View allAll Photos Tagged MSFC
Our ‘Moon Tree’ seedling that flew around the Moon on the NASAArtemis I mission is celebrating its second holiday season at #NASAMarshall. They really do grow up fast!
Image Credit: NASA
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #happyholidays
Read more about the Moon trees
Scientists thought Bennu's surface was like a sandy beach, abundant in fine sand and pebbles, which would have been perfect for collecting samples. Past telescope observations from Earth had suggested the presence of large swaths of fine-grained material smaller than a few centimeters called fine regolith. But when NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission arrived at Bennu in late 2018, the mission saw a surface covered in boulders. The mysterious lack of fine regolith became even more surprising when mission scientists observed evidence of processes potentially capable of grinding boulders into fine regolith.
New research, published in Nature and led by Saverio Cambioni, of the University of Arizona, used machine learning and surface temperature data to solve the mystery. Cambioni conducted the research at the university's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. He and his colleagues ultimately found that Bennu's highly porous rocks are responsible for the surface's surprising lack of fine regolith.
This image shows a view of asteroid Bennu’s surface in a region near the equator. It was taken by the PolyCam camera on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on March 21, 2019 from a distance of 2.2 miles (3.5 km). The field of view is 158.5 ft (48.3 m). For scale, the light-colored rock in the upper left corner of the image is 24 ft (7.4 m) wide.
Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #NASAMarshall #Marshall #MSFC #GSFC #GoddardSpaceFlightCenter #OSIRISRex #OriginsSpectralInterpretationResourceIdentificationSecurityRegolithExplorer #asteroid #newfrontiers #bennu #regolith
The winds that carve the north pole’s troughs of Mars also reshape Mars’ sand dunes, causing sand to pile up on one side while removing sand from the other side. Over time, the process causes dunes to migrate, just as it does with dunes on Earth.
Surrounded by frost, these Martian dunes in Mars’ northern hemisphere were captured from above by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its HiRISE camera on Sept. 8, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#NASA #jpl #jetpropulsionlaboratory #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #mars #moontomars #planet #space #MarsReconnaissanceOrbiter #MRO
In its second asteroid encounter, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft obtained a close look at a uniquely shaped fragment of an asteroid that formed about 150 million years ago. The spacecraft has begun returning images that were collected as it flew approximately 600 miles (960 km) from the asteroid Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025.
The asteroid was previously observed to have large brightness variations over a 10-day period, so some of Lucy team members’ expectations were confirmed when the first images showed what appeared to be an elongated contact binary (an object formed when two smaller bodies collide). However, the team was surprised by the odd shape of the narrow neck connecting the two lobes, which looks like two nested ice cream cones.
In this image is the asteroid Donaldjohanson as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI). This is one of the most detailed images returned by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft during its flyby.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL
#nasa #msfc #marshallspaceflightcenter #GoddardSpaceFlightCenter #Goddard #GSFC #lucypacecraft #asteroids #Donaldjohanson
NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission launched at 1 a.m. EST Thursday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A joint effort with the Italian Space Agency, the IXPE observatory is NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from the most extreme and mysterious objects in the universe – supernova remnants, supermassive black holes, and dozens of other high-energy objects.
Image credit: NASA
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #ImagingX-RayPolarimetryExplorer #IXPE #astronomy #space #astrophysics #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #solarsystemandbeyond
MSFC artist’s concept depicting an aft view of the Liquid Boost Module proposed to meet DoD launch requirements for missions originating from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Additionally, from the abstract of “SHUTTLE PERFORMANCE AUGMENTATION WITH THE TITAN LIQUID BOOST MODULE”, proposed by the Martin Marietta Corporation & Aerojet Liquid Rocket Company, and linked to below:
“The projected 24,000-pound payload lift capability for the baseline Space Shuttle, with anticipated orbiter and external tank weight savings programs implemented, will not meet the 32,000-pound payload requirements for the DoD Mission 4 from Vandenberg Air Force Base. NASA has selected the Titan Liquid Boost Module (LBM) to provide thrust augmentation during the boost phase sufficient to meet and provide margin for the defined Mission 4 requirements. The LBM will use Titan 34D Stage I engines and a cluster of four Titan derived 10-foot diameter tanks. The module will be attached to the aft end of the ET. This paper will provide a description of the LBM and discuss some of its advantages and capabilities.”
At, with a whole lot more, to include diagrams:
commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2565&con...
Credit: EMBRY-RIDDLE Aeronautical University Scholarly Commons website
“Mission 4" requirement:
“…The requirement to increase the Western Test Range (WTR) payload capability by 8,000 pounds is to satisfy the Performance Reference Mission 4 requirement of 32,000 pounds deployed and 25,000 pounds retrieved at 150 NM circular and 98-degree inclination on a 4-man, 7-day mission. This requirement encompasses all known, projected civil and military needs during the current mission model period.”
Again, for shuttle purposes, WTR applies to VAFB.
From/at:
www.gao.gov/assets/masad-81-6.pdf
Credit: GAO website
See also:
Credit: "The Unwanted Blog" blog
This week in 1983, STS-9 launched aboard the space shuttle Columbia from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center carrying the first Spacelab mission. Spacelab-1 was a cooperative venture between NASA and the European Space Agency. Scientists from Canada, Japan, the United States and 11 different European countries provided instruments and experimental procedures for more than 70 different investigations in five research disciplines: astronomy and solar physics, space plasma physics, atmospheric physics and Earth observations, life sciences and materials science. Here, the Spacelab-1 module is visible in the orbiter’s cargo bay. Today, the Payload Operations Integration Center at Marshall serves as "science central" for the space station, working 24/7, 365 days a year in support of the orbiting laboratory's scientific experiments. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage.
Image credit: NASA
NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, MSFC, Kennedy Space Center, KSC, Space Shuttle Atlantis, STS-9, International Space Station, ISS, Spacelab,
At the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the fuel tank assembly for the Saturn V S-IC-T (static test stage) fuel tank assembly is mated to the liquid oxygen (LOX) tank in building 4705. This stage underwent numerous static firings at the newly-built S-IC Static Test Stand at the MSFC west test area. The S-IC (first) stage used five F-1 engines that produced a total thrust of 7,500,000 pounds as each engine produced 1,500,000 pounds of thrust. The S-IC stage lifted the Saturn V vehicle and Apollo spacecraft from the launch pad. This July, in a series of special events, NASA is marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program – the historic effort that sent the first U.S. astronauts into orbit around the Moon in 1968, and landed a dozen astronauts on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972. For more pictures, and to connect to NASA’s remarkable history, visit the Marshall History Program’swebpage.
Image credit: NASA
The fourth and final structural test article for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) core stage was unloaded from NASA’s barge Pegasus at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Tuesday, July 9, 2019. The nearly 70-foot-long liquid oxygen (LOX) tank structural test article was manufactured at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and is structurally identical to the flight version. Next, crews will load it into a test stand at Marshall for critical testing. The liquid oxygen tank is one of two propellant tanks in the rocket’s core stage that will produce more than 2 million pounds of thrust to help launch Artemis 1, the first flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft and SLS, to the Moon.
Image credit: NASA/Fred Deaton
On March 18, NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) arrived at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for thermal vacuum testing at the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility, which simulates the harsh conditions of space.
The IMAP mission is a modern-day celestial cartographer that will map the solar system by studying the heliosphere, a giant bubble created by the Sun’s solar wind that surrounds our solar system and protects it from harmful interstellar radiation.
In this image, the IMAP mission was loaded into NASA Marshall’s XRCF thermal vacuum chamber where the spacecraft will undergo testing.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Princeton/Ed Whitman
#NASA #space #moon #NASAMarshall #msfc #InterstellarMappingandAccelerationProbe #IMAP #SolarWind #heliophysics #Sun #XRCF
Editor's note: Tonight There will be an Asteroid 2004 BL86 fly-by tonight between 10 p.m. (CST) until midnight (CST) (weather permitting).
Watch the Ustream feed from Marshall Space Flight Center here: www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc
Here’s an alternate site for viewing in case it’s cloudy here. A special broadcast from the Bareket observatory's Internet-Telescope. More details: www.bareket-astro.com/live-astronomical-web-cast/lovejoy-and-asteroid-2004bl-webcasts.html
Caption: This image shows asteroid 2012 DA14 and the Eta Carinae Nebula, with the white box highlighting the asteroid's path. The image was taken using a 3" refractor equipped with a color CCD camera. The telescope is located at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia and is maintained and owned by iTelescope.net.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC/Aaron Kingery
Circa 1969 McDonnell Douglas Corporation artist’s concept of a possible “Phase-A, Concept-C” high cross-range orbiter. As if the vivid colors weren’t enough, I provide - at no cost, other than your/my time - the following keen, astute & thoroughly pointless & inane observations:
- While the positions of the crew could conceivably - by the use of unseen restraints - be in a micro-gravity environment, this is obviously a gravity-assumed depiction.
- Note the comparative size of the crew-members, this thing is pretty damned big.
- Dual retracted, forward positioned air-breathing engine pods, each comprised of two engines, for powered landings.
- The odd, inordinately long access tunnel leading back from the flight deck to an airlock, apparently from which the nearby satellite was ‘deployed’. Evidenced by the open hatch/docking port? I can’t help but wonder if there was any provision/ circumstance in which a partial vacuum of the airlock was considered…to expedite the transfer of a flight crew member, sort of like the pneumatic tube thing at the bank drive-thru. 😉
- Immediately aft of the airlock, the work/repair shop, with what look like (rather crude) tools ‘hanging’ along the starboard bulkhead, with a mini ERTS-like satellite on an assembly line-like work jig. This actually looks like my father’s garage.
- Aft of the repair shop is possibly a comms, instrumentation, scientific operations bay? There appears to be a reel-to-reel data storage device in the forward port corner. That followed by combination sleep compartment/personal hygiene accommodations.
- No windows? Not even for the flight crew? Indirect observation maybe, via that periscope-like protrusion? Or ascent protective cover not yet jettisoned?
- There’s even a small conical horn just inside the tip of the nose cone. AHOOGA! 😉
- Most perplexing - visually - is the large white M.C. Escher-like fuel tank. To me, it looks to be both external & internal to the cutaway area - at the same time. The sloped segment, with circular hatch(?), which is flush with the flat dark blue ‘platform’ extending aftward, I’m unable to ‘see’. Whatever it is, the circular thing reminds me of an actual orbiter/external tank fuel line interface. Although I’m sure it doesn’t serve as such, I could’ve sworn I’ve seen some orbiter like this, with the recoverable(?) booster mounted atop/overhead. A dual-keel pontoon-like thing...I think.
WAIT ONE: maybe it DOES serve as such: "Lockheed also considered a ”triamese” configuration of its lifting body design, but ultimately rejected the approach since the booster/orbiter propellant crossfeed system only produced a marginal performance advantage while introducing additional complexity and operational risk into the design."
Recurring Equation...Theorem actually:
~1969 to ~1972 + shuttle concepts = CONFUSION
So, above bullshit aside, this might be the LS-112, the fully reusable follow-on to the STAR Clipper. Although the number of engines don’t appear to match, it does have the funky tunnel, which surely must’ve been unique to this vehicle. I certainly hope so:
www.pmview.com/spaceodysseytwo/spacelvs/sld025.htm
Credit: The incredible PMView Pro website (from which the quotation was also taken).
Similar. Subsequent?:
www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/?p=1426
Credit: Aerospace Projects Review website
Identification of McDonnell Douglas was originally based upon another concept, linked below, by the obscure but talented “H. Wynn”.
“SPACE TUG CONCEPT”
“Space Tug: Boeing
The Boeing Space Tug is a modular design. This concept was later developed into the NASA Space Tug. One way to tell the difference is that the Boeing tug's crew and cargo modules were spherical, while the NASA tug's modules were cylindrical.”
The above & image at/from
www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacetug.php#spacetug
Specifically:
www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/images/realdesigns/...
Credit both above: ATOMIC ROCKETS website
The signature looks to be that of Lois A. Smith, hence my posting, and therefore, a WIN. Please see my other postings of the few works of hers that I’ve come upon/identified. A talented & genuine trailblazer she was!
On April 1, 1983, divers and astronauts at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, prepared for the first satellite repair mission in space. Before the repair, the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger mission STS-41C spent months at the Marshall Center Neutral Buoyancy Simulator, an underwater training facility that is now a historic landmark. They used a mockup of the Solar Maximum satellite to practice retrieving the satellite and piloting a new Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), which allowed astronauts to travel in space without being tethered to the shuttle. About a year after this picture was taken, on April 6, 1984, Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-41C) launched on a mission to repair the Solar Max satellite. Solar Max was designed to study the sun but had a systems failure about a year after it was launched. The STS-41C crew chalked up a number of firsts for NASA: the first satellite retrieval, the first service use of a MMU and the Remote Manipulator System, and all of this on the Space Shuttle Challenger's first space flight. The crew retrieved Solar Max, repaired it, and placing it back in service. The Solar Maximum Repair mission provided engineers with valuable data that helped them design the Hubble Space Telescope for on-orbit repair and maintenance.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: MSFC-8334107
Date: April 1, 1983
“SHUTTLE ALT CRAFT AT MSFC ---- The Space Shuttle Orbiter 101 “Enterprise” riding atop its 747 carrier aircraft, arrives at the Redstone Arsenal airstrip near Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, Alabama, on March 13, 1978. It is to undergo ground vibration tests along with the external tank and solid rocket boosters, preparatory to Orbiter Flight Tests (OFT) in which its successor craft (Orbiter 102) will take several two-man crews into earth orbit.”
A wonderful perspective most often seen of the combination landing at KSC or EAFB, not MSFC…cool.
My entry for the MSFC on Eurobricks it's a micro dio of a Beam emitter complete with a tiny Pelican dropship from Halo.
The first integrated 3D printer and recycler is part of the cargo that was launched to the International Space Station on Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft’s 10th commercial resupply services mission. The machine, known as Refabricator, will demonstrate the capability to turn waste plastic and previously 3D printed parts into high-quality 3D printer filament (3D printing “ink”) to create new tools and materials. The demonstration will use control plastic recycled multiple times to create parts that will be tested for quality back on Earth.
Image credit: NASA/Emmett Given
Striking 1970 NASA/MSFC artist’s depiction of a “Mars Base”.
I presume as part of NASA’s grand Integrated Program Plan (IPP). Good regarding the IPP:
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2016/01/thinking-big-traf...
Credit: David S. F. Portree/“No Shortage of Dreams” blog
And:
www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/19690804_man...
Although of a different writing style, i.e., block letters, the artist’s signature, “L A Smith”, must surely be Lois Virginia Archambeault Smith. I mean, how many “L. A. Smith” NASA/MSFC artists could there have been in 1970? Another WIN WRT Ms. Smith!
With sincerest appreciation to J. L. Pickering for making the image available. And, if you want to see but a mere fraction of the world’s preeminent collection of space photographs, I HIGHLY advise you to explore Mr. Pickering’s FB presence. Prepare to be blown away:
And/or Twitter:
And/or YouTube:
www.youtube.com/c/RetroSpaceHD
And/or his website:
Win one of these in the Micro Sci-Fi Contest on Eurobricks!
First Place: 70701 Swarm Interceptor + 1st choice of MSFC Trophy
Second Place: 70700 Space Swarmer + 2nd choice of MSFC Trophy
Third Place: 2x CMF (Space Marine or Evil Robot) + Trophy
For the Eurobricks Micro Sci-Fi Contest (MSFC).
High above the clouds, mysterious floating rocks were discovered by a trainer taking his dragon Pokémon to never before seen heights. With this amazing new discovery, came an incredible new place for Pokémon battling at the Sky-Fi Stadium, which was built shortly after the discovery of the rocks. Sky-Fi stadium features seating for over 100,000, advanced training platforms, watch towers, and everything else you could possibly need!
The spectacular aurora borealis, or the “northern lights,” over Canada is sighted from the International Space Station near the highest point of its orbital path. The station’s main solar arrays are seen in the left foreground. This photograph was taken by a member of the Expedition 53 crew aboard the station on Sept. 15, 2017.
Image Credit: NASA
To follow NASA astronauts on twitter, click here.
“As part of the Space Task Group's recommendations for more commonality and integration in America's space program, Marshall Space Flight Center engineers proposed an orbiting propellant storage facility to augment Space Shuttle missions. In this artist's concept from 1969 an early version of the Space Shuttle is shown refueling at the facility.”
8.5" x 11".
Above, and in color, at:
archive.org/details/MSFC-9902021
Credit: Internet Archives website (always outstanding!)
With five, count ‘em, FIVE (5) engines, the distinctive, massive, yet elegant delta-shaped lifting body appears to be Lockheed’s Phase A design study of the timeless STAR Clipper. It’s obvious why this & variations of it were the “go-to” design depicted in a slew of artist’s concepts during the late 1960s/early 1970s:
www.pmview.com/spaceodysseytwo/spacelvs/sld019.htm
Specifically:
sites.google.com/site/spaceodysseytwo/stg1969/sclppr69.jpg
Credit: PMView Pro website
As if all of the above weren’t enough! It’s one of many beautiful & diverse works by NASA artist Renato Moncini…amazing:
www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/art_of_the_i...
This is a wonderful document btw.
www.facebook.com/therenatomoncinistory/
scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.18172-8/fr/cp0/e15/q65...
Credit: Facebook
vdocuments.net/fete-july-2013.html
Credit: ‘World Documents’ website
www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/sc-news/2019-02-01/green...
Credit: South Carolina Public Radio website
www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/greenville/city...
Credit: Greenville News website
www.lavocedelserchio.it/vediarticolo.php?id=16970&pag...
Credit: La Voce del Serchio website
www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/336087704866552-pai...
Credit: RR Auction website
www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/renato-moncini-painting-of...
Credit: Invaluable website
Excellent NASA and/or NASA contractor artist’s concept of space shuttle orbiters docked to, about to dock to/has just undocked from, an early space station configuration…as envisioned in 1969. The orbiter concept…possibly a STAR Clipper? Although, I think I’ve seen this design, with the conspicuous dual body flaps, merely labeled as a baseline NASA depiction. I’m pretty much shooting in the dark, relying on only sporadic synaptic activity, so who knows.
Finally, possibly a manned orbital telescope (based on the cutaway view) is seen co-orbiting in the background. It has a Saturn S-IVB? look to it though. Was such ever considered as a manned telescope? Or is it an AAP/ Skylab thing? Who the hell knows.
I’ve never seen this work, nor variant.
Note the verso, “FOR RELEASE”. Release of WHAT?! There’s nothing of value there! Although disappointing, it may be better than the inarticulate & incompetent content often found. Speaking of…an inverted version of this, issued by MSFC, bears the following on the obverse, “SPACE STATION OPERATIONS WITH SPACE SHUTTLES.” Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
Unfortunately, not a clue WRT the artist. Based on recent discoveries, Jerry Elmore maybe? Raymond Bruneau?
Even if the work isn’t by him, Raymond Bruneau, the real deal:
well in my interview last week josh asked if my micro apollo was for a contest, got me thinking, here is V2
“SAMSP---An artist’s rendering of the Science and Applications Manned Space Platform (SAMSP), one of several space station concepts under study by MSFC. The manned platform, a structure that would allow people to live and work in space, represents an evolution from the Space Platform, proposed for later in this decade, which would support scientific and applications experiments with electrical power and other services. Four or more crewmembers on 90-day assignments could live in habitability modules which would be installed in the berthing ports of the platform. As other such modules were added crew sizes could be increased and working schedules overlapped to provide a manned permanent presence in space. At one end of the platform, two astronauts are depicted constructing a communications satellite. A nearby remote manipulator system assists the crewmembers in extravehicular activity (EVA). A hangar protects an upper-stage rocket for transferring payloads from one orbit to another. Connected to the upper stage is a workstation where astronauts may plan and observe the actions of co-workers performing EVAs. On the opposite side of the workstation is a teleoperator maneuvering system resting in the half-circle pallet. Also under study now at Marshall, the maneuvering system would move payloads around in low Earth orbit and perform satellite servicing by remote control. Connected to the workstation is an airlock. A cylindrical Logistics Module, above the airlock, supplies the astronauts with air, water, clothing and other living needs. The entire cluster of modules connects to the Space Platform. Wing-like solar arrays provide electrical power to the entire system. The tall plate between the solar arrays is the heat radiator. One Shuttle awaits nearby, having just arrived with a fresh Logistics Module and new experiments for the berthing ports.”
Note also what appears to be a telescope of some sort mounted to the Spacelab-like pallet ‘berthed’ to the core module/hub.
I believe the “teleoperator maneuvering system” was later referred to as the Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV):
www.astronautix.com/o/omv.html
Credit: Astronautix website
Also, associated with the fourth image, a crop:
“This illustration from 1981 depicts the assembly of a large telecommunications antenna (right) at the Science & Applications Manned Space Platform.”
At/from:
www.pmview.com/spaceodysseytwo/station/sld004.htm
Credit: PMView Pro website
And:
“American manned space station.
While NASA/Johnson was studying the Space Operations Center concept, the Marshall Space Flight Center was lobbying for its own station -- the Science and Applications Manned Space Platform (SAMSP).
Status: Study 1980.
MSFC envisioned a series of cheap 'platforms' costing only $500 million that could be outfitted for different missions. One mission would be to service spacecraft such as the Hubble Space Telescope. The platform would provide power, communications, thermal control and other services for standard Shuttle payload experiments -- it essentially served as a surrogate Shuttle payload bay. SAMSP could gradually evolve into a manned space station by adding pressurized crew modules derived from Spacelab. Initially, SAMSP would have a crew of three to four astronauts.
NASA/Marshall issued a number of Science and Applications Manned Space Platform contracts to McDonnell-Douglas and TRW in 1980. A 1981 unmanned TRW platform design carried three Spacelab unpressurised experiment pallets, including a space telescope. Two large solar panel 'wings' generated power while the radiator dumped excess heat produced by the experiments. The unmanned TRW platform could be customized for different missions. The TRW platform could be transformed into a human-tended microgravity laboratory by adding Spacelab pressurized modules. These would contain sensitive experiments and be replaced at regular intervals by visiting Space Shuttles.
Article by Marcus Lindroos”
At, also with the cropped image:
www.astronautix.com/s/scienceandaspaceplatform.html
Credit: Astronautix website
Finally:
“A large antenna is under construction in this concept of a space station by McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co., designed under contract with NASA.”
At, with the full image, on page 14:
docshare01.docshare.tips/files/4606/46060281.pdf
Credit: “NASA Space Station” (EP-211), 1985, by David A. Anderton
As if all of that wasn't enough...it's by NASA/MSFC artist Euel “Dean” Cagle. A beautiful & detailed work and another WIN.
Despite my initial justified doubt regarding the “communications satellite"/“large antenna", I suppose the presence of a subreflector & feed cone confirms it being an antenna. So then, A ‘communications’ antenna…as part of a “satellite”? It sure doesn’t look like a satellite. It looks like it’s attached to/at the end of the truss. Who knows/cares:
ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19890014145/downloads/1989001...
Or, it's a telescope...way ahead of it's time if so. Check this out, the JWST. It's gorgeous and pretty much a spitting image:
scienceworld.scholastic.com/content/dam/classroom-magazin...
Credit: James Vaughan/Science World/Scholastic website
And, get this, the Mr. Vaughan cited is none other than that of 'x-ray delta one' fame, here on this image hosting "service":
www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/albums
Wow:
An amazingly talented gentleman.
Posted primarily for my own edification, to serve as a ‘marker’ for possible/hopeful future identification of the artist responsible. Note what appears to be “M.R.” in the lower right-hand corner of Quadrant I of the LM descent stage. Although I’m confident of the “M” & “R”, I might be off regarding the markings to the right of each letter. I’m guessing accentuated/stylized(?) periods. Or, maybe not. Who knows.
Regardless, it's by an MSFC artist, in 1967, with the initials M.R.
In another first for NASA, an all-female crew of scientific experimenters began a five-day exercise on December 16, 1974, to test the feasibility of experiments that were later tested on the Space Shuttle/Spacelab missions. The experimenters, Dr. Mary H. Johnston (seated, left), Ann F. Whitaker and Carolyn S. Griner (standing, left to right), and the crew chief, Doris Chandler, spent spend eight hours each day of the mission in the Marshall Space Flight Centers General Purpose Laboratory (GPL). They conducted 11 selected experiments in materials science to determine their practical application for Spacelab missions and to identify integration and operational problems that might occur on actual missions.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: 565782
Date: November 13, 1974
“Saturn SA-1
Open house – 1961
Manufacturing Engineering Div
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Alabama”
The above is beautifully handwritten by pen, in cursive, on the verso. Obviously by someone intelligent, articulate, possessing excellent penmanship and MOST importantly, ‘in the know’. Therefore, SA-1 it is. Which is what I assumed, despite not a single bit of documentation, etc., that I’ve come across that clearly states such.
Several (of the few) sources have namby-pamby descriptions/wording of the iconic views of the rocket in this horizontally ‘assembled’ & displayed state – that can be interpreted to imply that it’s SA-1…kinda/sorta/maybe.
But, if it's not...oh well. At least I made a legitimate attempt. Which is more than I can say about those whose responsibility it was/should’ve been.
The “Space Launch Report” website, the LONE site which actually referred to it as SA-1 is history, the domain having expired. A HUGE loss for someone such as myself, or anyone else conscientiously attempting to accurately catalog & preserve NASA photographic history…which obviously exceeds their ability/capability.
The caption affixed to another very similar black & white NASA-MSFC issued photograph, date stamped “JUL 7 ‘61” reads as follows:
An estimated 45,000 to 50,000 persons streamed through the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA, during the Center's "Space Day" open house, commemorating the first anniversary of the establishment of the Center. In this picture, visitors view a three-stage Saturn C-1 in an assembly hangar. This rocket is identical to the first Saturn which will be launched later this year.
And finally, from the May 1974 iteration of “AN ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGY OF THE NASA MARSHALL CENTER AND MSFC PROGRAMS 1960-1973”:
An estimated 45,000 to 50,000 "Space Day" visitors attended MSFC's first open house on July 1. Attending were such national figures as the NASA Administrator James E. Webb; the Director of NASA Launch Vehicle Programs, Maj. Don Ostrander; and numerous other national state, and local dignitaries. Most of the visitors observed one of the four Saturn H-1 engine static firings during the day.”
A rare, delightful unicorn containing valuable (IMHO) historical information, and brimming with wonderful nostalgia. And it’s on that exquisite super-duper smooth glossy film-like ‘paper’. You really gotta see/feel it to appreciate it…seriously.
The two exaggeratedly rectangular, tripod-mounted cameras (to the lower right) look to be, to me, Polaroid Pathfinders (110/110A/110B/120?), or 800’s maybe? It even looks like the fellow is either loading film or about to pull an exposed ‘shot’ out of one of them.
camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Polaroid_Pathfinder
Credit FANDOM/CAMERAPEDIA website
Finally, note the congregation of primarily males, their attention focused on the fetching young lady wearing the “SPACE(?) PRINCESS” sash. And to her right appears to be a queen and another sash-wearing “SPACE(?) PRINCESS”. So, obviously, the queen and her court…possibly from an on-site(?) MSFC parade earlier in the day.
“On 10 June 1977, former Skylab Deputy Director John Disher, NASA's Director of Advanced Programs, directed NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama, to conduct an in-house study of the feasibility of reusing Skylab in the Space Shuttle program. On 16 November 1977, MSFC engineers J. Murphy, B. Chubb, and H. Gierow presented results of the study to NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight John Yardley. Before coming to NASA in 1974, Yardley had managed Skylab assembly at McDonnell Douglas, the Orbital Workshop's prime contractor.
The MSFC engineers first assessed Skylab's condition. They reported that when the Skylab 4 crew returned to Earth, the Orbital Workshop's water system contained 1930 pounds of water (enough to supply three men for 60 days). The water, they said, probably remained potable, but could have developed a bad taste. If not still potable, it could be used for bathing. In any case, the Skylab water system included resupply points, so a Space Shuttle crew could replenish it if water transfer equipment were developed.
The oxygen/nitrogen supply remaining on Skylab was probably sufficient to supply three men for 140 days at Skylab's operating pressure of five pounds per square inch, the MSFC engineers estimated. The ventilation and carbon dioxide removal systems were almost certainly functional. Even if they were not, their most important components were designed to be replaceable in space.
The MSFC engineers also assessed Skylab's electrical power system. They estimated that the main solar array Conrad and Kerwin had freed could still generate between 1.5 and 2.5 kilowatts (KW) of electricity, and that the batteries it had charged, located in Skylab's Airlock Module, were probably still usable. The batteries for the ATM arrays, on the other hand, were almost certainly frozen. They recommended that controllers reactivate the main array electrical system from the ground before the first Shuttle visit, and that any effort to revive the ATM electrical system be left until a later time.
More problematic than the electrical system was the attitude control system, which relied on a trio of Control Moment Gyros (CMGs) to turn Skylab so that, among other things, it could point its solar arrays at the Sun. One CMG had failed and another showed signs of impending failure. In addition, Skylab's guidance computer was probably dead after being subjected to "extreme thermal cycling." The Orbital Workshop's thruster system, on the other hand, was probably operational with about 30 days of propellant remaining.
Finally, the MSFC team looked at Skylab's cooling system, which had leaked while the astronauts were on board and had probably frozen and ruptured since the last crew returned to Earth. They called "serviceability of [the] cooling system. . .the most questionable area" as far as Skylab's reusability was concerned, but added that "any inflight 'fixes' should be well within the scope of crew capability."
The MSFC engineers then proposed a four-phase plan for reactivating and reusing Skylab. The target date for the first Phase I milestone had already passed by the time they briefed Yardley: they called for an October 1977 decision on whether Skylab should be reboosted to a higher orbit, extending its orbital lifetime until about 1990, or deboosted so that it would reenter over an unpopulated area.
Assuming that NASA decided to reboost Skylab, then a ground reactivation test would occur between June 1978 and March 1979. If the reactivation test was successful, then a Space Shuttle Orbiter would rendezvous with Skylab during the Shuttle Program's fifth Orbital Flight Test mission in February 1980. The Orbiter would conduct an inspection fly-around, then deploy an unmanned Teleoperator spacecraft from its payload bay. Using a control panel on the Shuttle, the astronauts would guide the Teleoperator, which would carry an Apollo-type probe docking unit, to a docking with the front docking port on Skylab's Multiple Docking Adapter. The Teleoperator would then fire its thrusters to raise Skylab's orbit. Its work done, it would then detach, freeing up the front port for Phase II of MSFC's plan.
Phase II would begin in March 1980, when NASA would initiate development of Skylab refurbishment kits, a 10-foot-long Docking Adapter (DA), and a 25-KW Power Module (PM). The DA would include at one end an Apollo-type probe docking unit for attaching it to Skylab's front port and at the other end an Apollo-Soyuz-type androgynous unit to which Shuttle Orbiters and the PM could dock.
The first refurbishment kit and the DA would reach Skylab on board a Shuttle Orbiter in January 1982. During the same mission, spacewalking Shuttle astronauts would fold two of the four ATM solar arrays to improve clearance for visiting Orbiters and would retrieve the meteoroid experiment the Skylab 4 astronauts had left on the ATM.
A second Shuttle visit in August 1983 would bring additional refurbishment kits and would repair Skylab's damaged cooling system plumbing. As time allowed, the Phase II crews would perform undefined "simple passive experiments" on board Skylab and would collect samples of its structure for analysis on Earth.
Phase III would begin in March 1984 with delivery of the PM and any remaining refurbishment kits, the MSFC engineers told Yardley. Using the Shuttle's Remote Manipulator System robot arm, astronauts would lift the PM from the Orbiter's payload bay and turn it 180° so that it protruded forward well beyond the Orbiter's nose. They would then dock one of the PM's three androgynous docking units to an identical unit at the front of the Orbiter's payload bay. The Shuttle would use another of the PM's docking units to dock with the DA on Skylab.
Following docking with Skylab, the astronauts would deploy the PM's twin solar arrays and thermal radiators, link it to Skylab's systems by cables extended through open hatchways or installed on the hull during spacewalks, and power up the PM's three CMGs to replace Skylab's crippled attitude control system. The Orbiter would then undock from the PM, leaving it attached permanently to Skylab, and NASA would declare the revived and expanded Orbital Workshop to be fully habitable.
Phase III would continue with the first in a series of 30-to-90-day missions aboard Skylab. During these, a Shuttle Orbiter carrying a Spacelab module in its cargo bay would remain docked with the Orbital Workshop. The astronauts would work in the Spacelab module, take advantage of Skylab's large pressurized volume to perform "simple experiments" requiring more room than Shuttle and Spacelab could provide (for example, preliminary space construction experiments), and begin building up stockpiles of food, film, clothing, and other supplies on board. Another 30-to-90-day mission would see the astronauts refurbish and use selected Skylab science experiments, install new experiments based on Spacelab experiment designs, and stockpile more supplies. Between these missions, the new and improved Skylab would fly unmanned.
The MSFC engineers told Yardley that the volume available to a crew on board a Shuttle Orbiter without a Spacelab module in its payload bay would total only 1110 cubic feet. Adding a Spacelab would increase that to about 5100 cubic feet. This was, however, less than half the pressurized volume of Skylab. For a mission including a Shuttle Orbiter, Spacelab module, and Skylab, the total volume available to the crew would exceed 16,400 cubic feet.
They were not specific about what Skylab would be used for when Phase IV began in mid-1986, though they did offer several intriguing possibilities. Shuttle Orbiters might, for example, attach Spacelab modules and experiment pallets to the third docking port on the PM. A Shuttle External Tank might be joined to Skylab to serve as a strongback for large-scale space construction experiments using a mobile "space crane." The experiments might include construction of a large space power module or a multiple beam antenna. A new "floor" might be assembled within Skylab, enabling it to house up to nine astronauts. As NASA developed confidence in the revived space laboratory's health, manned missions on board Skylab without a Shuttle Orbiter present might commence, leading to permanent manning and "support [of] major space operations."
The MSFC engineers did not estimate the cost of Phases I and IV of their plan, though they did provide a (perhaps optimistic) pricetag for Phases II and III. Their estimate did not include Space Shuttle transportation and contractor study costs. In Fiscal Year (FY) 1980, NASA would spend $2 million each on Phases II and III. This would climb to $5 million for Phase II and $3.4 million for Phase III in FY 1981. FY 1982, the plan's peak funding year, would see $4.5 million spent on Phase II and $10.2 million spent on Phase III. In FY 1983, NASA would spend $2.5 million to close out Phase II and $12 million to continue Phase III. The following year it would spend $9.1 million on Phase III. Phase III closeout in FY 1985 would cost $4.5 million. Phase II would cost a total of $14 million, while the more ambitious Phase III would total $41.2 million. Phases II and III together would cost $55.2 million.
MSFC's presentation to Yardley concluded with a call for more in-house and contractor studies in FY 1978. McDonnell Douglas and Martin Marietta subsequently began more detailed Skylab reuse studies, the former under supervision of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and the latter under MSFC supervision. The Martin Marietta and McDonnell Douglas studies will be discussed in forthcoming posts.
Reference:
Skylab Reuse Study Presented to Mr. Yardley by MSFC, November 16, 1977.”
The above superb article, as are so so many others – thankfully - at:
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2015/11/reviving-reusing-...
In addition to:
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2015/11/
Credit: DSFP's SPACEFLIGHT HISTORY blog/David S. F. Portree
Also, a condensed write-up at:
www.astronautix.com/s/sts-2a.html
Credit: Astronautix website/Mark Wade
Sadly, an opportunity lost.
Saturn V/ Apollo Service Module (MIX FILE) (REF3 MSFC-68-MS-G-1336E
Artwork by Rosemary A. Dobbins
With thanks to Garrett O'Donoghue/"numbers station" blog for jogging my memory with his excellent post at:
e05.code.blog/2022/03/08/apollo-csm/#jp-carousel-6912
BTW, Rosemary Dobbins’ daughter: YOU’RE WELCOME.
“The Shuttle Orbiter Enterprise inside of Marshall Space Flight Center's (MSFC) Dynamic Test Stand for Mated Vertical Ground Vibration Tests (MVGVT). The tests marked the first time ever that the entire shuttle complement including Orbiter, External Tank, and Solid Rocket Boosters were vertically mated.”
The above is taken from a very similar image, attributed with a date of 6 October 1978, and linked to below.
Also, the same image, attributed with the date of 6 October 1978:
“The first complete Space Shuttle launch vehicle ever assembled was mated in the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. Dynamic Test Stand in October 1978 for the second phase of the ground vibration tests. Here, the orbiter and solid rocket motors are mated to the huge external tank for testing that verified that the Shuttle would perform as predicted during launch.”
So, a very nice photograph, of a quietly historic Space Shuttle Program milestone that…ONE GUESS - that’s right - is LEFT-TO-RIGHT REVERSED. Why not? The ignominious tradition lives on. At least they managed to stumble upon 'right' in other photos of this event.
Lots of nice photos, some pertinent to this one:
forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=35828.240
Credit: NASA Spaceflight Forum website
Also:
www.nasa.gov/feature/40-years-ago-space-shuttle-enterpris...
“MARS EXPRESS. This is one design for a nuclear-powered space vehicle that could carry six to eight men to Mars on a 450-day round-trip. Three nuclear engines side by side would boost the spacecraft out of Earth-orbit and toward Mars. A fourth engine, housed in sections behind the manned nose cone, would put the vehicle into a Martian orbit. The astronauts would travel to the surface and back in a small shuttle vehicle. A fifth nuclear engine would bring them home.”
Other than the conical “nose cone”, the overall appearance of the configuration, especially with the NERVA annotation, is similar to Boeing’s 1968 proposal as part of the Langley Research Center’s Integrated Manned Interplanetary (IMIS) Spacecraft Concept Definition study.
www.astronautix.com/i/imis1968.html
Credit: Astronautix website
See also:
www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/realdesigns.php
Credit: “ATOMIC ROCKETS” website
Compare/contrast:
www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2...
Both above credit: "The Unwanted Blog" website
Secondarily, the image/caption may have been used in an unknown World Book Science Service-issued publication?, possibly as part of a story pertaining to the NERVA program, labeled as “Caption no. 1”.
The image is contained within an unidentified more informed/knowledgeable document of unknown date, with the following caption:
“Modular nuclear Mars vehicle could be assembled in Earth orbit; it would comprise a cluster of three nuclear-propulsion modules and two further simple-module stages (see text)”:
At:
www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/mars-mission-module.5316/
Credit: user “hesham”/SECRET PROJECTS forum/website
Finally, the identical MSFC-issued image bears the superimposed heading of:
“NUCLEAR ROCKET SYSTEM
MODULAR NUCLEAR MARS VEHICLE”
Last, but NOT least:
e05.code.blog/2025/03/26/modular-nuclear-mars-vehicle/
Credit: Garrett O’Donoghue/Station E05 blog
“An American space shuttle, lower right, designed as the mainstay of American scientific and military operations in space, is depicted at work in the mid-1980’s. In this painting by Grumman Aerospace Corp., experimental construction techniques are being used to form a giant manned space laboratory powered by solar panels, top.”
The painting style is readily identifiable as that of Bud Parke.
Although no mention is made of it, that sure looks like an external tank serving as the core ‘module’ of whatever it is/is going to be. If so, it may be a part of the Space Station Systems Analysis Study (SSSAS), nicely summed up in the following caption associated with a vaguely similar configuration, also rendered by Mr. Parke:
“The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the Johnson Space Center (JSC) were each awarded 16-month contracts in April 1976 for the Space Station Systems Analysis Study (SSSAS). Grumman Aerospace Corporation was MSFC's contractor and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Company was JSC's contractor. The goal of this study was to formulate plans for a permanent operational base and laboratory facility in Earth orbit in addition to developing a space construction base design for implementing the program. An expended Space Shuttle external tank was to be the central core platform of the base, and additional pressurized modules could be added to provide laboratory facilities. This artist's concept depicts a space construction base design for implementing the SSSAS.”
At:
archive.org/details/MSFC-0102171
Credit: Internet Archive website
Three unidentified VIPs?, politicians?…who knows…posing with an early unidentified, horizontally positioned Saturn I/C-1 within the Fabrication and Assembly Engineering Division, MSFC. Circa 1961/62? The clutter-free work tables in the foreground may be indicative of an impending & requisite “dog & pony” show, of which the three gentlemen might’ve been/will be participants/attendees?
To that point, when this photograph was taken, there was indeed a lot riding on WHAT’S going on here, and HOW WELL it was going on, with many stakeholders involved.
Also, note the two adjacent display/announcement boards to the far left, with a smaller narrow board centered atop them, (which I was able to resolve in another photograph) that bears "THE TEAM BEHIND THE SATURN". So, the checkerboard appearance of the large boards consists of the logos of the contributing contractors & sub-contractors.
Finally & pointlessly, I think the spoked circular things at the far right are the ends of H-1 engine holders/cradles/dollies/transporters...or whatever they’re called.
The photo is also at, accompanied by generic pablum statements which provide no pertinent information WRT this particular photograph. Maybe because no initial record or annotation accompanied it(?), subsequently, probably because nobody had/has a clue, and surely in the future, because nobody will give a flying [fill in the blank]:
www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/gallery/launch-of-s...
A wonderful & rare photograph of possibly one of the earliest ‘clusterings’ of the Saturn I/C-1 first stage in Building 4705, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Based on the stamped ‘identification’ on the verso, possibly/probably taken in 1959. Not knowing the workflow of Saturn first stage clustering, the 70-inch RP-1/LOX tank(s) photographed could either be that/those of the initial mock-up or SA-T. I’d think it to be too early for it/them to be that/those of SA-1. I have no idea what the cylindrical segments in the foreground to the left are. It does make consider; were the 70-inch tanks also first assembled in Bldg 4705, prior to their actual clustering? Who knows.
Finally & delightfully, a first seen for me – a full-size cross-sectional ‘template’ of the S-I stage on the wall! It depicts not only the compartmented octagonal structure of the spider beam of the S-I stage, it even includes the transporter cradle…and…by dashed lines, its wheels! I only knew of the subsequent Saturn V S-IC stage template!
Outstanding.
8” x 10.5”.
“At its founding, the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) inherited the Army's Jupiter and Redstone test stands, but much larger facilities were needed for the giant stages of the Saturn V. From 1960 to 1964, the existing stands were remodeled and a sizable new test area was developed. The new comprehensive test complex for propulsion and structural dynamics was unique.
Construction of the S-IC Static test stand complex began in 1961 in the west test area of MSFC, and was completed in 1964. The S-IC static test stand was designed to develop and test the 138-ft long and 33-ft diameter Saturn V S-IC first stage, weighing in at 280,000 pounds. Required to hold down the brute force of a 7,500,000-pound thrust produced by 5 F-1 engines, the S-IC static test stand was designed and constructed with the strength of hundreds of tons of steel and 12,000,000 pounds of cement, planted down to bedrock 40 feet below ground level. The foundation walls, constructed with concrete and steel, are 4 feet thick. The base structure consists of four towers with 40-foot-thick walls extending upward 144 feet above ground level. The structure was topped by a crane with a 135-foot boom. With the boom in the upright position, the stand was given an overall height of 405 feet, placing it among the highest structures in Alabama at the time. In addition to the stand itself, related facilities were constructed during this time. Built northeast of the stand was a newly constructed Pump House. Its function was to provide water to the stand to prevent melting damage during testing. The water was sprayed through small holes in the stand's 1900-ton flame deflector at the rate of 320,000 gallons per minute. In this photo, possibly taken late-1963 - early/mid-1964, the flame deflector is being installed in the S-IC test stand.”
The above is taken from the caption to one of the “NASA on The Commons”-posted photographs linked below, with minor paraphrasing of the portion specifically pertaining to the image.
As part of the development of the Apollo Applications Program (AAP), a full-size cluster mock-up, comprised of a Lunar Module/Apollo Telescope Mount (LM/ATM), Multiple Docking Adapter (MDA) & Command Module (CM), ca. 1967/68 is seen in some cavernous Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) building.
Note the truss-like configuration partially obscured by the CM, and its similarity to that of the ATM component of LM ATM docked to the MDA on the left. I came across a diagram that depicted something similar to it, in which it was referred to as a resupply module. Whatever it is, I’m sort of assuming that it’s also docked to the MDA.
Speaking of the MDA, note its radial docking port protruding straight up, along with what looks like another behind it, at an angle. However, I wouldn’t expect that to be the case, so it might/must be some sort of scientific equipment orifice, observational port, etc.
Finally, yet another assumption…I think the separated, but connected (by the obvious beam) beveled fairings? on the far end of the MDA to represent the near end of the S-IVB workshop. Within it, the circular, possibly conical structure partially visible possibly being the ‘receiving end’, docked to the MDA?
The myriad of AAP, AES & Apollo X configurations are as clear as mud to me, so…my above is what it is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Oh yeah, note the “ON-BOARD CHECKOUT SYSTEM” schematic, circuit diagram, flow chart, or whatever it is, in the corner of the partition on the left.
Interesting reading of varying pertinence:
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2020/07/chronology-apollo...
Credit: David S. F. Portree/”No Shortage of Dreams” blog
www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/apollo-lm-derived-projec...
Credit: SECRET PROJECTS Forum website
www.spacerockethistory.com/tag/apollo-applications-program/
Specifically:
i0.wp.com/www.spacerockethistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2...
Both above credit: “Space Rocket History Podcast” website
On Dec. 5, community college students attending the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars workshop at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center viewed the launch and splashdown of Orion -- NASA’s future crew vehicle for long-duration missions to Mars, asteroids and beyond.
National Community College Aerospace Scholars, or NCAS, is an interactive online learning opportunity highlighted by a three-day experience at NASA. Selected students are encouraged to study mathematics, science, engineering and computer science by interacting with engineers at different NASA centers.
For more information, please visit: ncas.aerospacescholars.org/
For more information about NASA Education, please visit:
www.nasa.gov/offices/education/about/index.html
#NASA_Marshall #NCAS2014 #STEM #NASA
Image Credit: NASA/MSFC/Fred Kepner
Possible(?)/probable(?) S-IC-T stage (static testing stage) being transported to the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) S-IC Static Test Stand. This stage underwent numerous static firings there, which was located at the MSFC west test area.
MSFC built the first three test stages; S-IC-T, the S-IC-S (structural load testing - no engines), and the S-IC-F (facilities testing for checking out launch complex assembly buildings and launch equipment...as part of the SA-500F stack) and the first two flight models (S-IC-1 and -2). The first stage built by Boeing was S-IC-D, a test model.
If this is indeed S-IC-T, it's now part of the Saturn V display at the KSC Apollo/Saturn V Center...cool.
Illuminating reading regarding the transporter seen here and the transportation/logistics of JUST the S-IC...so many "moving pieces" to Apollo, really remarkable:
"...The size of the Saturn I first-stage boosters promised some headaches when the time came to move completed stages around the manufacturing areas and between the ships and the static-firing areas of Redstone Arsenal. The Saturn engineers in Huntsville devised a solution to the problem. For the final assembly of the Saturn I first stage, workers used a pair of huge circular assembly jigs to position the cluster of one center tank and eight smaller tanks around it. These assembly fixtures at either end of the rocket then became the load-bearing structures for transportation. After the completed booster was raised with huge jacks, wheel and axle assemblies were positioned at each end. With the stage lowered onto these assemblies, they were affixed to the assembly jigs, which now became support cradles for towing the stage. The wheel assemblies, using aircraft tires, were designed for independent braking and hydraulic steering. The transporter was towed by an army truck tractor at five to eight kilometers per hour through successive phases of checkout and test. NASA also used the transporter for loading and unloading the stage from the barges that carried it from Huntsville to the launch site on Florida's east coast.
For the S-IC first stage of the Saturn V, MSFC's Test Laboratory designed a similar transporter in 1963. The S-IC transporter used a modular wheel concept, based on a two-wheel, steerable unit and clustered to comprise two dollies fore and aft - a total of 24 wheels. The wheels, similar to the 24-ply tires for earth-moving equipment, stood about as high as a man. Each modular pair of wheels incorporated a separate system for power steering, with all systems of a particular dolly interconnected by a computer to correlate the steering angles for all wheels in unison. Since the dolly units could be steered to ±90 degrees from the axis of the transporter, the entire rig and its load could be maneuvered sideways, into, and out of checkout bays and test areas. MSFC used a modified Army M-26 tank retriever as the tractor unit for towing the S-IC and its huge transporter. The M-26, a 179-kilowatt (240-horsepower) model weighing 55 metric tons, included 27 metric tons of water ballast to cope with the counterweight of the transporter. The total length of the tractor and transporter unit came to about two-thirds the length of a football field and was capable of rolling along at eight kilometers per hour. In theory, the driver in the tank retriever's cab was in charge of the direction of travel, but in practice, he acted as a coordinator of a crew of other drivers and transporter personnel. When the S-IC transporter rig "hit the road," its entourage included a cluster of observers who walked along at each corner of the vehicle and alerted the driver coordinator positioned in the front of obstacles and clearances that were blocked from his view. The driver in turn relayed instructions to drivers on the transporter who were riding in cabs front and rear and who could manipulate the massive fore and aft dollies as required. Before taking on an actual stage, the entire crew trained throughout the MSFC complex on a tubular S-IC simulator that was built to the dimensions and weight of the actual stage..."
Credit: NASA SP-4206: Stages to Saturn
MSFC technicians appear to be installing one of the four central H-1 engines at the base of an unidentified Saturn I first stage, possibly SA-4, possibly circa 1962.
I submit 1962 because the leading “2” may be 1962 abbreviated. Weak, I know, but who really cares. If so, maybe SA-4 based on the entries here:
history.nasa.gov/MHR-5/part-3.htm
An excellent photograph, all kinds of detail resolvable.
“SATURN V TAIL - - The size of the 350-feet-tall Saturn V moon rocket is illustrated by this “soft” mockup of the thrust structure, or “business end,” of the S-IC stage nearing completion at the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville, Ala. The booster, 33 feet in diameter and 138 feet long, will be powered by five F-1 engines developing 7.5 million pounds thrust to start the monstrous vehicle on its journey into space. Two mock engines are shown mounted beneath the thrust structure. The first booster is scheduled for ground test firing at the Marshall Center late in 1964. MSFC will build several ground test models plus the first flight model and the Boeing Company will produce future flight vehicles at MSFC’s Michoud Operations plant at New Orleans.”
A miracle, blind squirrel/found nut, play the lottery, transient phenomena, aberration:
“This photograph depicts Marshall Space Flight Center employees, James Reagin, machinist (top); Floyd McGinnis, machinist; and Ernest Davis, experimental test mechanic (foreground), working on a mock up of the S-IC thrust structure. The S-IC stage is the first stage, or booster, of the 364-foot long Saturn V rocket that ultimately took astronauts to the Moon. The S-IC stage, burned over 15 tons of propellant per second during its 2.5 minutes of operation to take the vehicle to a height of about 36 miles and to a speed of about 6,000 miles per hour. The stage was 138 feet long and 33 feet in diameter. Operating at maximum power, all five of the engines produced 7,500,000 pounds of thrust.”
Image and the above at:
images.nasa.gov/details-0102336
I am really digging the flair(ing) of the black paint job on the engine fairing. Although not necessary when producing 7.5 million pounds thrust - which btw is insane TO THIS DAY - it does provide a more stylishly dynamic look.
Also at:
history.nasa.gov/MHR-5/part-4.htm
Specifically, the image in color, at a surprisingly nice resolution:
history.nasa.gov/MHR-5/Images/fig149.jpg
With good discussion regarding this and other similar/the same(?) structures:
forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=15446.0
Credit: NASA SpaceFlight.com website
www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/park-visitors-walk-...
Credit: none merited
Finally…excellent, but sad. Unfortunately, not surprising:
www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/space-park.htm
Credit: “The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair” website. A wonderful & comprehensive source for all things ‘NYWF64’!
“A mobile laboratory on a lunar excursion is depicted in this artist’s drawing. The wheeled vehicle is being studied as a way of transporting men and equipment several miles from the lunar excursion module, shown at left, or other proposed lunar shelters. The NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center is directing the work being done on many lunar surface vehicles.”
Note the MOLAB landing module/descent stage immediately to the right of the vehicle. Also, the original title, possibly "MOLAB EXCURSION" was marked out. The LEM/astronaut scene is taken from that originally created by Craig Kavafes for Grumman.
A nearly identical variant, of which the artist is conclusively identified to be Rosemary A. Dobbins. Therefore reasonable to assume my posted photo is as well. So I’m going with it. A huge & unexpected WIN. At:
commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lander_Rover_Apollo_Mis...
Specifically:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Lander_Rover_...
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
www.pinterest.com/pin/98727416805204212/
Credit: Pinterest/Enrico Brunoni
www.jmargolin.com/svr/refs/ref15_lunar_driving_history.pdf
Credit: Jed Margolin's website
BTW, Rosemary Dobbins’ daughter: YOU’RE WELCOME.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Marshall Space Flight Center Director Jody Singer at the 11th Annual Wernher von Braun Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama.
Image Credit: NASA
"SATURN ENGINE APPLICATIONS"
Per the official description associated with MSFC-9801767 (see comments & thanks to Cygni_18):
"This image illustrates the basic differences between the three Saturn launch vehicles developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center. The Saturn I, consisted of two stages, the S-I (eight H-1 engines) and the S-IV (six RL-10 engines). The Saturn IB (center) also consisted of two stages, the S-IB (eight H-1 engines) and the S-IVB (one J-2 engine). The Saturn V consisted of three stages, the S-IC (five F-1 engines), the S-II (five J-2 engines), and the S-IVB (one J-2 engine)."
"IND A1404E" is an unfamiliar photo ID, I've never seen anything resembling it.
Built for the MSFC contest on EB. This MOC is supposed to be a Sci-fi hotel in a luxurious city. I've been wanting to use the technique that gives the building it's curve for a while now, but didn't have any idea what to use it for, until now. It uses 1x4 hinge plates and 1x2 bricks with studs on the sides to achieve this effect. I may post a breakdown shot latter.
“Molab has large wheels with spokes designed to double back as springs to absorb shock and eliminate skipping on the low gravity surface. On the front of the round cockpit are a two-way radio antenna and a dish antenna.”
Something I wasn't aware of...note the test subject egressing the vehicle. Apparently, the MOLAB cabin/cockpit was pressurized, providing a stuffed-shirtsleeve environment.
I think you need to be over 45 to get that...maybe 50. That looks like it might be Robert Young. Definitely need to be over 50 for that one.
"KLAATU BARADA NIKTO":
Credit: "Skeet Vaughan's web site" website
Rhetorical question, but, where are all of these wonderful relics? I’m sure all of the buy-outs, mergers, etc. hastened their being lost to time, especially those that never came to fruition for whatever reason, especially if a/the “the losing entry”. I understand, but sad nonetheless, to me.
A brief view of the vehicle in color, along with other good stuff:
Credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center/YouTube
A test article of the stage adapter aced structural loads testing at the Marshall Center's East Test Area. (NASA/MSFC)
More about SLS:
More SLS graphics and concepts:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/S...
Space Launch System Flickr album
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157627559536895/
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