencing the forward, transverse-mounted presumable crew/personnel module. Was it to possibly be used in an artificial gravity-inducing capacity? By rotation of the entire spacecraft along the central axis? I don’t see a separation plane between it and the "payload spine" of the vehicle - permitting independent rotation - which I naively/ignorantly would’ve expected.

 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

There is this...which bears some outward resemblance...however, these are "deployable" modules, that apparently pivot outward - à la "Pilgrim Observer", which certainly doesn't seem to be the case with the model:

 

edan.si.edu/slideshow/viewer/?eadrefid=NASM.2003.0025_ref939

Credit: Smithsonian Institution/Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives (SOVA) website

 

Amusingly/Interestingly, artificial gravity for the more prevalently rendered design was to be achieved by the “tumbling pigeon”/”baton” mode of rotation, with the spacecraft basically tumbling end-over-end…not during periods of active nuclear pulsing…of course.

 

newatlas.com/orion-project-atom-bomb-spaceship/49454/

Credit: “New Atlas” website

 

web.archive.org/web/20070704104944/http://ntrs.nasa.gov/a...

Credit: The WONDERFUL Internet Archive/Wayback Machine website

 

ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19760065935/downloads/1976006...

 

Finally...note the repeated nuclear detonation "weathering" of the bottom of the pusher plate.

 

I want one…IT. I hope it somehow survived.

Done