Winter is a good time to see the structure of deciduous trees, even though they look a little gaunt. This is a Common Lime, or Linden, Tilia europaea.

Elizabeth Barret Browning mentions the Linden in her poem "The Lost Bower" No doubt she was writing of the tree in spring or summer, but even in winter, they have a certain statuesque quality.

 

Here a linden-tree stood, bright'ning

All adown its silver rind;

For as some trees draw the lightning,

So this tree, unto my mind,

Drew to earth the blessed sunshine,

From the sky where it was shrined

 

1980 Mamiya ZE, f2.5/28mm Tamron lens, X2 yellow filter. Rollei Retro100 @200, In Diafine, 5+5mins at 21C. scanned @ 2400dpi on Epson V500.

Engine 5, 2011 Pierce Saber, P22 Structural Pumper

The Victory Column on the Großer Stern in the Großer Tiergarten is one of the most important national monuments in Germany and the most important sights in Berlin . Built between 1864 and 1873 by Heinrich Strack on Königsplatz to commemorate the Wars of Unification , it was moved to its current location between 1938 and 1939 together with the monuments of Bismarck , Roon and Moltke . The crowning Victoria by Friedrich Drake is known in Berlin as “Goldelse”.

 

Column

The Victory Column stands in the middle of the Great Star, which is designed as a roundabout, and can be reached to the west and east via T-shaped pedestrian tunnels below the road. Four neoclassical gatehouses, designed by Johannes Huntemüller, provide access to these tunnels north and south of the Straße des 17. Juni . The green area around the monument is 34 m above sea level. NHN .

 

The structure of the Victory Column, designed by court architect Heinrich Strack , consists of a base clad in polished red granite and four column drums made of Obernkirchen sandstone that taper towards the top . On the base there is a circular colonnade with a glass mosaic on the back wall. The Venetian company Antonio Salviati made it in 1876 based on a cardboard box created by Anton von Werner . At the inauguration only the cardboard box was attached. As desired by Wilhelm I , the picture depicts the founding of the German Empire as a result of the victory over France . In its fluting , the column in the lower three drums bears 60 gold-plated cannon barrels captured in the three wars of unification . For the colonnade, Schinkel's student Strack was inspired by the Great Curiosity in Glienicke Park. The column shaft above the hypostyle hall was increased to its current size by a fourth column drum at the bottom as part of the relocation. The cannon barrels were each moved down one column drum, with the now free fluting on the top column drum receiving gold-plated laurel festoons .

 

Through an entrance on the south side of the base, visitors can reach the interior of the base, where there is a small museum on the eventful history of the Victory Column. From there, a spiral staircase with 285 steps inside the column leads to the 50.66 meter high viewing platform. This offers a good view over the Großer Tiergarten, Potsdamer Platz , the Brandenburg Gate and the surrounding city area. From a structural point of view, the Peace Monument in Munich, the July Column in Paris and the Independence Monument in Mexico City are similar to the Victory Column.

 

Victoria

The column supports a gilded bronze sculpture created by Friedrich Drake in the form of a female figure, Victoria . She holds up a laurel wreath in her right hand and a standard with the Iron Cross in her left . An eagle sits on her helmet. Victoria is known as the goddess of victory in Roman mythology and corresponds to Nike in Greek mythology . Both are shown winged. Her eagle helmet also makes Victoria appear on the Victory Column as Borussia , the personification of Prussia .

 

Drake designed the character after the features of Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland , who was crown princess in Prussia at the time. The 8.32 meter high and 35 ton heavy bronze figure was made by the Berlin sculptor Hermann Gladenbeck . At its original location on Königsplatz, the Viktoria looked south towards Siegesallee , but since its implementation in 1939 it has looked west towards Ernst-Reuter-Platz . She got the name “Goldelse” because of her gilding and the title of the novel Goldelse by E. Marlitt , which the magazine Die Gartenlaube published in 1866 as a popular serialized story.

 

Reliefs

The base is decorated with four bronze reliefs depicting the most important battles of the German wars of unification - the Battle of Düppel in the German-Danish War (1864), the Battle of Königgrätz in the German-German War (1866), the Battle of Sedan in the German- French War (1870) - and the victorious entry of the allied troops into Berlin (1871). The reliefs are described in detail: Excerpt from the Danish campaign and storming of the Düppeler Schanzen by the sculptor Alexander Calandrelli , Battle of Königgrätz and events of the German War by Moritz Schulz , Franco-German War with Battle of Sedan and entry into Paris by Karl Keil and Finally the troops enter Berlin by Albert Wolff . Above this relief there was originally the dedication “The grateful fatherland to the victorious army”, of which only the traces of the fortification are visible today.

 

On the Königsplatz the reliefs were arranged like this: The relief Entry into Berlin with the dedication was on the front (south), the Battle of Düppel on the right side (east), the Battle of Sedan on the left side (west) and the Battle of Königgrätz with the entrance at the back (north). On the Great Star, the reliefs are arranged differently: the Battle of Düppel relief is on the front (west), the Battle of Königgrätz with the entrance on the right side (south), the entry into Berlin without the dedication on the left side (north) and the Battle of Sedan to the rear (east). Calandrelli's Düppel relief is considered "the best of the four reliefs" according to Meyer's Conversation Lexicon .

 

Construction

In 1864, after the German-Danish War, the Prussian King Wilhelm I suggested that monuments be erected on the battlefields and in Berlin. He commissioned the court building officer Heinrich Strack to carry out all the projects . Funds amounting to 330,000 thalers were approved for this in 1867. After about two years of construction, 38,652 and 33,300 thalers were incurred for the Düppel monument and Arnkiel monument , respectively. This meant that only 258,000 thalers remained for the Victory Column, which was to be built on Königsplatz . Within a few years there were two more victorious wars, the German War against Austria in 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871 . The three segments of the Victory Column and the crowning bronze sculpture of Victoria were intended to commemorate the victories in these wars.

 

After nine years of construction, the Victory Column was completed in 1873. Stylistically it can be assigned to the Neo-Renaissance . The Victory Column was inaugurated to celebrate Sedan Day on September 2, 1873, the third anniversary of the victorious Battle of Sedan . The Königsplatz was lined with the General Staff Building to the north , the Kroll Opera to the west and the Palais Raczyński gallery building to the east, which had to make way for the Reichstag building in the 1880s . Immediately before the inauguration of the column, a 750 meter long avenue was laid out as a line of sight south through the Tiergarten to Kemperplatz . Kemperplatz received the Wrangel Fountain in 1877 , which was replaced by the Roland Fountain in 1902 . Wilhelm II had the avenue expanded into Victory Allee from 1895 .

 

Transfer

As part of the transformation of Berlin into the “ World Capital Germania ” that began during the National Socialist era , the column was moved to the Großer Stern in 1938–1939 on behalf of the General Building Inspector for the Reich Capital Albert Speer by the construction company Philipp Holzmann , whose diameter was increased from 80 to 200 meter was enlarged. In order to enhance the urban development effect of the monument as part of the east-west axis and to achieve an appropriate size ratio to the diameter of the square, the base was widened by 6.5 meters and the column was raised by 6.5 meters using a fourth drum. A further increase of around one meter was created by raising the portico, which is concealed by the roof connection to the widened base. As a result of these changes, the monument reached its current height of around 67 meters (original height 60.5 meters). During the new installation, the base entrance was also moved from the north to the south side. Together with the Victory Column, the monuments for Otto von Bismarck , Albrecht von Roon and Helmuth von Moltke were also moved to the northern edge of the Großer Stern, which was to be understood as the forum of the Second Reich , and the groups of the Siegesallee were moved to the Große Sternallee, which branched off to the southeast .

 

During the Second World War, the Victory Column survived the air raids and the Battle of Berlin largely undamaged. On the day of Berlin's surrender on May 2, 1945, Polish soldiers raised the Polish flag on the Victory Column before marching off to Nauen . According to their own statements, they later regretted not having blown up the monument because they were unaware of its significance. The Victory Column was a building that was built before August 1, 1914. This date, the beginning of the First World War , was the deadline that decided on the preservation or removal of “militaristic monuments” according to the Allied Control Council Directive No. 30 of May 1946. Nevertheless, Werner , the SED-dominated magistrate appointed by the Soviet occupying power , decided to demolish the Victory Column by August 1946. It could be delayed until the magistrate, who was democratically elected in October 1946, no longer came back to it. On November 26, 1946, the French occupying forces requested the demolition of the Victory Column in the Allied Command . The British and Americans rejected this , and the Soviet representatives abstained.

 

Development

In 1945 the reliefs were removed at the request of the French occupying forces . While the German War relief remained in the Spandau Citadel , the other three were initially considered lost. Investigations by the Foreign Office revealed that they were camped in the courtyard of the Musée de l'Armée in Paris. France initially demanded an exchange with the painting Napoleon's Crossing the Alps in order to return it , but the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation rejected this. After President François Mitterrand returned the reliefs during a visit to West Berlin in May 1987 on the occasion of Berlin's 750th anniversary , all four were reinstalled after restoration in the anniversary year of 1987. The reliefs on the south and west sides of the base have only been preserved in fragments.

 

On January 15, 1991, the left-wing extremist terrorist group Revolutionary Cells carried out an explosive attack on the Victory Column. The partial explosion of an explosive device weighing at least two kilograms on the viewing platform only damaged one of the Viktoria's supports. No people were injured as no one was on the observation deck at the time of the explosion. During the repair work, the viewing platform was closed to visitors for ten months. In the years that followed, the Victory Column was the center of major events such as the Love Parade , Christopher Street Day , demonstrations by citizens and rallies by politicians. In 1984, the gay city magazine Victory Column was named after the monument. On July 24, 2008, as part of the presidential election campaign in the United States, then-candidate Barack Obama gave a speech in front of the Victory Column to an audience of more than 200,000.

 

The Victory Column was last extensively renovated from March 2010 to May 2011. Among other things, the Victoria and other components were re-gilded with 1.2 kg of gold leaf . In addition, the two pedestrian tunnels and the surrounding gatehouses, the bronze reliefs, the glass mosaic, the gold-plated cannon barrels, the staircase as well as the sandstone column and the Victoria itself were extensively renovated. A new lighting concept shows it at night with an illuminated round hall and reliefs. After the reopening, it has been accessible to visitors again for a fee since May 21, 2011, still only via steps. Since October 2011, bilingual information boards about the history of the monument have been set up at the four gatehouses. The granite panels that closed the relief fields until 1987, as well as an interactive light installation, are installed in the pedestrian tunnels. The Victory Column is one of the most important sights and one of the most famous landmarks in Berlin.

 

Street of Monuments

Since 2008, the Victory Column has been part of the Street of Monuments , a network of important German monuments and places of remembrance founded on the initiative of the Leipzig City History Museum . The aim of the network is to “connect the places of remembrance as former focal points of the past more closely and to make them more tangible as a whole through joint marketing measures.”

 

Literature

Reinhard Alings: The Berlin Victory Column . Parthas Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-932529-71-5 .

Matthias Braun: The Victory Column . Berlin Edition, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-8148-0026-5 .

Alexander Markschies: The Victory Column. Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-7861-2381-0 .

Dieter Vorsteher , Silke Bittkow: Berlin Victory Column. Monuments tell history. Monument Tales, Berlin 2007.

 

The Großer Stern is the central square of the Großer Tiergarten in the Tiergarten district of Berlin .

 

History

The square was under Elector Friedrich III. (from 1701 Frederick I , King of Prussia ) created around 1698 by the court hunter Hemmrich as a hunting star . From 1742 onwards, the Großer Stern was expanded into a representative square as part of the redesign of the zoo by Knobelsdorff and from 1833 to 1840 by Peter Joseph Lenné . From the mid-18th to early 19th centuries, a group of sandstone statues of ancient gods, called The Dolls , stood there .

 

Today's expansion

Today several of the city's major traffic axes meet here:

 

the Street of June 17th

to the west over Ernst-Reuter-Platz , as Bismarckstrasse or Kaiserdamm to Theodor-Heuss-Platz and further as Heerstrasse

to the east over the Brandenburg Gate at Pariser Platz and the Boulevard Unter den Linden to the Palace Bridge at the Berlin Cathedral

Altonaer Straße to the northwest over Hansaplatz to the Gotzkowsky Bridge

the Spreeweg to the northeast to Bellevue Castle at the Luther Bridge

the Hofjägerallee to the south via Lützowplatz and Nollendorfplatz to Winterfeldtplatz

The Großer Stern is designed as a large, multi-lane spiral roundabout that is used by around 180,000 cars every day.

 

In the middle of the square stands the Victory Column with the gilded bronze sculpture of Victoria with a laurel wreath called Goldelse by the Berliners . The square got its current appearance in 1938. Its diameter was greatly enlarged and the Victory Column was moved from Königsplatz, today's Republic Square directly in front of the Reichstag building , and increased it - also for reasons of proportion - by a column drum. As part of the widening of the Great Star, the Hubertus Fountain by Cuno von Uechtritz-Steinkirch on the northern edge of the square was demolished in 1938. The Siegesallee, which was relocated to Große Sternallee in May 1938, ran back towards the Victory Column , only now in the direction of the Großer Stern . The monuments of the victors from 1864–1871, which had previously surrounded the Victory Column, were again placed in a semicircle: Bismarck National Monument , Albrecht von Roon and Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke . The inauguration of the ensemble took place on April 20, 1939, Hitler's 50th birthday, when a gigantic military parade also rolled over the Großer Stern.

 

Tiergarten is a district in the Mitte district of Berlin . It was created during the administrative reform in 2001 by dividing the former Tiergarten district , which also included the Hansaviertel and Moabit . In today's usage, Tiergarten often stands for the Tiergarten district, the former Tiergarten district or the Großer Tiergarten city park . The area of ​​today's district south of the Großer Tiergarten is also called Tiergarten Süd in contrast to the former Tiergarten district .

 

Geography

The Tiergarten district is bordered in the north by the Spree . In the northwest, north and northeast it borders on the districts of Hansaviertel, Moabit and Mitte , all of which - like Tiergarten - belong to the Mitte district. To the west it borders on the Charlottenburg district in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district , to the south it is connected to the Schöneberg district in the Tempelhof-Schöneberg district , and to the southeast is the Kreuzberg district in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district .

 

A considerable part of the Tiergarten district is occupied by the Großer Tiergarten , Berlin's second largest park after Tempelhofer Feld ; the Kleiner Tiergarten, on the other hand, is located in the Moabit district.

 

History

Tiergarten district (before 1920)

The areas outside the Berlin customs wall between the Großer Tiergarten and the Spree were incorporated into Berlin in 1861. Since 1884, this area has been officially designated as the new Tiergarten district .The western part originally consisted of the “Schöneberger Wiesen”, on which the Hansaviertel was created in 1877. There was originally a large parade ground on the Spree bend further east . The representative Königsplatz (today's Platz der Republik ) was built there with the Victory Column , the Reichstag building and the Kroll Opera . The noble Alsenviertel with the Swiss Embassy was built on the northern edge of the Spree bend . In 1910 the Tiergarten district had 24,717 inhabitants.

 

Tiergarten District (1920–2000)

In 1920, the new Tiergarten district was formed from the Berlin districts of Tiergarten, Moabit, Untere Friedrichsvorstadt and Schöneberger Vorstadt . In 1938 the area south of Kurfürstenstrasse was ceded to the Schöneberg district ; At the same time, Martinikenfelde, which had previously belonged to Charlottenburg, was added to Tiergarten.

 

The developments south of the Spree and north of the Landwehr Canal were almost completely destroyed in the Second World War . In the Alsenviertel, north of the Reichstag building, numerous buildings had already been demolished as part of Hitler's “Germania” plans and many embassies had been relocated to the southern Tiergarten. The Great Hall was originally supposed to be built here. The Second World War put an end to these plans. During the division of Berlin the area lay fallow . After the political change and the federal government's move to Berlin, the former Alsenviertel became part of the new government district and several large-scale new buildings were built for the federal government's institutions. The only surviving building from before the First World War is the Swiss Embassy , ​​which today stands like a memorial in an open area on the edge of the Spreebogenpark , which was created in 2005 .

 

Severe destruction also occurred in the Tiergartenviertel , a villa colony from the first half of the 19th century, west of Potsdamer Platz . As in the Alsenviertel, several villas had already been demolished before the war to make room for Hitler's new building plans. Numerous Jewish owners had previously been expropriated and expelled from their homes. A few buildings in the district survived the Second World War, such as St. Matthäus Church , some historic embassy buildings and the Bendlerblock , today's Federal Ministry of Defense . Due to the division of Berlin, many of the historic cultural cities were located in the political east of the city, separated from West Berlin . As a result, the Kulturforum was built in the area of ​​the former Tiergartenviertel from 1958 as the new cultural center of the western part of Berlin.

 

Potsdamer Platz, one of the busiest squares in Europe in the Roaring Twenties with numerous restaurants, hotels and variety shows , was also in ruins after the Second World War and subsequently became a border area in the divided city due to its close proximity to the Berlin Wall . Only after the fall of the Berlin Wall did a planned new development take place in the 1990s, which was intended to continue the old tradition.

 

The Hansaviertel on the northern edge of the Tiergarten was also severely affected by the Allied air raids and was rebuilt by the most renowned architects as part of the Interbau International Building Exhibition in 1957.

 

In Moabit and south of the Landwehr Canal, however, large parts of the old buildings were preserved despite severe war damage.

 

The population of the Tiergarten district was 283,581 in 1925, 110,620 in 1946 and 86,380 in 1987.

 

Tiergarten district (since 2001)

The Tiergarten district was merged with the neighboring districts of Wedding and Mitte in 2001 to form today's new Mitte district . By decision of the district council , this new district was divided into the districts of Mitte, Wedding, Gesundbrunnen , Moabit, Hansaviertel and Tiergarten.

 

Berlin is the capital and a state of the Federal Republic of Germany . With around 3.8 million inhabitants, the city is the most populous and, with 892 square kilometers, the largest municipality in Germany and the most populous city in the European Union . The city has the third highest population density in the country. Around 4.8 million people live in the Berlin agglomeration and around 6.3 million in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region . The city-state consists of twelve districts . In addition to the rivers Spree , Havel and Dahme, there are smaller rivers and numerous lakes and forests in the urban area.

 

Berlin was first mentioned in documents in the 13th century . The city was the capital of the March of Brandenburg , Prussia and Germany . Over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Berlin developed into the world's third largest city. After the end of the Second World War, the city was subject to four-power status in 1945 ; From 1949 , East Berlin served as the capital of the German Democratic Republic , while West Berlin became part of the Federal Republic . With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and German reunification in 1990, the two halves of the city grew together again and Berlin regained its role as the pan-German capital. Since 1999, the city has been the seat of the federal government , the Federal President , the German Bundestag , the Bundesrat as well as most federal ministries , numerous federal authorities and embassies .

 

Berlin is one of the economic centers in Europe. Among the important branches of the city's economy are tourism , the creative and cultural industries , the biotechnology and health industry with medical technology and the pharmaceutical industry , information and communication technology , the construction and real estate industry , the financial industry , trade , and optoelectronics , energy technology , logistics as well as trade fairs and congresses . The city is a European transport hub for road , rail and air transport . Berlin is an international location for innovative company founders and has recorded high growth rates in the number of employed people since 2010 .

 

Berlin is considered a global city of culture , media and science . The city's universities, research institutions , sporting events and museums enjoy an international reputation. The metropolis holds the UNESCO title of City of Design and is one of the most visited destinations on the continent. Berlin's music, architecture , festivals , top gastronomy , nightlife and urban quality of life are known worldwide.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

 

Some background:

The roots of the GDR's air forces laid in the time even before the founding of the National People's Army. The aim was to provide a structural basis and a basis for building the expertise needed to deploy and operate air forces. For this purpose, in 1951, initially under the lead of the Ministry of the Interior and under the influence of Soviet advisors, the so-called Kasernierte Volkspolizei (People's Police (Air) Quartered in Barracks (= on constant duty), KVP) with staff from the People's Police Air (VP-Luft) was set up in Berlin-Johannisthal. It was not a true air force, but rather a training unit that prepared the foundation of a true military power.

 

However, the KVP led to the GDR's 1st Air Division with three regiments. Training was carried out from 1953 onwards on various Soviet types, including the An-2, MiG-15, La-9 (only for training on the ground), Yak-18 and Yak-11 aircraft. All equipment was provided by the Soviet Union. However, from the beginning of 1952, the training of the future ground crew and the pilots in the so-called X course began secretly, and at the same time the GDR tried to build and test aeronautic engineering competences.

 

For this purpose, a military unit was established at the VEB Flugzeugwerke Dresden (FWD), an institution which was also the workplace of Brunolf Baade, the designer of the Baade 152 airliner which was built and tested between 1956 and 1961. The GDR's newly formed Air Division was keen on an ingenious fighter aircraft, despite the modern MiG-15 having become available from the USSR. The primary subject was a re-build of the WWII Messerschmitt Me 262, but the lack of plans and especially of suitable engines soon led to an end of this project, even though contacts with Avia in Czechoslovakia were made where a small number of Me 262 had been produced as S-92 fighters and trainers.

Since many senior pilots in GDR service had experience with the WWII Bf 109, and there had been a considerable number of more or less finished airframes after the Soviet occupation of Eastern Germany, FWD proposed a modernization program for the still existing material, much like the Avia S-199 program in Czechoslovakia.

 

The project received the code number "53" (for the year of its initiation) and structural basis for the not-so-new fighter for the GDR's nascent air force were primarily late Bf 109G and some Bf 109K airframes, reflected by an "A" and "B" suffix. Unlike the Czechoslovakian Avia S-199, which was re-engined with a rather sluggish Junkers Jumo 211 F, the FWD-53 fighter from Dresden was to be powered by a supercharged Mikulin AM-35 engine. This was a considerable reduction in output, since the late Bf 109 engines produced up to 2.000 hp, while the AM-35 just provided 1.400 hp. With some tuning and local modifications, however, the engine for the service aircraft was pushed to yield 1.100 kW (1,500 hp), and the fact that it was smaller and lighter than the original engine somewhat compensated for the lack of power.

 

Another feature that differed from the S-199 was the radiator system: the original Bf 109 underwing coolers were retained, even though the internal systems were replaced with new and more efficient heat exchangers and a new plumbing.

 

In order to save weight, the FWD-53's armament was relatively light. It consisted of a pair of heavy 12.7 mm Berezin UBS machine guns and a single 23 mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 cannon. These three weapons were mounted above the engine, synchronized to fire through the propeller disc. This standard armament could be augmented with a further pair of NS-23 cannon, carried in pods under the outer wings (instead of a pair of bombs of up to 250 kg caliber). Alternatively, a ventral hardpoint allowed the carriage of a single 500 kg (1.100 lb) bomb or a 300l drop tank.

 

In the course of 1952 and 1953, a total of 39 Bf 109 airframes from GDR and also Czech and Polish origin were converted or re-built from existing components at Dresden. At the end of November 1953, the KVP's reorganization was carried out as a staff of the administration of the units initially called Aero clubs in Cottbus and the change of subordination by the MoI directly under the Deputy Minister and head of the Kasernierten People's Police. The air regiments were restructured into Aeroklubs 1 (Cottbus), 2 (Drewitz) and 3 (Bautzen), which in turn were divided into two sections. From 1954 onwards, the FWD-53 fleet joined these training units and were primarily tasked with advanced weapons training and dissimilar aerial combat.

 

On March 1, 1956, the GDR's air forces were officially formed as part of the Nationale Volksarmee (NVA, National People's Army). First of all the management of the aeroclubs, according to the Soviet model, gave rise to the Administrations Air Force (LSK) in Cottbus and Air Defense (LV) in Strausberg (Eggersdorf). The initial plans were to found three Jagdfliegerdivisionen (fighter squadrons), a Schlachtfliegerdivision (attack squadron) and a Flak (AA gunnery) division, but only the 1st and 3rd Air Division and the 1st Flak Division were eventually set up. On June 1, 1957, a merger of both administrations in Strausberg (Eggersdorf) resulted in another renaming, and the Air Force/Air Defense Command (detachment LSK/LV) was born.

 

From this point on, almost all operational front line units were equipped with the Soviet MiG-15. The FWD-53s were quickly, together with other piston engine types, relegated to second line units and used in training and liaison roles. The last FWD-53 was retired in 1959.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: One

Length: 9.07 m (29 ft 8 1/2 in)

Wingspan: 9.925 m (32 ft 6 in)

Height: 2.60 m (8 ft 2 in)

Wing area: 16.05 m² (173.3 ft²)

Empty weight: 2,247 kg (5,893 lb)

Loaded weight: 3,148 kg (6,940 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 3,400 kg (7,495 lb)

 

Powerplant:

1× Mikulin AM-35A(D) liquid-cooled V12 engine with 1,080 kW (1,500 hp),

driving a three-bladed light-alloy propeller with 3.2m (10 ft 4 ½ in) diameter

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 640 km/h (398 mph) at 6,300 m (20,669 ft)

Cruise speed: 590 km/h (365 mph) at 6,000 m (19,680 ft)

Range: 850 km (528 mi) 1,000 km (621 mi) with drop tank

Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,370 ft)

Rate of climb: 17.0 m/s (3,345 ft/min)

Wing loading: 196 kg/m² (40 lb/ft²)

Power/mass: 344 W/kg (0.21 hp/lb)

 

Armament:

1× 23 mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 cannon with 75 rounds

2× 12.7 mm (0.5 in) Berezin UBS machine guns with 300 RPG

all mounted above the engine and synchronized to fire through the propeller arc

A total external ordnance of 500 kg (1.100 lb), including 1× 250 kg (551 lb) bomb or 1 × 300-litre (79

US gal) drop tank on a centerline hardpoint, or 2x 250 kg bombs or 2x 23 mm Nudelman-Suranov

NS-23 cannon with 60 rounds in pods under the outer wings

  

The kit and its assembly:

This build was actually a kind of kit recycling, since I had a Heller Bf 109K kit in my kit stash that had donated its engine section to a converted Fw 190D. Otherwise, the kit was still complete, and it took some time until I had an idea for it: I had never so far built an East German whif, and with the complicated political and economic situation after WWII I wondered how a nascent aircraft industry could build experience and an air force? A re-engined/revamped late Bf 109 could have been the answer, so I took this idea to the hardware stage.

 

The Heller Bf 109K is a simple and pleasant build, but it took some time to find a suitable new engine of Soviet origin. I eventually settled for a Mikulin AM-35, taken from a Revell MiG-3 kit. The transplant was rather straightforward, and the Bf 109K’s “cheek” fairings at the cowling’s rear section actually matched the round diameter of the AM-35 well – even though the Soviet engine was much smaller and very sleek.

The rhinoplasty went very well, though, there’s just a little, ventral “step” at the wings’ leading edge.

 

The MiG-3 propeller could not be used, though, because the diameter and the blades themselves were just too small for the Bf 109. So I scratched a completely new propeller from a Spitfire Mk. IX spinner (reduced in length, though) and single blades from the scrap box – not certain which aircraft they actually belong to. The new prop was mounted onto a metal axis and a matching plastic tube adapter was implanted into the fuselage.

 

The only other modification of the kit are the main wheels – Heller’s OOB parts are quite bleak, so I replaced them with visually better parts from the scrap box.

 

Painting and markings:

This was not easy, because LSK/LV aircraft either carried Soviet camouflage of that era (typically a uniform green/blue camouflage) or were, more often, simply left in bare metal, like the MiG-15s. However, I wanted a more interesting camouflage scheme, but nothing that would remind of the Bf 109’s WWII origins, and it was still supposed to show some Eastern Bloc heritage. After a long search I found a suitable option, in the form of a LSK/LV MiG-15UTI trainer (actually a museum piece at the military history museum Gatow, near Berlin): the machine carried a relatively light green/brown camouflage and light blue undersides. Pretty simple, but the tones were quite unique – even though there’s no guarantee that this livery is/was authentic!

 

However, I adapted the concept for the FWD-53. Search in the paint bank yielded Humbrol 86 (Light Olive Green) and 62 (Leather Brown) as suitable tones for the upper surfaces, while I went for a garish Humbrol 89 (Middle Blue) underneath. Quite a bright result! The spinner became red and the interior was painted in RLM02.

 

The markings were puzzled together from various sources, including suitable early LSK/LV roundels. Most stencils were taken from the Heller kit’s OOB sheet. After light panel shading and some soot stains with grinded graphite, the kit was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish.

  

A very quick project, realized just in three days (plus some time for the beauty shots, though) as a distraction from a very busy time at work. However, for a model created from leftover parts the FWD-53 looks surprisingly good and sleek. The pointed MiG-3 nose section subtly changes the profile – and somehow, from certain angles, the FWD-53 even reminds of the much bigger Il-2?

 

Would someone be able to build the internal structure to my Enterprise and give me feedback on its strength/utter weakness? I have absolutely no bricks for this so I cannot do it myself.

Another view of the new Architecture School in Paris. A truely diverse and fascinating building.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis

 

Indianapolis, colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most-populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the United States Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion County in 2020 was 977,642. The "balance" population, which excludes semi-autonomous municipalities in Marion County, was 887,642. It is the 15th most populous city in the U.S., the third-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, Illinois and Columbus, Ohio, and the fourth-most populous state capital after Phoenix, Arizona; Austin, Texas; and Columbus. The Indianapolis metropolitan area is the 33rd most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S., with 2,048,703 residents. Its combined statistical area ranks 28th, with a population of 2,431,361. Indianapolis covers 368 square miles (950 km2), making it the 16th largest city by land area in the U.S.

 

Indigenous peoples inhabited the area dating to as early as 10,000 BC. In 1818, the Delaware relinquished their tribal lands in the Treaty of St. Mary's. In 1821, Indianapolis was founded as a planned city for the new seat of Indiana's state government. The city was platted by Alexander Ralston and Elias Pym Fordham on a 1-square-mile (2.6 km2) grid next to the White River. Completion of the National and Michigan roads and arrival of rail later solidified the city's position as a manufacturing and transportation hub. Two of the city's nicknames reflect its historical ties to transportation—the "Crossroads of America" and "Railroad City". Since the 1970 city-county consolidation, known as Unigov, local government administration operates under the direction of an elected 25-member city-county council headed by the mayor.

 

Indianapolis anchors the 29th largest economic region in the U.S., based primarily on the sectors of finance and insurance, manufacturing, professional and business services, education and health care, government, and wholesale trade. The city has notable niche markets in amateur sports and auto racing. The city is home to three Fortune 500 companies, two major league sports clubs, four university campuses, and several museums, including the world's largest children's museum. However, the city is perhaps best known for annually hosting the world's largest single-day sporting event, the Indianapolis 500. Among the city's historic sites and districts, Indianapolis is home to the largest collection of monuments dedicated to veterans and war casualties in the U.S. outside of Washington, D.C.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Statehouse

 

The Indiana Statehouse is the state capitol building of the U.S. state of Indiana. It houses the Indiana General Assembly, the office of the Governor of Indiana, the Indiana Supreme Court, and other state officials. The Statehouse is located in the capital city of Indianapolis at 200 West Washington Street. Built in 1888, it is the fifth building to house the state government.

 

The first state house, located in Corydon, Indiana, is still standing and is maintained as a state historic site. The second building was the old Marion County courthouse which was demolished and replaced in the early 20th century. The third building was a structure modeled on the Parthenon, but was condemned in 1877 because of structural defects and razed so the current statehouse could be built on its location.

Underside of the Golden Gate Bridge with the sun going down.

Urbex Benelux -

 

Since the 1970s and 1980s, urban decay has been associated with Western cities, especially in North America and parts of Europe. Since then, major structural changes in global economies, transportation, and government policy created the economic and then the social conditions resulting in urban decay.

Cyrille Bailly © Tous droits réservés

Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission.

This sculpture was one of my favourites this year.

 

You can imagine the scale of this artwork by comparing the height

of the people in the background. It is by the same artist of last year's

Metal Tsunami.

 

Original title "Structural Wind"... Truly amazing

Going around the corner of the Big Dipper roller coaster built in 1927... of course structurally retrofitted with old worn materials replaced. There were some who once wanted to tear it down. There will always be these type of people who have little joy in there lives.

 

* Image created for the Our Daily Challenge topic:

 

ON or AROUND THE CORNER

 

i found this

nest

of a

Barn Swallow BARS* (Hirundo rustica)

Interesting

 

Often this species will utilize a ledge or somewhat porous or irregular surface on which to build its nest

Here the metal siding would not have provided good adhesion for the mud construction techniques

i didn't notice evidence of "trial & error" so the 'architect-builders' of this nest would seem to have been ingenious to have chosen this material -meshing as a home site.

 

i am curious to monitor over the winter and see how it stands up -- and if it is reused next year.

 

Pendray Farm

Saanich Peninsula

British Columbia

 

DSCN4833

Imagine how many trips with mouthfuls of mud and straw to have built this!

i wonder how long it took....?

architectural wall panel - erwin hauer design. knoll showroom 2006.

via Instagram ift.tt/1NYNA6P

My photography page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhotoStudioRT

St Peter Mancroft is the large church on the corner of Norwich Market Place, close to the county council offices. Much admired by John Wesley the present building dates from 1430 to 1455 with no further structural additions until as recently as 1983.

 

The roof was lifted up in 1962 to 1964 to allow the walls to be straightened and tied together as the weight of the hammer beams had started to push the walls apart.

 

Norwich was the second city of England in the Middle Ages and St Peter Mancroft reflects this with as many as 14 bells in its tower. They are still in use.

 

The name comes from the name Magna Crofta which was the meadow beside the Norman castle in which the market was set up. The church became known as 'St Peter and St Paul in Magna Crofta' but when St Paul was given his own saints day the name was shortened to St Peter and Magna Crofta was corrupted in common usage to Mancroft.

After I finished off the first wing prototyp I wanted to attach it to the cockpit pod just to notice that the wing turned out way to heavy for the joints I´ve build, as they immediatly cracked under the pressure.

So next thing to do is to get those joints stronger.

Otherwise the poor pilot will never ever know how it feels to fly among the stars, well at least among a planetary surface.

 

See the finished MOC here.

The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station (habitable artificial satellite) in low Earth orbit. The ISS programme is a joint project between five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).[6][7] The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.[8]

 

The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields.[9][10][11] The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars.[12] The ISS maintains an orbit with an average altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi) by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda module or visiting spacecraft.[13] It circles the Earth in roughly 92 minutes and completes 15.5 orbits per day.[14]

 

The station is divided into two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS), which is operated by Russia, and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS), which is shared by many nations. Roscosmos has endorsed the continued operation of ISS through 2024,[15] but had previously proposed using elements of the Russian segment to construct a new Russian space station called OPSEK.[16]As of December 2018, the station is expected to operate until 2030.[17]

 

The first ISS component was launched in 1998, with the first long-term residents arriving on 2 November 2000.[18] Since then, the station has been continuously occupied for 18 years and 359 days.[19] This is the longest continuous human presence in low Earth orbit, having surpassed the previous record of 9 years and 357 days held by Mir. The latest major pressurised module was fitted in 2011, with an experimental inflatable space habitat added in 2016. Development and assembly of the station continues, with several major new Russian elements scheduled for launch starting in 2020. The ISS is the largest human-made body in low Earth orbit and can often be seen with the naked eye from Earth.[20][21] The ISS consists of pressurised habitation modules, structural trusses, solar arrays, radiators, docking ports, experiment bays and robotic arms. Major ISS modules have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets and US Space Shuttles.[22]

 

The ISS is the ninth space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz, and Mir stations as well as Skylab from the US. The station is serviced by a variety of visiting spacecraft: the Russian Soyuz and Progress, the US Dragon and Cygnus, the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle,[6] and the European Automated Transfer Vehicle. The Dragon spacecraft allows the return of pressurised cargo to Earth (downmass), which is used for example to repatriate scientific experiments for further analysis. The Soyuz return capsule has minimal downmass capability next to the astronauts.

 

The ISS has been visited by astronauts, cosmonauts and space tourists from 18 different nations. As of 14 March 2019, 236 people from 18 countries had visited the space station, many of them multiple times. The United States sent 149 people, Russia sent 47, nine were Japanese, eight were Canadian, five were Italian, four were French, three were German, and there were one each from Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.[23]

Contents

 

1 Purpose

2 Manufacturing

3 Assembly

4 Structure

5 Systems

6 Operations

7 Mission controls

8 Fleet operations

9 Life aboard

10 Crew health and safety

11 Orbital debris threats

12 End of mission

13 Cost

14 International co-operation

15 Sightings from Earth

16 See also

17 Notes

18 References

19 Further reading

20 External links

 

Purpose

 

The ISS was originally intended to be a laboratory, observatory, and factory while providing transportation, maintenance, and a low Earth orbit staging base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. However, not all of the uses envisioned in the initial Memorandum of Understanding between NASA and Roskosmos have come to fruition.[24] In the 2010 United States National Space Policy, the ISS was given additional roles of serving commercial, diplomatic[25] and educational purposes.[26]

Scientific research

Main article: Scientific research on the International Space Station

Comet Lovejoy photographed by Expedition 30 commander Dan Burbank

Expedition 8 Commander and Science Officer Michael Foale conducts an inspection of the Microgravity Science Glovebox

Fisheye view of several labs

CubeSats are deployed by the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer

 

The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research, with power, data, cooling, and crew available to support experiments. Small uncrewed spacecraft can also provide platforms for experiments, especially those involving zero gravity and exposure to space, but space stations offer a long-term environment where studies can be performed potentially for decades, combined with ready access by human researchers.[27][28]

 

The ISS simplifies individual experiments by allowing groups of experiments to share the same launches and crew time. Research is conducted in a wide variety of fields, including astrobiology, astronomy, physical sciences, materials science, space weather, meteorology, and human research including space medicine and the life sciences.[9][10][11][29][30] Scientists on Earth have timely access to the data and can suggest experimental modifications to the crew. If follow-on experiments are necessary, the routinely scheduled launches of resupply craft allows new hardware to be launched with relative ease.[28] Crews fly expeditions of several months' duration, providing approximately 160 person-hours per week of labour with a crew of 6. However, a considerable amount of crew time is taken up by station maintenance.[9][31]

 

Perhaps the most notable ISS experiment is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which is intended to detect dark matter and answer other fundamental questions about our universe and is as important as the Hubble Space Telescope according to NASA. Currently docked on station, it could not have been easily accommodated on a free flying satellite platform because of its power and bandwidth needs.[32][33] On 3 April 2013, scientists reported that hints of dark matter may have been detected by the AMS.[34][35][36][37][38][39] According to the scientists, "The first results from the space-borne Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer confirm an unexplained excess of high-energy positrons in Earth-bound cosmic rays."

 

The space environment is hostile to life. Unprotected presence in space is characterised by an intense radiation field (consisting primarily of protons and other subatomic charged particles from the solar wind, in addition to cosmic rays), high vacuum, extreme temperatures, and microgravity.[40] Some simple forms of life called extremophiles,[41] as well as small invertebrates called tardigrades[42] can survive in this environment in an extremely dry state through desiccation.

 

Medical research improves knowledge about the effects of long-term space exposure on the human body, including muscle atrophy, bone loss, and fluid shift. This data will be used to determine whether high duration human spaceflight and space colonisation are feasible. As of 2006, data on bone loss and muscular atrophy suggest that there would be a significant risk of fractures and movement problems if astronauts landed on a planet after a lengthy interplanetary cruise, such as the six-month interval required to travel to Mars.[43][44]

 

Medical studies are conducted aboard the ISS on behalf of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). Prominent among these is the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity study in which astronauts perform ultrasound scans under the guidance of remote experts. The study considers the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions in space. Usually, there is no physician on board the ISS and diagnosis of medical conditions is a challenge. It is anticipated that remotely guided ultrasound scans will have application on Earth in emergency and rural care situations where access to a trained physician is difficult.[45][46][47]

Free fall

ISS crew member storing samples

A comparison between the combustion of a candle on Earth (left) and in a free fall environment, such as that found on the ISS (right)

 

Gravity at the altitude of the ISS is approximately 90% as strong as at Earth's surface, but objects in orbit are in a continuous state of freefall, resulting in an apparent state of weightlessness.[48] This perceived weightlessness is disturbed by five separate effects:[49]

 

Drag from the residual atmosphere.

Vibration from the movements of mechanical systems and the crew.

Actuation of the on-board attitude control moment gyroscopes.

Thruster firings for attitude or orbital changes.

Gravity-gradient effects, also known as tidal effects. Items at different locations within the ISS would, if not attached to the station, follow slightly different orbits. Being mechanically interconnected these items experience small forces that keep the station moving as a rigid body.

 

Researchers are investigating the effect of the station's near-weightless environment on the evolution, development, growth and internal processes of plants and animals. In response to some of this data, NASA wants to investigate microgravity's effects on the growth of three-dimensional, human-like tissues, and the unusual protein crystals that can be formed in space.[10]

 

Investigating the physics of fluids in microgravity will provide better models of the behaviour of fluids. Because fluids can be almost completely combined in microgravity, physicists investigate fluids that do not mix well on Earth. In addition, examining reactions that are slowed by low gravity and low temperatures will improve our understanding of superconductivity.[10]

 

The study of materials science is an important ISS research activity, with the objective of reaping economic benefits through the improvement of techniques used on the ground.[50] Other areas of interest include the effect of the low gravity environment on combustion, through the study of the efficiency of burning and control of emissions and pollutants. These findings may improve current knowledge about energy production, and lead to economic and environmental benefits. Future plans are for the researchers aboard the ISS to examine aerosols, ozone, water vapour, and oxides in Earth's atmosphere, as well as cosmic rays, cosmic dust, antimatter, and dark matter in the universe.[10]

Exploration

A 3D plan of the Russia-based MARS-500 complex, used for ground-based experiments which complement ISS-based preparations for a human mission to Mars

 

The ISS provides a location in the relative safety of Low Earth Orbit to test spacecraft systems that will be required for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. This provides experience in operations, maintenance as well as repair and replacement activities on-orbit, which will be essential skills in operating spacecraft farther from Earth, mission risks can be reduced and the capabilities of interplanetary spacecraft advanced.[12] Referring to the MARS-500 experiment, ESA states that "Whereas the ISS is essential for answering questions concerning the possible impact of weightlessness, radiation and other space-specific factors, aspects such as the effect of long-term isolation and confinement can be more appropriately addressed via ground-based simulations".[51] Sergey Krasnov, the head of human space flight programmes for Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, in 2011 suggested a "shorter version" of MARS-500 may be carried out on the ISS.[52]

 

In 2009, noting the value of the partnership framework itself, Sergey Krasnov wrote, "When compared with partners acting separately, partners developing complementary abilities and resources could give us much more assurance of the success and safety of space exploration. The ISS is helping further advance near-Earth space exploration and realisation of prospective programmes of research and exploration of the Solar system, including the Moon and Mars."[53] A crewed mission to Mars may be a multinational effort involving space agencies and countries outside the current ISS partnership. In 2010, ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain stated his agency was ready to propose to the other four partners that China, India and South Korea be invited to join the ISS partnership.[54] NASA chief Charlie Bolden stated in February 2011, "Any mission to Mars is likely to be a global effort".[55] Currently, US federal legislation prevents NASA co-operation with China on space projects.[56]

Education and cultural outreach

Original Jules Verne manuscripts displayed by crew inside Jules Verne ATV

 

The ISS crew provides opportunities for students on Earth by running student-developed experiments, making educational demonstrations, allowing for student participation in classroom versions of ISS experiments, and directly engaging students using radio, videolink and email.[6][57] ESA offers a wide range of free teaching materials that can be downloaded for use in classrooms.[58] In one lesson, students can navigate a 3-D model of the interior and exterior of the ISS, and face spontaneous challenges to solve in real time.[59]

 

JAXA aims to inspire children to "pursue craftsmanship" and to heighten their "awareness of the importance of life and their responsibilities in society."[60] Through a series of education guides, a deeper understanding of the past and near-term future of crewed space flight, as well as that of Earth and life, will be learned.[61][62] In the JAXA Seeds in Space experiments, the mutation effects of spaceflight on plant seeds aboard the ISS is explored. Students grow sunflower seeds which flew on the ISS for about nine months. In the first phase of Kibō utilisation from 2008 to mid-2010, researchers from more than a dozen Japanese universities conducted experiments in diverse fields.[63]

Menu

0:00

ESA Astronaut Paolo Nespoli's spoken voice, recorded about the ISS in November 2017, for Wikipedia

 

Cultural activities are another major objective. Tetsuo Tanaka, director of JAXA's Space Environment and Utilization Center, says "There is something about space that touches even people who are not interested in science."[64]

 

Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) is a volunteer programme which encourages students worldwide to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics through amateur radio communications opportunities with the ISS crew. ARISS is an international working group, consisting of delegations from nine countries including several countries in Europe as well as Japan, Russia, Canada, and the United States. In areas where radio equipment cannot be used, speakerphones connect students to ground stations which then connect the calls to the station.[65]

 

First Orbit is a feature-length documentary film about Vostok 1, the first crewed space flight around the Earth. By matching the orbit of the International Space Station to that of Vostok 1 as closely as possible, in terms of ground path and time of day, documentary filmmaker Christopher Riley and ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli were able to film the view that Yuri Gagarin saw on his pioneering orbital space flight. This new footage was cut together with the original Vostok 1 mission audio recordings sourced from the Russian State Archive. Nespoli, during Expedition 26/27, filmed the majority of the footage for this documentary film, and as a result is credited as its director of photography.[66] The film was streamed through the website firstorbit.org in a global YouTube premiere in 2011, under a free licence.[67]

 

In May 2013, commander Chris Hadfield shot a music video of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" on board the station; the film was released on YouTube.[68] It was the first music video ever to be filmed in space.[69]

 

In November 2017, while participating in Expedition 52/53 on the ISS, Paolo Nespoli made two recordings (one in English the other in his native Italian) of his spoken voice, for use on Wikipedia articles. These were the first content made specifically for Wikipedia, in space.[70][71]

Manufacturing

Main article: Manufacturing of the International Space Station

ISS module Node 2 manufacturing and processing in the SSPF

 

Since the International Space Station is a multi-national collaborative project, the components for in-orbit assembly were manufactured in various countries around the world. Beginning in the mid 1990s, the U.S. components Destiny, Unity, the Integrated Truss Structure, and the solar arrays were fabricated at the Marshall Space Flight Center and the Michoud Assembly Facility. These modules were delivered to the Operations and Checkout Building and the Space Station Processing Facility for final assembly and processing for launch.[72]

 

The Russian modules, including Zarya and Zvezda, were manufactured at the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center in Moscow. Zvezda was initially manufactured in 1985 as a component for Mir-2, but was never launched and instead became the ISS Service Module.[73]

 

The European Space Agency Columbus module was manufactured at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands, along with many other contractors throughout Europe.[74] The other ESA-built modules - Harmony, Tranquility, the Leonardo MPLM, and the Cupola - were initially manufactured at the Thales Alenia Space factory located at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center. The structural steel hulls of the modules were transported by aircraft to the Kennedy Space Center SSPF for launch processing.[75]

 

The Japanese Experiment Module Kibō, was fabricated in various technology manufacturing facilities in Japan, at the NASDA (now JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center, and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. The Kibo module was transported by ship and flown by aircraft to the KSC Space Station Processing Facility.[76]

 

The Mobile Servicing System, consisting of the Canadarm2 and the Dextre grapple fixture, was manufactured at various factories in Canada and the United States under contract by the Canadian Space Agency. The mobile base system, a connecting framework for Canadarm2 mounted on rails, was built by Northrop Grumman.

Assembly

Main articles: Assembly of the International Space Station and List of ISS spacewalks

 

The assembly of the International Space Station, a major endeavour in space architecture, began in November 1998.[3] Russian modules launched and docked robotically, with the exception of Rassvet. All other modules were delivered by the Space Shuttle, which required installation by ISS and shuttle crewmembers using the Canadarm2 (SSRMS) and extra-vehicular activities (EVAs); as of 5 June 2011, they had added 159 components during more than 1,000 hours of EVA (see List of ISS spacewalks). 127 of these spacewalks originated from the station, and the remaining 32 were launched from the airlocks of docked Space Shuttles.[77] The beta angle of the station had to be considered at all times during construction.[78]

 

The first module of the ISS, Zarya, was launched on 20 November 1998 on an autonomous Russian Proton rocket. It provided propulsion, attitude control, communications, electrical power, but lacked long-term life support functions. Two weeks later, a passive NASA module Unity was launched aboard Space Shuttle flight STS-88 and attached to Zarya by astronauts during EVAs. This module has two Pressurised Mating Adapter (PMAs), one connects permanently to Zarya, the other allowed the Space Shuttle to dock to the space station. At that time, the Russian station Mir was still inhabited, and the ISS remained uncrewed for two years. On 12 July 2000, Zvezda was launched into orbit. Preprogrammed commands on board deployed its solar arrays and communications antenna. It then became the passive target for a rendezvous with Zarya and Unity: it maintained a station-keeping orbit while the Zarya-Unity vehicle performed the rendezvous and docking via ground control and the Russian automated rendezvous and docking system. Zarya's computer transferred control of the station to Zvezda's computer soon after docking. Zvezda added sleeping quarters, a toilet, kitchen, CO2 scrubbers, dehumidifier, oxygen generators, exercise equipment, plus data, voice and television communications with mission control. This enabled permanent habitation of the station.[79][80]

 

The first resident crew, Expedition 1, arrived in November 2000 on Soyuz TM-31. At the end of the first day on the station, astronaut Bill Shepherd requested the use of the radio call sign "Alpha", which he and cosmonaut Krikalev preferred to the more cumbersome "International Space Station".[81] The name "Alpha" had previously been used for the station in the early 1990s,[82] and its use was authorised for the whole of Expedition 1.[83] Shepherd had been advocating the use of a new name to project managers for some time. Referencing a naval tradition in a pre-launch news conference he had said: "For thousands of years, humans have been going to sea in ships. People have designed and built these vessels, launched them with a good feeling that a name will bring good fortune to the crew and success to their voyage."[84] Yuri Semenov, the President of Russian Space Corporation Energia at the time, disapproved of the name "Alpha" as he felt that Mir was the first modular space station, so the names "Beta" or "Mir 2" for the ISS would have been more fitting.[83][85][86]

 

Expedition 1 arrived midway between the flights of STS-92 and STS-97. These two Space Shuttle flights each added segments of the station's Integrated Truss Structure, which provided the station with Ku-band communication for US television, additional attitude support needed for the additional mass of the USOS, and substantial solar arrays supplementing the station's existing 4 solar arrays.[87]

 

Over the next two year, the station continued to expand. A Soyuz-U rocket delivered the Pirs docking compartment. The Space Shuttles Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour delivered the Destiny laboratory and Quest airlock, in addition to the station's main robot arm, the Canadarm2, and several more segments of the Integrated Truss Structure.

 

The expansion schedule was interrupted by the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 and a resulting hiatus in flights. The Space Shuttle was grounded until 2005 with STS-114 flown by Discovery.[88]

 

Assembly resumed in 2006 with the arrival of STS-115 with Atlantis, which delivered the station's second set of solar arrays. Several more truss segments and a third set of arrays were delivered on STS-116, STS-117, and STS-118. As a result of the major expansion of the station's power-generating capabilities, more pressurised modules could be accommodated, and the Harmony node and Columbus European laboratory were added. These were soon followed by the first two components of Kibō. In March 2009, STS-119 completed the Integrated Truss Structure with the installation of the fourth and final set of solar arrays. The final section of Kibō was delivered in July 2009 on STS-127, followed by the Russian Poisk module. The third node, Tranquility, was delivered in February 2010 during STS-130 by the Space Shuttle Endeavour, alongside the Cupola, followed in May 2010 by the penultimate Russian module, Rassvet. Rassvet was delivered by Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-132 in exchange for the Russian Proton delivery of the US-funded Zarya module in 1998.[89] The last pressurised module of the USOS, Leonardo, was brought to the station in February 2011 on the final flight of Discovery, STS-133.[90] The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer was delivered by Endeavour on STS-134 the same year.[91]

 

As of June 2011, the station consisted of 15 pressurised modules and the Integrated Truss Structure. Five modules are still to be launched, including the Nauka with the European Robotic Arm, the Prichal module, and two power modules called NEM-1 and NEM-2.[92] As of March 2019, Russia's future primary research module Nauka is set to launch in the summer of 2020, along with the European Robotic Arm which will be able to relocate itself to different parts of the Russian modules of the station.[93]

 

The gross mass of the station changes over time. The total launch mass of the modules on orbit is about 417,289 kg (919,965 lb) (as of 3 September 2011).[94] The mass of experiments, spare parts, personal effects, crew, foodstuff, clothing, propellants, water supplies, gas supplies, docked spacecraft, and other items add to the total mass of the station. Hydrogen gas is constantly vented overboard by the oxygen generators.

 

The ISS is a third generation[95] modular space station.[96] Modular stations can allow modules to be added to or removed from the existing structure, allowing greater flexibility.

 

Below is a diagram of major station components. The blue areas are pressurised sections accessible by the crew without using spacesuits. The station's unpressurised superstructure is indicated in red. Other unpressurised components are yellow. The Unity node joins directly to the Destiny laboratory. For clarity, they are shown apart.

 

Zarya

Zarya as seen by Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-88

 

Zarya (Russian: Заря́, lit. 'Dawn'), also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB (from the Russian: "Функционально-грузовой блок", lit. 'Funktsionalno-gruzovoy blok' or ФГБ), is the first module of the ISS to be launched.[97] The FGB provided electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during the initial stage of assembly. With the launch and assembly in orbit of other modules with more specialized functionality, Zarya is now[when?] primarily used for storage, both inside the pressurized section and in the externally mounted fuel tanks. The Zarya is a descendant of the TKS spacecraft designed for the Russian Salyut program. The name Zarya, which means sunrise,[97] was given to the FGB because it signified the dawn of a new era of international cooperation in space. Although it was built by a Russian company, it is owned by the United States.[98]

 

Zarya was built from December 1994 to January 1998 at the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center (KhSC) in Moscow.[97]

 

Zarya was launched on 20 November 1998 on a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 81 in Kazakhstan to a 400 km (250 mi) high orbit with a designed lifetime of at least 15 years. After Zarya reached orbit, STS-88 launched on 4 December 1998 to attach the Unity module.

Unity

Unity as seen by Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-88

Main article: Unity (ISS module)

 

The Unity connecting module, also known as Node 1, is the first U.S.-built component of the ISS. It connects the Russian and United States segments of the station, and is where crew eat meals together.

 

The module is cylindrical in shape, with six berthing locations (forward, aft, port, starboard, zenith, and nadir) facilitating connections to other modules. Unity measures 4.57 metres (15.0 ft) in diameter, is 5.47 metres (17.9 ft) long, made of steel, and was built for NASA by Boeing in a manufacturing facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Unity is the first of the three connecting modules; the other two are Harmony and Tranquility.

 

Unity was carried into orbit as the primary cargo of the Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-88, the first Space Shuttle mission dedicated to assembly of the station. On 6 December 1998, the STS-88 crew mated the aft berthing port of Unity with the forward hatch of the already orbiting Zarya module. This was the first connection made between two station modules.

Zvezda

Zvezda as seen by Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-97

Main article: Zvezda (ISS module)

 

Zvezda (Russian: Звезда́, meaning "star"), Salyut DOS-8, also known as the Zvezda Service Module, is a module of the ISS. It was the third module launched to the station, and provides all of the station's life support systems, some of which are supplemented in the USOS, as well as living quarters for two crew members. It is the structural and functional center of the Russian Orbital Segment, which is the Russian part of the ISS. Crew assemble here to deal with emergencies on the station.[99][100][101]

 

The basic structural frame of Zvezda, known as "DOS-8", was initially built in the mid-1980s to be the core of the Mir-2 space station. This means that Zvezda is similar in layout to the core module (DOS-7) of the Mir space station. It was in fact labeled as Mir-2 for quite some time in the factory. Its design lineage thus extends back to the original Salyut stations. The space frame was completed in February 1985 and major internal equipment was installed by October 1986.

 

The rocket used for launch to the ISS carried advertising; it was emblazoned with the logo of Pizza Hut restaurants,[102][103][104] for which they are reported to have paid more than US$1 million.[105] The money helped support Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and the Russian advertising agencies that orchestrated the event.[106]

 

On 26 July 2000, Zvezda became the third component of the ISS when it docked at the aft port of Zarya. (U.S. Unity module had already been attached to the Zarya.) Later in July, the computers aboard Zarya handed over ISS commanding functions to computers on Zvezda.[107]

Destiny

The Destiny module being installed on the ISS

Main article: Destiny (ISS module)

 

The Destiny module, also known as the U.S. Lab, is the primary operating facility for U.S. research payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS).[108][109] It was berthed to the Unity module and activated over a period of five days in February, 2001.[110] Destiny is NASA's first permanent operating orbital research station since Skylab was vacated in February 1974.

 

The Boeing Company began construction of the 14.5-tonne (32,000 lb) research laboratory in 1995 at the Michoud Assembly Facility and then the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.[108] Destiny was shipped to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 1998, and was turned over to NASA for pre-launch preparations in August 2000. It launched on 7 February 2001 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-98.[110]

Quest

Quest Joint Airlock Module

Main article: Quest Joint Airlock

 

The Quest Joint Airlock, previously known as the Joint Airlock Module, is the primary airlock for the ISS. Quest was designed to host spacewalks with both Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits and Orlan space suits. The airlock was launched on STS-104 on 14 July 2001. Before Quest was attached, Russian spacewalks using Orlan suits could only be done from the Zvezda service module, and American spacewalks using EMUs were only possible when a Space Shuttle was docked. The arrival of Pirs docking compartment on September 16, 2001 provided another airlock from which Orlan spacewalks can be conducted.[citation needed]

Pirs and Poisk

The Pirs module attached to the ISS.

Poisk after arriving at the ISS on 12 November 2009.

Main articles: Pirs (ISS module) and Poisk (ISS module)

 

Pirs (Russian: Пирс, lit. 'pier') and Poisk (Russian: По́иск, lit. 'search') are Russian airlock modules, each having 2 identical hatches. An outward-opening hatch on the Mir space station failed after it swung open too fast after unlatching, because of a small amount of air pressure remaining in the airlock.[111] All EVA hatches on the ISS open inwards and are pressure-sealing. Pirs was used to store, service, and refurbish Russian Orlan suits and provided contingency entry for crew using the slightly bulkier American suits. The outermost docking ports on both airlocks allow docking of Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, and the automatic transfer of propellants to and from storage on the ROS.[112]

 

Pirs was launched on 14 September 2001, as ISS Assembly Mission 4R, on a Russian Soyuz-U rocket, using a modified Progress spacecraft, Progress M-SO1, as an upper stage. Poisk was launched on 10 November 2009[113][114] attached to a modified Progress spacecraft, called Progress M-MIM2, on a Soyuz-U rocket from Launch Pad 1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Harmony

Harmony shown connected to Columbus, Kibo, and Destiny. PMA-2 faces. The nadir and zenith locations are open.

Main article: Harmony (ISS module)

 

Harmony, also known as Node 2, is the "utility hub" of the ISS. It connects the laboratory modules of the United States, Europe and Japan, as well as providing electrical power and electronic data. Sleeping cabins for four of the six crew are housed here.[115]

 

Harmony was successfully launched into space aboard Space Shuttle flight STS-120 on October 23, 2007.[116][117] After temporarily being attached to the port side of the Unity node,[118][119] it was moved to its permanent location on the forward end of the Destiny laboratory on November 14, 2007.[120] Harmony added 2,666 cubic feet (75.5 m3) to the station's living volume, an increase of almost 20 percent, from 15,000 cu ft (420 m3) to 17,666 cu ft (500.2 m3). Its successful installation meant that from NASA's perspective, the station was "U.S. Core Complete".

Tranquility

Tranquility in 2011

Main article: Tranquility (ISS module)

 

Tranquility, also known as Node 3, is a module of the ISS. It contains environmental control systems, life support systems, a toilet, exercise equipment, and an observation cupola.

 

ESA and the Italian Space Agency had Tranquility built by Thales Alenia Space. A ceremony on November 20, 2009 transferred ownership of the module to NASA.[121] On February 8, 2010, NASA launched the module on the Space Shuttle's STS-130 mission.

Columbus

The Columbus module on the ISS

Main article: Columbus (ISS module)

 

Columbus is a science laboratory that is part of the ISS and is the largest single contribution to the ISS made by the European Space Agency (ESA).

 

Like the Harmony and Tranquility modules, the Columbus laboratory was constructed in Turin, Italy by Thales Alenia Space. The functional equipment and software of the lab was designed by EADS in Bremen, Germany. It was also integrated in Bremen before being flown to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida in an Airbus Beluga. It was launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on 7 February 2008 on flight STS-122. It is designed for ten years of operation. The module is controlled by the Columbus Control Centre, located at the German Space Operations Centre, part of the German Aerospace Center in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, Germany.

 

The European Space Agency has spent €1.4 billion (about US$2 billion) on building Columbus, including the experiments that will fly in it and the ground control infrastructure necessary to operate them.[122]

Kibō

Kibō Exposed Facility on the right

Main article: Kibo (ISS module)

 

The Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), nicknamed Kibo (きぼう Kibō, Hope), is a Japanese science module for the ISS developed by JAXA. It is the largest single ISS module, and is attached to the Harmony module. The first two pieces of the module were launched on Space Shuttle missions STS-123 and STS-124. The third and final components were launched on STS-127.[123]

 

Pressurised Module

 

Experiment Logistics Module

 

Exposed Facility

 

Experiment Logistics Module

 

Remote Manipulator System

 

Cupola

The Cupola's windows with shutters open.

Main article: Cupola (ISS module)

 

The Cupola is an ESA-built observatory module of the ISS. Its name derives from the Italian word cupola, which means "dome". Its seven windows are used to conduct experiments, dockings and observations of Earth. It was launched aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-130 on 8 February 2010 and attached to the Tranquility (Node 3) module. With the Cupola attached, ISS assembly reached 85 percent completion. The Cupola's central window has a diameter of 80 cm (31 in).[124]

Rassvet

Rassvet as seen from the Cupola module during STS-132 with a Progress in the lower right

Main article: Rassvet (ISS module)

 

Rassvet (Russian: Рассве́т; lit. "dawn"), also known as the Mini-Research Module 1 (MRM-1) (Russian: Малый исследовательский модуль, МИМ 1) and formerly known as the Docking Cargo Module (DCM), is a component of the ISS. The module's design is similar to the Mir Docking Module launched on STS-74 in 1995. Rassvet is primarily used for cargo storage and as a docking port for visiting spacecraft. It was flown to the ISS aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-132 mission on May 14, 2010,[125] and was connected to the ISS on May 18.[126] The hatch connecting Rassvet with the ISS was first opened on May 20.[127] On 28 June 2010, the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft performed the first docking with the module.[128]

Leonardo

Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module

Main article: Leonardo (ISS module)

 

The Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) is a module of the ISS. It was flown into space aboard the Space Shuttle on STS-133 on 24 February 2011 and installed on 1 March. Leonardo is primarily used for storage of spares, supplies and waste on the ISS, which was until then stored in many different places within the space station. The Leonardo PMM was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) before 2011, but was modified into its current configuration. It was formerly one of three MPLM used for bringing cargo to and from the ISS with the Space Shuttle. The module was named for Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci.

Bigelow Expandable Activity Module

Progression of expansion of BEAM

Main article: Bigelow Expandable Activity Module

 

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is an experimental expandable space station module developed by Bigelow Aerospace, under contract to NASA, for testing as a temporary module on the ISS from 2016 to at least 2020. It arrived at the ISS on 10 April 2016,[129] was berthed to the station on 16 April, and was expanded and pressurized on 28 May 2016.

International Docking Adapter

IDA-1 upright

Main article: International Docking Adapter

 

The International Docking Adapter (IDA) is a spacecraft docking system adapter developed to convert APAS-95 to the NASA Docking System (NDS)/International Docking System Standard (IDSS). An IDA is placed on each of the ISS' two open Pressurized Mating Adapters (PMAs), both of which are connected to the Harmony module.

 

IDA-1 was lost during the launch failure of SpaceX CRS-7 on 28 June 2015.[130][131][132]

 

IDA-2 was launched on SpaceX CRS-9 on 18 July 2016.[133] It was attached and connected to PMA-2 during a spacewalk on 19 August 2016.[134] First docking was achieved with the arrival of Crew Dragon Demo-1 on 3 March 2019. [135]

 

IDA-3 was launched on the SpaceX CRS-18 mission in July 2019.[136] IDA-3 is constructed mostly from spare parts to speed construction.[137] It was attached and connected to PMA-3 during a spacewalk on 21 August 2019. [138]

Unpressurised elements

ISS Truss Components breakdown showing Trusses and all ORUs in situ

 

The ISS has a large number of external components that do not require pressurisation. The largest of these is the Integrated Truss Structure (ITS), to which the station's main solar arrays and thermal radiators are mounted.[139] The ITS consists of ten separate segments forming a structure 108.5 m (356 ft) long.[3]

 

The station was intended to have several smaller external components, such as six robotic arms, three External Stowage Platforms (ESPs) and four ExPRESS Logistics Carriers (ELCs).[140][141] While these platforms allow experiments (including MISSE, the STP-H3 and the Robotic Refueling Mission) to be deployed and conducted in the vacuum of space by providing electricity and processing experimental data locally, their primary function is to store spare Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs). ORUs are parts that can be replaced when they fail or pass their design life, including pumps, storage tanks, antennas, and battery units. Such units are replaced either by astronauts during EVA or by robotic arms.[142] Several shuttle missions were dedicated to the delivery of ORUs, including STS-129,[143] STS-133[144] and STS-134.[145] As of January 2011, only one other mode of transportation of ORUs had been utilised – the Japanese cargo vessel HTV-2 – which delivered an FHRC and CTC-2 via its Exposed Pallet (EP).[146][needs update]

Construction of the Integrated Truss Structure over New Zealand.

 

There are also smaller exposure facilities mounted directly to laboratory modules; the Kibō Exposed Facility serves as an external 'porch' for the Kibō complex,[147] and a facility on the European Columbus laboratory provides power and data connections for experiments such as the European Technology Exposure Facility[148][149] and the Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space.[150] A remote sensing instrument, SAGE III-ISS, was delivered to the station in February 2017 aboard CRS-10,[151] and the NICER experiment was delivered aboard CRS-11 in June 2017.[152] The largest scientific payload externally mounted to the ISS is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), a particle physics experiment launched on STS-134 in May 2011, and mounted externally on the ITS. The AMS measures cosmic rays to look for evidence of dark matter and antimatter.[153][154]

 

The commercial Bartolomeo External Payload Hosting Platform, manufactured by Airbus, is due to launch in May 2019 aboard a commercial ISS resupply vehicle and be attached to the European Columbus module. It will provide a further 12 external payload slots, supplementing the eight on the ExPRESS Logistics Carriers, ten on Kibō, and four on Columbus. The system is designed to be robotically serviced and will require no astronaut intervention. It is named after Christopher Columbus's younger brother.[155][156][157]

Robotic arms and cargo cranes

Commander Volkov stands on Pirs with his back to the Soyuz whilst operating the manual Strela crane holding photographer Kononenko.

Dextre, like many of the station's experiments and robotic arms, can be operated from Earth and perform tasks while the crew sleeps.

 

The Integrated Truss Structure serves as a base for the station's primary remote manipulator system, called the Mobile Servicing System (MSS), which is composed of three main components. Canadarm2, the largest robotic arm on the ISS, has a mass of 1,800 kilograms (4,000 lb) and is used to dock and manipulate spacecraft and modules on the USOS, hold crew members and equipment in place during EVAs and move Dextre around to perform tasks.[158] Dextre is a 1,560 kg (3,440 lb) robotic manipulator with two arms, a rotating torso and has power tools, lights and video for replacing orbital replacement units (ORUs) and performing other tasks requiring fine control.[159] The Mobile Base System (MBS) is a platform which rides on rails along the length of the station's main truss. It serves as a mobile base for Canadarm2 and Dextre, allowing the robotic arms to reach all parts of the USOS.[160] To gain access to the Russian Segment a grapple fixture was added to Zarya on STS-134, so that Canadarm2 can inchworm itself onto the ROS.[161] Also installed during STS-134 was the 15 m (50 ft) Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), which had been used to inspect heat shield tiles on Space Shuttle missions and can be used on station to increase the reach of the MSS.[161] Staff on Earth or the station can operate the MSS components via remote control, performing work outside the station without space walks.

 

Japan's Remote Manipulator System, which services the Kibō Exposed Facility,[162] was launched on STS-124 and is attached to the Kibō Pressurised Module.[163] The arm is similar to the Space Shuttle arm as it is permanently attached at one end and has a latching end effector for standard grapple fixtures at the other.

 

The European Robotic Arm, which will service the Russian Orbital Segment, will be launched alongside the Multipurpose Laboratory Module in 2017.[164] The ROS does not require spacecraft or modules to be manipulated, as all spacecraft and modules dock automatically and may be discarded the same way. Crew use the two Strela (Russian: Стрела́; lit. Arrow) cargo cranes during EVAs for moving crew and equipment around the ROS. Each Strela crane has a mass of 45 kg (99 lb).

Planned componments

Nauka

Artist's rendering of the Nauka module docked to Zvezda.

Main article: Nauka (ISS module)

 

Nauka (Russian: Нау́ка; lit. Science), also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), (Russian: Многофункциональный лабораторный модуль, or МЛМ), is a component of the ISS which has not yet been launched into space. The MLM is funded by the Roscosmos State Corporation. In the original ISS plans, Nauka was to use the location of the Docking and Stowage Module. Later, the DSM was replaced by the Rassvet module and it was moved to Zarya's nadir port. Planners anticipate Nauka will dock at Zvezda's nadir port, replacing Pirs.[165]

 

The launch of Nauka, initially planned for 2007, has been repeatedly delayed for various reasons. As of September 2019, the launch to the ISS is assigned to no earlier than December 2020.[166] After this date, the warranties of some of Nauka's systems will expire.

Prichal

Mockup of the Prichal module at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

Main article: Prichal (ISS module)

 

Prichal, also known as Uzlovoy Module or UM (Russian: Узловой Модуль "Причал", Nodal Module Berth),[167] is a 4-tonne (8,800 lb)[168] ball-shaped module that will allow docking of two scientific and power modules during the final stage of the station assembly, and provide the Russian segment additional docking ports to receive Soyuz MS and Progress MS spacecraft. UM is due to be launched in 2022.[169] It will be integrated with a special version of the Progress cargo ship and launched by a standard Soyuz rocket, docking to the nadir port of the Nauka module. One port is equipped with an active hybrid docking port, which enables docking with the MLM module. The remaining five ports are passive hybrids, enabling docking of Soyuz and Progress vehicles, as well as heavier modules and future spacecraft with modified docking systems. The node module was intended to serve as the only permanent element of the cancelled OPSEK.[170][171]

Science Power Modules 1 and 2

 

Science Power Module 1 (SPM-1, also known as NEM-1) Science Power Module 2 (SPM-2, also known as NEM-2) are modules planned to arrive at the ISS in 2022.[169][172][173] It is going to dock to the Prichal module, which is planned to be attached to the Nauka module.[173] If Nauka is cancelled, then the Prichal, SPM-1, and SPM-2 would dock at the zenith port of Zvezda. SPM-1 and SPM-2 would also be required components for the OPSEK space station.[174]

Bishop Airlock Module

Main article: Bishop Airlock Module

 

The NanoRacks Bishop Airlock Module is a commercially-funded airlock module intended to be launched to the ISS on SpaceX CRS-21 in August 2020.[175][176] The module is being built by NanoRacks, Thales Alenia Space, and Boeing.[177] It will be used to deploy CubeSats, small satellites, and other external payloads for NASA, CASIS, and other commercial and governmental customers.[178]

Cancelled componments

The cancelled Habitation module under construction at Michoud in 1997

 

Several modules planned for the station were cancelled over the course of the ISS programme. Reasons include budgetary constraints, the modules becoming unnecessary, and station redesigns after the 2003 Columbia disaster. The US Centrifuge Accommodations Module would have hosted science experiments in varying levels of artificial gravity.[179] The US Habitation Module would have served as the station's living quarters. Instead, the sleep stations are now spread throughout the station.[180] The US Interim Control Module and ISS Propulsion Module would have replaced the functions of Zvezda in case of a launch failure.[181] Two Russian Research Modules were planned for scientific research.[182] They would have docked to a Russian Universal Docking Module.[183] The Russian Science Power Platform would have supplied power to the Russian Orbital Segment independent of the ITS solar arrays.

Systems

Life support

Main articles: ISS ECLSS and Chemical oxygen generator

 

The critical systems are the atmosphere control system, the water supply system, the food supply facilities, the sanitation and hygiene equipment, and fire detection and suppression equipment. The Russian Orbital Segment's life support systems are contained in the Zvezda service module. Some of these systems are supplemented by equipment in the USOS. The MLM Nauka laboratory has a complete set of life support systems.

Atmospheric control systems

A flowchart diagram showing the components of the ISS life support system.

The interactions between the components of the ISS Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS)

 

The atmosphere on board the ISS is similar to the Earth's.[184] Normal air pressure on the ISS is 101.3 kPa (14.69 psi);[185] the same as at sea level on Earth. An Earth-like atmosphere offers benefits for crew comfort, and is much safer than a pure oxygen atmosphere, because of the increased risk of a fire such as that responsible for the deaths of the Apollo 1 crew.[186] Earth-like atmospheric conditions have been maintained on all Russian and Soviet spacecraft.[187]

 

The Elektron system aboard Zvezda and a similar system in Destiny generate oxygen aboard the station.[188] The crew has a backup option in the form of bottled oxygen and Solid Fuel Oxygen Generation (SFOG) canisters, a chemical oxygen generator system.[189] Carbon dioxide is removed from the air by the Vozdukh system in Zvezda. Other by-products of human metabolism, such as methane from the intestines and ammonia from sweat, are removed by activated charcoal filters.[189]

 

Part of the ROS atmosphere control system is the oxygen supply. Triple-redundancy is provided by the Elektron unit, solid fuel generators, and stored oxygen. The primary supply of oxygen is the Elektron unit which produces O

2 and H

2 by electrolysis of water and vents H2 overboard. The 1 kW (1.3 hp) system uses approximately one litre of water per crew member per day. This water is either brought from Earth or recycled from other systems. Mir was the first spacecraft to use recycled water for oxygen production. The secondary oxygen supply is provided by burning O

2-producing Vika cartridges (see also ISS ECLSS). Each 'candle' takes 5–20 minutes to decompose at 450–500 °C (842–932 °F), producing 600 litres (130 imp gal; 160 US gal) of O

2. This unit is manually operated.[190]

 

The US Orbital Segment has redundant supplies of oxygen, from a pressurised storage tank on the Quest airlock module delivered in 2001, supplemented ten years later by ESA-built Advanced Closed-Loop System (ACLS) in the Tranquility module (Node 3), which produces O

2 by electrolysis.[191] Hydrogen produced is combined with carbon dioxide from the cabin atmosphere and converted to water and methane.

Power and thermal control

Main articles: Electrical system of the International Space Station and External Active Thermal Control System

Russian solar arrays, backlit by sunset

One of the eight truss mounted pairs of USOS solar arrays

 

Double-sided solar arrays provide electrical power to the ISS. These bifacial cells collect direct sunlight on one side and light reflected off from the Earth on the other, and are more efficient and operate at a lower temperature than single-sided cells commonly used on Earth.[192]

 

The Russian segment of the station, like most spacecraft, uses 28 volt low voltage DC from four rotating solar arrays mounted on Zarya and Zvezda. The USOS uses 130–180 V DC from the USOS PV array, power is stabilised and distributed at 160 V DC and converted to the user-required 124 V DC. The higher distribution voltage allows smaller, lighter conductors, at the expense of crew safety. The two station segments share power with converters.

 

The USOS solar arrays are arranged as four wing pairs, for a total production of 75 to 90 kilowatts.[193] These arrays normally track the sun to maximise power generation. Each array is about 375 m2 (4,036 sq ft) in area and 58 m (190 ft) long. In the complete configuration, the solar arrays track the sun by rotating the alpha gimbal once per orbit; the beta gimbal follows slower changes in the angle of the sun to the orbital plane. The Night Glider mode aligns the solar arrays parallel to the ground at night to reduce the significant aerodynamic drag at the station's relatively low orbital altitude.[194]

 

The station originally used rechargeable nickel–hydrogen batteries (NiH

2) for continuous power during the 35 minutes of every 90-minute orbit that it is eclipsed by the Earth. The batteries are recharged on the day side of the orbit. They had a 6.5-year lifetime (over 37,000 charge/discharge cycles) and were regularly replaced over the anticipated 20-year life of the station.[195] Starting in 2016, the nickel–hydrogen batteries were replaced by lithium-ion batteries, which are expected to last until the end of the ISS program.[196]

 

The station's large solar panels generate a high potential voltage difference between the station and the ionosphere. This could cause arcing through insulating surfaces and sputtering of conductive surfaces as ions are accelerated by the spacecraft plasma sheath. To mitigate this, plasma contactor units (PCU)s create current paths between the station and the ambient plasma field.[197]

ISS External Active Thermal Control System (EATCS) diagram

 

The station's systems and experiments consume a large amount of electrical power, almost all of which is converted to heat. To keep the internal temperature within workable limits, a passive thermal control system (PTCS) is made of external surface materials, insulation such as MLI, and heat pipes. If the PTCS cannot keep up with the heat load, an External Active Thermal Control System (EATCS) maintains the temperature. The EATCS consists of an internal, non-toxic, water coolant loop used to cool and dehumidify the atmosphere, which transfers collected heat into an external liquid ammonia loop. From the heat exchangers, ammonia is pumped into external radiators that emit heat as infrared radiation, then back to the station.[198] The EATCS provides cooling for all the US pressurised modules, including Kibō and Columbus, as well as the main power distribution electronics of the S0, S1 and P1 trusses. It can reject up to 70 kW. This is much more than the 14 kW of the Early External Active Thermal Control System (EEATCS) via the Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS), which was launched on STS-105 and installed onto the P6 Truss.[199]

Communications and computers

Main articles: Tracking and Data Relay Satellite and Luch (satellite)

See also: ThinkPad § Use in space

Diagram showing communications links between the ISS and other elements.

The communications systems used by the ISS

* Luch satellite and the Space Shuttle are not currently[when?] in use

 

Radio communications provide telemetry and scientific data links between the station and Mission Control Centres. Radio links are also used during rendezvous and docking procedures and for audio and video communication between crew members, flight controllers and family members. As a result, the ISS is equipped with internal and external communication systems used for different purposes.[200]

 

The Russian Orbital Segment communicates directly with the ground via the Lira antenna mounted to Zvezda.[6][201] The Lira antenna also has the capability to use the Luch data relay satellite system.[6] This system fell into disrepair during the 1990s, and so was not used during the early years of the ISS,[6][202][203] although two new Luch satellites—Luch-5A and Luch-5B—were launched in 2011 and 2012 respectively to restore the operational capability of the system.[204] Another Russian communications system is the Voskhod-M, which enables internal telephone communications between Zvezda, Zarya, Pirs, Poisk, and the USOS and provides a VHF radio link to ground control centres via antennas on Zvezda's exterior.[205]

 

The US Orbital Segment (USOS) makes use of two separate radio links mounted in the Z1 truss structure: the S band (audio) and Ku band (audio, video and data) systems. These transmissions are routed via the United States Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) in geostationary orbit, allowing for almost continuous real-time communications with NASA's Mission Control Center (MCC-H) in Houston.[22][6][200] Data channels for the Canadarm2, European Columbus laboratory and Japanese Kibō modules were originally also routed via the S band and Ku band systems, with the European Data Relay System and a similar Japanese system intended to eventually complement the TDRSS in this role.[22][206] Communications between modules are carried on an internal wireless network.[207]

An array of laptops in the US lab

Laptop computers surround the Canadarm2 console

 

UHF radio is used by astronauts and cosmonauts conducting EVAs and other spacecraft that dock to or undock from the station.[6] Automated spacecraft are fitted with their own communications equipment; the ATV uses a laser attached to the spacecraft and the Proximity Communications Equipment attached to Zvezda to accurately dock with the station.[208][209]

 

The ISS is equipped with about 100 IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad and HP ZBook 15 laptop computers. The laptops have run Windows 95, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 10 and Linux operating systems.[210] Each computer is a commercial off-the-shelf purchase which is then modified for safety and operation including updates to connectors, cooling and power to accommodate the station's 28V DC power system and weightless environment. Heat generated by the laptops does not rise but stagnates around the laptop, so additional forced ventilation is required. Laptops aboard the ISS are connected to the station's wireless LAN via Wi-Fi, which connects to the ground via Ku band. This provides speeds of 10 Mbit/s download and 3 Mbit/s upload from the station, comparable to home DSL connection speeds.[211][212] Laptop hard drives occasionally fail and must be replaced.[213] Other computer hardware failures include instances in 2001, 2007 and 2017; some of these failures have required EVAs to replace computer modules in externally mounted devices.[214][215][216][217]

 

The operating system used for key station functions is the Debian Linux distribution.[218] The migration from Microsoft Windows was made in May 2013 for reasons of reliability, stability and flexibility.[219]

 

In 2017, an SG100 Cloud Computer was launched to the ISS as part of OA-7 mission.[220] It was manufactured by NCSIST and designed in collaboration with Academia Sinica, and National Central University under contract for NASA.[221]

Operations

Expeditions and private flights

 

See also the list of International Space Station expeditions (professional crew), space tourism (private travellers), and the list of human spaceflights to the ISS (both).

 

Zarya and Unity were entered for the first time on 10 December 1998.

Soyuz TM-31 being prepared to bring the first resident crew to the station in October 2000

ISS was slowly assembled over a decade of spaceflights and crews

 

Each permanent crew is given an expedition number. Expeditions run up to six months, from launch until undocking, an 'increment' covers the same time period, but includes cargo ships and all activities. Expeditions 1 to 6 consisted of 3 person crews, Expeditions 7 to 12 were reduced to the safe minimum of two following the destruction of the NASA Shuttle Columbia. From Expedition 13 the crew gradually increased to 6 around 2010.[222][223] With the arrival of the US Commercial Crew vehicles in the late 2010s, expedition size may be increased to seven crew members, the number ISS is designed for.[224][225]

 

Gennady Padalka, member of Expeditions 9, 19/20, 31/32, and 43/44, and Commander of Expedition 11, has spent more time in space than anyone else, a total of 878 days, 11 hours, and 29 minutes.[226] Peggy Whitson has spent the most time in space of any American, totalling 665 days, 22 hours, and 22 minutes during her time on Expeditions 5, 16, and 50/51/52.[227]

 

Travellers who pay for their own passage into space are termed spaceflight participants by Roscosmos and NASA, and are sometimes referred to as space tourists, a term they generally dislike.[note 1] All seven were transported to the ISS on Russian Soyuz spacecraft. When professional crews change over in numbers not divisible by the three seats in a Soyuz, and a short-stay crewmember is not sent, the spare seat is sold by MirCorp through Space Adventures. When the space shuttle retired in 2011, and the station's crew size was reduced to 6, space tourism was halted, as the partners relied on Russian transport seats for access to the station. Soyuz flight schedules increase after 2013, allowing 5 Soyuz flights (15 seats) with only two expeditions (12 seats) required.[233] The remaining seats are sold for around US$40 million to members of the public who can pass a medical exam. ESA and NASA criticised private spaceflight at the beginning of the ISS, and NASA initially resisted training Dennis Tito, the first person to pay for his own passage to the ISS.[note 2]

 

Anousheh Ansari became the first Iranian in space and the first self-funded woman to fly to the station. Officials reported that her education and experience make her much more than a tourist, and her performance in training had been "excellent."[234] Ansari herself dismisses the idea that she is a tourist. She did Russian and European studies involving medicine and microbiology during her 10-day stay. The documentary Space Tourists follows her journey to the station, where she fulfilled "an age-old dream of man: to leave our planet as a "normal person" and travel into outer space."[235]

 

In 2008, spaceflight participant Richard Garriott placed a geocache aboard the ISS during his flight.[236] This is currently the only non-terrestrial geocache in existence.[237] At the same time, the Immortality Drive, an electronic record of eight digitised human DNA sequences, was placed aboard the ISS.[238]

Orbit

Graph showing the changing altitude of the ISS from November 1998 until November 2018

Animation of ISS orbit from 14 September 2018 to 14 November 2018. Earth is not shown.

 

The ISS is maintained in a nearly circular orbit with a minimum mean altitude of 330 km (205 mi) and a maximum of 410 km (255 mi), in the centre of the thermosphere, at an inclination of 51.6 degrees to Earth's equator. This orbit was selected because it is the lowest inclination that can be directly reached by Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 46° N latitude without overflying China or dropping spent rocket stages in inhabited areas.[239][240] It travels at an average speed of 27,724 kilometres per hour (17,227 mph), and completes 15.54 orbits per day (93 minutes per orbit).[2][14] The station's altitude was allowed to fall around the time of each NASA shuttle flight to permit heavier loads to be transferred to the station. After the retirement of the shuttle, the nominal orbit of the space station was raised in altitude.[241][242] Other, more frequent supply ships do not require this adjustment as they are substantially higher performance vehicles.[28][243]

 

Orbital boosting can be performed by the station's two main engines on the Zvezda service module, or Russian or European spacecraft docked to Zvezda's aft port. The ATV is constructed with the possibility of adding a second docking port to its aft end, allowing other craft to dock and boost the station. It takes approximately two orbits (three hours) for the boost to a higher altitude to be completed.[243] Maintaining ISS altitude uses about 7.5 tonnes of chemical fuel per annum[244] at an annual cost of about $210 million.[245]

Orbits of the ISS, shown in April 2013

 

The Russian Orbital Segment contains the Data Management System, which handles Guidance, Navigation and Control (ROS GNC) for the entire station.[246] Initially, Zarya, the first module of the station, controlled the station until a short time after the Russian service module Zvezda docked and was transferred control. Zvezda contains the ESA built DMS-R Data Management System.[247] Using two fault-tolerant computers (FTC), Zvezda computes the station's position and orbital trajectory using redundant Earth horizon sensors, Solar

I had about a half hour to kill before going to a show at Yoshi's in Oakland's Jack London Square last night (John Mayall), so how better to spend it than to take advantage of the low light.

© Andy Matthews

 

www.andymatthewsphotography.com

Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my written permission. © Toni_V. All rights reserved.

BIGGER

View "Structurally Concrete" on black or on white.

 

© 2014 Jeff Stewart. All rights reserved.

(Fonquetá)

Structural Demonstration Model

 

Color coded demonstrator of the major structural systems used inside the model.

 

White - major exterior columns. However all the cross bracing is cosmetic and non-structural.

 

Grey - 3x3 technic central core. The core supports the 1x1 brick built central column. The technic axle corners of the core terminate at different levels depending on the module and connect to the yellow outriggers. Only the brick core rises the entire height of the tower.

 

Red- Shear walls connecting the four external columns to the central core column. As they carry up through the building they become trans-blue exterior walls.

 

Yellow - Outrigger facade supports. They provide attachment and support the trans blue facade behind each of the X's and help tie the shear walls together at select points.

 

Basically this is the underside view of the module shown previously in www.flickr.com/photos/51130204@N04/14691315157/

"Abandoned but not forgotten"

The Blue Jay is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to North America. It is considered a resident through most of eastern and central United States and southern Canada, although thousands of Blue Jays migrate in flocks along the Great Lakes and Atlantic coasts. Much about their migration remains a mystery. Some are present throughout winter in all parts of their range. Young Jays may be more likely to migrate than adults, but many adults also migrate. Some individual jays migrate south one year, stay north the next winter, and then migrate south again the next year. No one has worked out why they migrate when they do.

 

The Blue Jay breeds in both deciduous and coniferous forests, and is common around residential areas, especially with oak trees due to their fondness for acorns. They’re more abundant near forest edges than in deep forest and are commonly seen in urban and suburban areas, especially where oaks or feeders are found. It is predominately blue with a white breast and underparts, and a blue crest. Both sexes are similar in plumage with males slightly larger, and plumage does not vary throughout the year. It is a fairly large bird measuring 9 - 12 inches (22–30 cm) from bill to tail with a wingspan of 13 - 17 inches (34–43 cm).

 

Blue Jays glean insects and take nuts and seeds in trees, shrubs, and on the ground; they also eat grains. They also take dead and injured small vertebrates. Blue Jays sometimes raid nests for eggs and nestlings, and sometimes pick up dead or dying adult birds. Insects make up about 22 percent insect of their diet, acorns, nuts, fruits, and grains make up almost the entire remainder.

 

Although not seen in any of these photos, the Blue Jay has a pronounced crest on the head, a crown of feathers, which may be raised or lowered according to the bird's mood. When excited or aggressive, the crest may be fully raised. When frightened, the crest bristles outwards, brushlike. When the bird is feeding, relaxed or resting, the crest is flattened to the head.

 

One interesting fact about Blue Jays, is as with other blue-hued birds, its coloration is not derived from pigments, but is the result of light interference due to the internal structure of the feathers. If a blue feather is crushed, the blue disappears as the structure is destroyed. This is referred to as structural coloration. This explains why some Blue Jays look more grey than blue at times.

 

ISO800, aperture f/5.6 exposure .006 seconds (1/200) focal length 450mm

   

Some background:

The VF-1 was developed by Stonewell/Bellcom/Shinnakasu for the U.N. Spacy by using alien Overtechnology obtained from the SDF-1 Macross alien spaceship. Its production was preceded by an aerodynamic proving version of its airframe, the VF-X. Unlike all later VF vehicles, the VF-X (sometimes referred to as VF-X1) was strictly a conventional/non-transformable jet aircraft, even though it incorporated many structural components and several key technologies that were vital for the transformable VF-1’s successful development that ran in parallel. Therefore, the VF-X was never intended as an air superiority fighter, but rather a flight-capable analogue test bed and proof of concept for the VF-1’s basic layout and major components. In this role, however, the VF-X made vital contributions to systems’ development that were later incorporated into the VF-1’s serial production and sped the program up considerably.

 

VF-X production started in early 2006, with four airframes built. The flight tests began in February 2007. The first prototype (“01”) was piloted and evaluated by ace pilot Roy Fokker, in order to explore the aircraft’s flight envelope, general handling and for external stores carriage tests. The three other VF-Xs successively joined the test program, each with a different focus. “02” was primarily tasked with the flight control and pilot interface program, “03” was allocated to the engine, vectoring thrust and steering systems development, and “04” was primarily involved in structural and fatigue tests.

 

In November 2007, the successful VF-X tests and the flights of the VF-X-1 (the first fully transformable VF-1 prototype, which had been under construction in parallel to the VF-X program) led to formal adoption of the “Valkyrie” variable fighter by the United Nations Government.

The space-capable VF-1's combat debut was on February 7, 2009, during the Battle of South Ataria Island - the first battle of Space War I - and remained the mainstay fighter of the U.N. Spacy for the entire conflict.

 

Introduced in 2008, the VF-1 proved to be an extremely capable craft, successfully combating a variety of Zentraedi mecha, even in most sorties which saw UN Spacy forces significantly outnumbered. The versatility of the Valkyrie design enabled the variable fighter to act as both large-scale infantry and as air/space superiority fighter. The signature skills of U.N. Spacy ace pilot Maximilian Jenius exemplified the effectiveness of the variable systems as he near-constantly transformed the Valkyrie in battle to seize advantages of each mode as combat conditions changed from moment to moment.

 

The basic VF-1 was deployed in four sub-variants (designated A, D, J, and S) and its success was increased by continued development of various enhancements. These included the GBP-1S "Armored Valkyrie” external armor and infantry weapons pack, so-called FAST Packs for "Super Valkyries” for orbital use, and the additional RÖ-X2 heavy cannon pack weapon system for the VF-1S “Strike Valkyrie” with additional firepower.

 

After the end of Space War I, the VF-1 continued to be manufactured both in the Sol system and throughout the UNG space colonies. Although the VF-1 would eventually be replaced as the primary Variable Fighter of the U.N. Spacy by the more capable, but also much bigger, VF-4 Lightning III in 2020, a long service record and continued production after the war proved the lasting worth of the design.

 

The VF-1 was without doubt the most recognizable variable fighter of Space War I and was seen as a vibrant symbol of the U.N. Spacy even into the first year of the New Era 0001 in 2013. At the end of 2015 the final rollout of the VF-1 was celebrated at a special ceremony, commemorating this most famous of variable fighters. The VF-1 Valkryie was built from 2006 to 2013 with a total production of 5,459 VF-1 variable fighters with several variants (VF-1A = 5,093, VF-1D = 85, VF-1J = 49, VF-1S = 30, VF-1G = 12, VE-1 = 122, VT-1 = 68), and several upgrade programs were introduced.

The fighter remained active in many second line units and continued to show its worthiness years later, e. g. through Milia Jenius who would use her old VF-1 fighter in defense of the colonization fleet - 35 years after the type's service introduction.

  

General characteristics:

Accommodation: One pilot in a Marty & Beck Mk-7 zero/zero ejection seat

Length 14.23 meters

Wingspan 14.78 meters (at 20° minimum sweep)

Height 3.84 meters

Empty weight: 13.25 metric tons

Standard T-O mass: 18.5 metric tons

 

Power Plant:

2x Shinnakasu Heavy Industry/P&W/Roice FF-2001 thermonuclear reaction turbine engines, output 650 MW each, rated at 11,500 kg in standard or in overboost (225.63 kN x 2)

4 x Shinnakasu Heavy Industry NBS-1 high-thrust vernier thrusters (1 x counter reverse vernier thruster nozzle mounted on the side of each leg nacelle/air intake, 1 x wing thruster roll control system on each wingtip);

 

Performance:

Top speed: Mach 2.71 at 10,000 m; Mach 3.87 at 30,000+ m

Thrust-to-weight ratio: empty 3.47; standard T-O 2.49; maximum T-O 1.24

 

Armament:

None installed, but the VF-X had 4x underwing hard points for a wide variety of ordnance, plus a ventral hardpoint for a Howard GU-11 55 mm three-barrel Gatling gun pod with 200 RPG, fired at 1,200 rds/min or other stores like test instruments

  

The model and its assembly:

Another submission to the “Prototypes” group build at whatifmodelers.com in July 2020. Being a VF-1 fan (and have built maybe twenty o these simple Arii kits), adding a VF-X was, more or less, a must – even more so because I had a suitable Valkyrie Fighter kit at hand for the conversion. As a side note, I have actually built something quite similar from a VF-1D many years ago: a fictional, non-transformable advanced trainer, without knowing about the VF-X at all.

 

Thanks to the “Macross - Perfect Memory” source book, the differences between the transformable VF-1 and its early testbed were easy to identify:

- Fixed legs with faired ducts from the intakes on (thighs)

- Ankle recesses disappeared

- Less and slightly different panel lines on the back and on the nose

- ventral head unit deleted and a respective fairing installed instead

- Levelled underside (shoulder fairings of the folded arms were cut down)

- Leg attachment points on the nose deleted

- No small, circular vernier thrusters all around the hull

- Some new/different venting grills (created mostly with 0.5mm black decal stripes)

 

Beyond the changes, the VF-1A was basically built OOB. Thankfully, the VF-X already features the later VF-1’s vectored thrust nozzles/feet, so that no changes had to be made in this respect. A pilot figure was added to the cockpit for the beauty pics, and after the flight scenes had been shot, the canopy remained open on a swing arm for static display. For the same reason, the model was built with the landing gear extended.

 

As a test aircraft, the underwing pylons and their AMM-1 ordnance were left away and the attachment points hidden with putty. I also omitted the ventral gun pod and left the aircraft clean. However, for the flight scene pictures, I implanted an adapter for a display holder made from wire.

 

In order to emphasize the test vehicle character of the VF-X, I gave the model a scratched spin recovery parachute installation between the fins, using a real world F-22 testbed as benchmark. It consists of styrene profiles, quite a delicate construction. For the same reason I gave the VF-X a long sensor boom on the nose, which changes the Valkyrie’s look, too. Finally, some small blade antennae were added to the nose and to the spine behind the cockpit.

  

Painting and markings:

To be honest, I have no idea if there was only a single VF-X prototype in the Macross universe, or more. Just one appears in the TV series in episode #33, and lack of suitable information and my personal lack of Japanese language proficiency prevents any deeper research. However, this would not keep me from inventing a personal interpretation of the canonical VF-X, especially because I do not really like the original livery from the TV series: an overall light grey with some simple black trim and “TEST” written on the (fixed) legs. Yamato did an 1:60 scale toy of the VF-X, but it was/is just a VF-1 with a ventral fairing; they added some shading to the basic grey – but this does not make the aircraft more attractive, IMHO.

 

When I looked at the original conceptual drawing of the VF-X in the “Macross - Perfect Memory” source book, however, I was immediately reminded of the F-15 prototypes from the Seventies (and this program used a total of twelve machines!). These featured originally a light grey (FS 36375?) overall base, to which bright dayglo orange markings on wings, fins and fuselage were soon added – in a very similar pattern to the VF-X. I think the VF-X livery was actually inspired by this, the time frame matches well with the production of the Macross TV series, too, and that’s what I adapted for my model.

In order to come close to the F-15 prototype livery, I gave “my” VF-X an overall basic coat of RAL 7047 “Telegrau 4”, one of German Telekom’s corporate colors and a very pale grey that can easily be mistaken for white when you do not have a contrast reference.

 

The cockpit received a medium grey finish, the ejection seat became black with brown cushions; the pilot figure is a 1:100 seated passenger from an architecture supplies, painted like an early VF-1 pilot in a white/blue suit. The jet nozzles/feet were painted with Revell 91 (Iron) and later treated with grinded graphite for a more metallic finish. The landing gear became classic white (I used Revell 301, which is a very pure tone, as contrast to the RAL 7047 on the hull), the air intake ducts and the internal sections of the VG wings were painted with dark grey (Revell 77).

 

For some diversity I took inspiration from the Yamato VF-X toy and added slightly darker (Humbrol 166, RAF Light Aircraft Grey) areas to the hull and the legs. Next, the panel lines were emphasized through a thinned black ink wash, but I did no panel post shading so that the VF-X would not look too dirty or worn.

 

Onto this basis I applied the orange dayglo markings. On the wings and fins, these were painted – they were applied with spray paint from a rattle can, involving lots of masking. The leading edges on wings and fins were created with grey decal sheet material, too. At this stage, some surface details and more fake panel lines were added with a soft pencil.

The orange cheatline under the cockpit is a personal addition; I found that some more orange had to be added to the nose for visual balance, and I eventually went for the simple, trimmed stripe (TL Modellbau material) instead of trying to apply decal sheet material around the jagged air intakes (F-15 prototype style). The black “TEST”, “VFX” and “U.N. Spacy” markings were designed at the computer and printed on clear inkjet decal paper. Even though the “real” VF-X does not feature the UNS “kite” insignia, I decided to add them to the model. These come from the OOB sheet, which also provided most (slightly yellowed) stencils.

Finally, the model was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

A rather different VF-1 project (and it is – to my astonishment – #28 in my 1:100 VF-1 Fighter mode collection!!!), with more changes to the basic model kit than one might expect at first sight. VF-X and VF-1 differ considerably from each other, despite identical outlines! However, I like the outcome, and I think that going a different route from the canonical grey/black livery paid out, the bright orange markings really make this VF-X stand out, and it looks IMHO more like a testbed than the “real” aircraft from the TV series.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

The Gloster Glaive was basically a modernized and re-engined variant of the successful, British-built Gloster Gladiator (or Gloster SS.37), the RAF’s final biplane fighter to enter service. The Gladiator was not only widely used by the RAF at the dawn of WWII and in almost every theatre of operations, but also by many other nations. Operators included Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania or Nationalist China, and while the RAF already opted for more modern monoplanes, Gloster saw the opportunity to sell an updated Gladiator to countries which were not as progressive.

Originally designated Gladiator Mk. IV, the machine received many aerodynamic refinements and the motor was changed from a draggy radial to a liquid-cooled inline engine. The latter was the new Rolls Royce Peregrine, a development of the Kestrel. It was, in its original form, a 21-litre (1,300 cu in) liquid-cooled V-12 aero engine ), delivering 885-horsepower (660 kW). The engine was housed under a streamlined cowling, driving a three blade metal propeller, and was coupled with a ventral radiator bath, reminiscent of the Hawker Fury biplane’s arrangement.

 

Structural improvements included an all-metal monocoque fuselage and stabilizers, as well as new wings and streamlined struts with reduced bracing. The upper wing was enlarged and of all-metal construction, too, while the lower wings were reduced in span and area, almost resulting in a sesquiplane layout. The total wing area was only marginally reduced, though.

The fixed landing gear was retained, but the main wheels were now covered with spats. The pilot still sat in a fully enclosed cockpit, the armament consisted of four machine guns, similar to the Gladiator. But for the Glaive, all Browning machine guns were synchronized and mounted in the fuselage: one pair was placed on top of the cowling, in front of the cockpit. Another pair, much like the Gladiator’s arrangement was placed in the fuselage flanks, below the exhaust outlets.

 

Compared with the Gladiator, the design changes were so fundamental that Gloster eventually decided to allocate a separate designation – also with a view to the type’s foreign marketing, since a new aircraft appeared more attractive than another mark of a pre-war design. For the type’s virgin flight in late 1938 the name “Glaive” was unveiled to the public, and several smaller European air forces immediately showed interest, including Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Portugal and Egypt.

 

Greece was one of the initial customers, and the first of a total of 24 aircraft for the Hellenic Air Force was delivered in early 1939, with 24 more on order (which were never delivered, though). The initial batch arrived just in time, since tension had been building between Greece and Italy since 7 April 1939, when Italian troops occupied Albania. On 28 October 1940, Italy issued an ultimatum to Greece, which was promptly rejected. A few hours later, Italian troops launched an invasion of Greece, initiating the Greco-Italian War.

 

The Hellenic Gloster Glaives were split among three Mirae Dioxeos (Fighter Squadrons): the 21st at Trikala, 22nd at Thessaloniki and 23rd at Larissa. When Italy attacked in October 1940, the British fighter was, together with the PZL 24, the Greeks' only modern type in adequate numbers. However, by late 1940, the Gloster Glaive was already no longer a front-runner despite a powerful powerplant and satisfactory armament. It had no speed advantage over the Fiat Cr.42 nor could it outfly the nimble Italian biplane, and it was much slower than the Macchi MC.200 and the Fiat G.50 it was pitted against. Its agility was the only real advantage against the Italian fighters, whose reliance on the slow firing Breda-SAFAT 12.7mm machine guns proved detrimental.

 

Anyway, on 5 April 1941, German forces invaded Greece and quickly established air superiority. As the Allied troops retreated, British and Hellenic forces covered them, before flying to Crete during the last week of April. There, the refugee aircraft recorded a few claims over twin-engine aircraft before being evacuated to Egypt during the Battle of Crete.

 

Overall, the Glaives performed gallantly during the early period of the conflict, holding their own against impossible numerical odds and despite the fact that their main target were enemy bombers which forced them to fight at a disadvantage against enemy fighters. Italian claims of easy superiority over the Albanian front were vastly over-rated and their kill claims even exceeded the total number of operational fighters on the Greek side. Total Greek fighter losses in combat came to 24 a/c with the Greek fighter pilots claiming 64 confirmed kills and 24 probables (about two third bombers).

 

By April 1941, however, lack of spares and attrition had forced the Hellenic Air Force to merge the surviving seven Glaives with five leftover PZL.24s into one understrength squadron supported by five Gloster Gladiators Mk I & II and the two surviving MB.151s. These fought hopelessly against the Luftwaffe onslaught, and most aircraft were eventually lost on the ground. None of the Hellenic Gloster Glaives survived the conflict.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: two

Length: 8.92m (29 ft 3 in)

Wingspan: 34 ft 0 in (10.36 m)

Height: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)

Wing area: 317 ft² (29.4 m²)

Empty weight: 1,295 kg (2,855 lb)

Max takeoff weight: 1,700 kg (3,748 lb)

 

Powerplant:

1× Rolls Royce Peregrine II liquid-cooled V12 inline engine, rated at 940 hp (700 kw)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 405 km/h (252 mph; 219 kn) at 4,400 m (14,436 ft)

Cruise speed: 345 km/h (214 mph; 186 kn)

Stall speed: 60 mph (52 knots, 96 km/h)

Range: 373 mi (600 km; 324 nmi)

Endurance: 2 hours

Service ceiling: 10,600 m (34,800 ft)

Rate of climb: 2,982 ft/min (15.15 m/s)

Time to altitude: 10.000 ft (3.050 m) in 3 minutes 20 seconds

 

Armament:

4× 0.303 calibre (7.7 mm) M1919 Browning machine guns in the fuselage

Provisions for 6× 10 kg (22 lb) or 4x 20 kg (44 lb) bombs under the lower wings

  

The kit and its assembly:

The fictional Gloster Glaive started quite simple with the idea of replacing the Gladiator’s radial with an inline engine. But this soon did not appear enough for an update – the Peregrine hardly delivered much more power than the former Mercury, so I considered some structural updates, too. Most of them comprised the replacement of former fabric-covered structures, and this led conceptually to a kitbash with only some Gladiator fuselage and tail parts left.

 

The basis is (once more) the very nice Matchbox Gloster Gladiator, but it was heavily modified. As an initial step, fuselage, fin and stabilizers (all OOB parts) lost their rib-and-fabric structure, simply sanded away. A minor detail, but it changes the overall look of the aircraft a lot, making it appear much more modern.

The fuselage was left without the OOB radial, and instead a leftover Merlin front end from an Airfix Hurricane (ca. 1cm long, left over from one of my first whif builds ever, a Hurricane with a radial engine!) was added. The lines match pretty well: the side profile looks sleek, if not elegant, but the Gladiator fuselage turned out to be wider than expected. Some major body work/PSR was necessary to integrate the new nose, but the result looks very good.

 

The liquid-cooled engine necessitated a radiator somewhere on the airframe…! Since I wanted the nose to remain slim and streamlined I eventually placed the radiator bath under the fuselage, much like the arrangement of the Hawker Fury biplane. The radiator itself comes from a late Spitfire (FROG kit).

The exhaust was taken from the Hurricane kit, too, and matching slits dug into the putty nose to take them. The three blade propeller is a mash-up, too: the spinner belongs, IIRC, to an early Spitfire (left over from an AZ Models kit) while the blades came from a damaged Matchbox Brewster Buffalo.

 

The Gladiator’s fuselage flank machine guns were kept and their “bullet channels” extrapolated along the new cowling, running under the new exhaust pipes. Another pair of machine guns were placed on top of the engine – for these, openings were carved into the upper hull and small fairings (similar to the Browning guns in the flanks) added. This arrangement appeared plausible to me, since the Gladiator’s oil cooler was not necessary anymore and the new lower wings (see below) were not big enough anymore to take the Gladiator’s underwing guns. Four MGs in the fuselage appears massive – but there were other types with such an arrangement, e.g. the Avia B-534 with four guns in the flanks and an inline engine.

 

The wings are complete replacements: the upper wing comes from a Heller Curtiss SBC4, while the lower wings as well as the spats (on shortened OOB Gladiator struts) come from an ICM Polikarpov I-153. All struts were scratched. Once the lower wings were in place and the relative position of the upper wing clear, the outer struts were carved from 1mm styrene sheet, using the I-153 design as benchmark. These were glued to the lower wing first, and, once totally dry after 24h, the upper wing was simply glued onto the top and the wing position adjusted. This was left to dry another 24h, and as a final step the four struts above the cowling (using the OOB struts, but as single parts and trimmed for proper fit) were placed. This way, a stable connection is guaranteed – and the result is surprisingly sturdy.

 

Rigging was done with heated sprue material – my personal favorite for this delicate task, and executed before painting the kit started so that the glue could cure and bond well.

  

Painting and markings:

The reason why this aircraft ended in Greek service is a color photograph of a crashed Hellenic Bloch M.B. 152 (coded ‘D 177’, to be specific). I guess that the picture was post-colored, though, because the aircraft of French origin sports rather weird colors: the picture shows a two-tone scheme in a deep, rather reddish chestnut brown and a light green that almost looks like teal. Unique, to say the least... Underside colors couldn’t be identified with certainty in the picture, but appeared like a pale but not too light blue grey.

 

Anyway, I assume that these colors are pure fiction and exaggerated Photoshop work, since the few M.B. 152s delivered to Greece carried AFAIK standard French camouflage (in French Khaki, Chestnut Brown and Blue-Grey on the upper surfaces, and a very light blue-grey from below). I’d assume that the contrast between the grey and green tones was not very obvious in the original photograph, so that the artist, not familiar with WWII paint schemes, replaced both colors with the strange teal tone and massively overmodulated the brown.

 

As weird as it looked, I liked this design and used it as an inspirational benchmark for my Hellenic Glaive build. After all, it’s a fictional aircraft… Upper basic colors are Humbrol 31 (RAF Slate Grey) and 160 (German Camouflage Red Brown), while the undersides became French Dark Blue Grey (ModelMaster Authentics 2105). The result looks rather odd…

Representing a combat-worn aircraft, I applied a thorough black ink wash and did heavier panel shading and dry-brushing on the leading edges, along with some visible touches of aluminum.

 

The Hellenic roundels come from a TL Modellbau aftermarket sheet. The tactical code was puzzled together from single letters, and the Greek “D” was created from single decal strips. For better contrast I used white decals – most Hellenic aircraft of the time had black codes, but the contrast is much better, and I found evidence that some machines actually carried white codes. The small fin flash is another free interpretation. Not every Hellenic aircraft carried these markings, and instead of painting the whole rudder in Greek colors I just applied a small fin flash. This was created with white and blue decal strips, closely matching the roundels’ colors.

 

Finally, after some soot stains around the guns and the exhausts, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.

  

Modified beyond recognition, perhaps…? The fictional Gloster Glaive looks IMHO good and very modern, just like one of those final biplane designs that were about to be outrun by monoplanes at the brink of WWII.

 

Trittico veneziano 3/3 (Venice, you can recognize it from birds :)

 

www.francescopapagni.com/

This is the Basilisk fighter, rebuilt for classic space. I made some structural changes in the engine pods, to be able to do a cut-away hull for greebs attaching the guns, which I'm pretty happy with. Also built a little dad joke into the engines, using eggs and egg beaters in it. I tried to submit this to the Lego 90th anniversary Space competition on Ideas, but it was removed (not rejected, no message or anything).

The Peninsula Hotel

(Formerly the Gotham Hotel, the Nova Park Hotel, Hotel Maxim's de Paris)

700 Fifth Avenue at 55th Street (2 West 55th Street)

New York, NY

 

- The Early Years -

 

In 1902 a group led by Henry R. Hoyt, known as the Fifty-Fifth Street Company, determined the best use of a site immediately across the street from the St. Regis Hotel (Col. John Jacob Astor's 18-story Beaux-Arts landmark) was a family hotel - to house many of the folks whose mansions were being demolished on Fifth Avenue. The hotel - The Gotham - was designed by Hiss & Weekes. The Gotham's limestone and granite facade was purposely lined-up with the University Club's facade which opened in 1899. The building was designed in a C-shape so rooms facing south would have a protected view over the University Club.

 

The architect's Beaux-Arts style 55th Street entranceway was designed extravagantly. Its capped broken pediment features the sculptured figures of Roman goddesses Pomona and Diana reclining on either side of the two double story banded Doric pillars.

 

Pomona, the goddess of orchards, carries a cornucopia and Diana, the goddess of the hunt, carries her bow and arrows. A characterization of Beaux Arts is the naturalism of the images - Diana’s hand rests on the formal building decorations - just as a real person sitting at that location would do. Unfortunately, Diana is missing her index finger.

 

The hotel was completed in 1905 and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1908 - mostly due to its lack of a liquor license. The Gotham was in violation of a restriction prohibiting liquor sales within 200 feet of a church - The Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. The developers failed to get a law passed in the New York State Legislature exempting hotels with more than 200 rooms from the restriction. Not until the 1940's did the Gotham have a cocktail lounge. The New York State Liquor Authority states the 200-foot law is still in effect, but that court challenges have allowed the foot measurement to be made from the actual point of sale and not as the crow flies.

 

According to the NY Times The Gotham opened with 400 sleeping rooms, both single and suites. The hotel offered its guests the “Georgian Room” for dinner and entertainment. The hotel's name was derived form the nickname of New York City; Gotham City. A banquet hall and ballroom were on the second floor, while the third floor was dedicated to private dining rooms. The NY Times states “The furnishings of the Gotham, while extremely rich, are far from garish. There is not the slightest striving after gaudy effects, the whole atmosphere being one of good taste.”

 

The hotel had a complicated ownership structure. It was built for about $2,000,000 by the Fifty-fifth Street Company. Upon completion the NY Times speculated the principal owners of Fifty-fifth Street Company were the heirs of the late Mark Hanna, Senator Thomas C. Platt, James J. Hill and Thomas F. Ryan. Henry R. Hoyt served as the president of the Fifty-fifth Street Corporation. The day to day operation of the hotel was conducted by the Hotel Gotham Company, for which Henry L. Goodwin served as President. In 1908 the Knickerbocker Trust Company brought a foreclosure proceeding against the Fifty-fifth Street Company for $413,746 due on a mortgage and also the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company held a mortgage on the hotel of over $1,000,000.

 

In August, 1908 the NY Times reported the The Gotham Hotel was sold under the foreclosure to an entity known as Hotel Holding Company, with George C Comstock, the President. Hotel Holding Company selected William R. Wood and Charles L. Wetherbee, associates in the management of the Hotel Buckingham, to take operational control of the Hotel Gotham on a 21-yhear lease effective August 1908. They in turn appointed Frederick D. Wishard, formerly manager of the Hotel Astor, as resident manager at the Gotham.

 

The new operators thought they could make the Gotham successful without a liquor license by focusing on service and the food. The new operators denied there would be any attempt to operate an underground tunnel from the basement of the adjacent University Club for the transfer of alcoholic beverages to Gotham Hotel guests.

 

In 1920 Julius and William Manger bought the hotel for $4 million. The Manger Brothers also owned several Manhattan hotels including the Netherland (demolished - now the site the Sherry-Netherland Hotel), the Endicott, the Manger (now The Michelangelo Hotel), Martha Washington (now the Hotel Thirty Thirty) and the Great Northern (now demolished - 118 West 57th St - once a home to Jack Dempsey's Restaurant). In 1932 the Gotham entered receivership and was taken over by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The insurance company leased it to a Chicago hotel group headed by Arnold S. Kirkeby that also operated the Drake and Blackstone Hotels in Chicago. The Kirkeby group purchased the property from the insurance company in 1944 for $2,350,000. Kirkeby also owned and lived in the Beverly Hills mansion used for CBS sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies".

 

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An ad from the Gotham in the 1930's: "Delightful entertaining in the quaint Alpine Grill (Switzerland on the Avenue) the new Gold Room Cocktail Lounge with Raoul Lipoff and his orchestra and the splendor of the Renaissance Room Contributes to the universal popularity of the Gotham. The spacious rooms and suites have been tastefully furnished for comfort and luxury. Up-to-the-minute service and a delicious cuisine that is without a peer in New York. The sensible rentals assure not only a pleasant but also an economical visit. Single rooms from $4.00. Max A. Haering, Resident Manager."

 

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- The John Warde Suicide Jump - July 26, 1938 -

Twenty six year old John William Warde leaped from a window ledge of the seventeenth floor of the Gotham Hotel crashing through the hotel's 55th Street marquis and smashing on the sidewalk. Warde became upset in a 17th-floor room when he stepped out to the ledge beginning a 14 hour drama involving up to 300 New York City police officers and 10,000 sidewalk spectators. Warde had recently been discharged from an insane asylum. The incident was made into the 1951 film Fourteen Hours, with Richard Basehart as the man on the ledge.

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In 1955, Evelyn Sharp bought the 400-room Gotham hotel and the 350-room Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, Calif., and the Saranac Inn in Saranac Lake, N. Y., for $16 million from Webb & Knapp Inc., which was William Zeckendorf's organization. Mrs. Sharp's hotel empire, which she inherited from her late husband, Jesse Sharp, also included at one time the Stanhope Hotel. The Saranac Inn closed permanently in 1962, and burned to the ground in 1978.

 

In 1961, Mrs. Sharp sold the Gotham and Stanhope hotels in NYC and the Beverly Wilshire Hotel to Webb & Knapp Inc. for about $25 million. At the time Mrs. Sharp said it was time to get out of the hotel business and into the office building business. She negotiated keeping a rooftop penthouse home with terraces and her office which she maintained for several years at the Gotham. She eventually divested most of her real estate holdings, including the Stanhope, and devoted herself to charities in New York and Los Angeles and to her art collection.

 

Webb & Knapp sold the Gotham later in 1961 to a group headed by Alvin M. Greenstein, but leased it back for 21 years plus 16 renewal options. In 1964, Webb & Knapp sold its interests (the land under the Gotham Hotel) to Wellington Associates, a partnership headed by Sol Goldman (the biggest landlord in NYC) and Alex Di Lorenzo. Heirs to the Goldman and Di Lorenzo estates divided the real estate up based on coin flips. The Goldman estate retained ownership of the land under the Gotham Hotel.

 

- The René E. Hatt Years (Le Big Boss) -

 

A Zurich apartment and office developer, René E. Hatt built the 400-room Zurich Nova-Park. Opened in 1972, the hotel was the largest in Zurich. Hatt's goal was to create a meeting place for both locals and for out of towners. Some of his hotel concepts included a Playcorner, a Newscorner, Backgammon Club, a video room, a Psychology Center - a precursor to today's "life-style hotels". His guestrooms were designed with bathtubs near the bed, red carpeting and mirrors everywhere. Zurich people flocked to the hotel's health club and restaurants. The discos were kept busy day and night. Hatt and his investors, which included Arab money and German bank loans, were eager to launch an international hotel chain based on the Nova-Park Zurich's success.

 

In 1978 Rene Hatt had William Zeckendorf Jr show him around NYC looking at hotel sites. Sol Goldman owned the Gotham, which was operating profitably at an annual $2.2 million GOP. Hatt performed some arithmetic and offered Goldman $3.5 million per year (the lease had escalation clauses) for a 99 lease. The lease was signed in 1979 and Hatt set out to make the Gotham the best hotel in NYC. The hotel would be re-named Nova-Park Gotham; Hatt wanted it to be the fanciest in the world with six restaurants, 10 bars and a nightclub.

 

Hatt's initial renovation budget was set at $56 million. He raised $18 million in cash from his Arab investors and obtained a $38 million loan from Deutsche Anlagen Leasing (DAL). He shut the hotel down in January, 1981 expecting the renovation to last a little over a year. Hatt hired the architect Stephen Jacobs. Jacobs was the architect involved with the renovation of the Halloran House hotel (now the New York Marriott East Side). Structurally the hotel room count was reduced from 330 rooms to 255 larger rooms and the shops fronting Fifth Avenue were replaced with a Fifth Avenue Sidewalk Cafe. Three floors were added to the top of the hotel housing a health club, restaurant/bar, skating rink and swimming pool. Hatt wanted guestroom bathtubs placed in the bedroom and not the bathroom.

 

Some hoteliers were saying Hatt's tastes were abominable and some were saying he was ahead of his time. Because of constant change orders ordered by Hatt the project costs skyrocketed. DAL had increased its funding from $38 million to $55 million. By 1983 Hatt was asking for another $20 million from DAL to finish the project. DAL refused and took back control of the unfinished project when Hatt failed to make monthly payments to DAL. The majestic hotel sat as a boarded up eyesore for a couple of years as lawsuits were filed.

 

Once a strong industry performer Hatt saddled the Nova-Park chain with $250 million in debt and he was ousted as the company's founder. Briefly Hatt re-surfaced in 1986 as a principal of the shuttered El Morocco night club on East 54th Street.

 

The land owner, Sol Goldman paid DAL $35 million for their interest. Goldman put together a partnership consisting of himself, Irving Goldman, his brother; Arthur G. Cohen and William Zeckendorf Jr., Steven Goodstein, who will be in charge of further renovation, and the Southmark Corporation, which controls the Pratt hotel chain of Dallas to complete the renovation. The partnership would add another $35 million on top of the $35 million paid to DAL to complete the renovation (get the bathtubs out of the living rooms) and branding of the hotel to Maxim’s de Paris. Hirsch/Bedner was the designer for the new interiors.

 

The NY Times reported that Southmark Corp contributed $63 million to the group to purchase and complete the refurbishment of the hotel. Pierre Cardin would receive 1 1/2 percent of the gross as a royalty fee for the name Maxim's. The royalty fee was later reduced to being payable only after the hotel's debt service was covered.

 

Pratt had recently opened Maxim's de Paris in Palm Springs with his partner Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation of Youngstown, Ohio.

 

In August 1988, Jane Goldman, the daughter of Sol Goldman, announced the sale of the Maxim's de Paris Hotel to The Peninsula Group of Hong Kong. The price was $127 million (HK$990 million) for the remaining 90 years lease on the building, and not for the land itself, which the Goldman Family retains. The price paid per room is the highest ever at that time for a hotel property in Manhattan.

 

The sellers of Maxim's are a group consisting of the heirs of Sol Goldman, William Zeckendorf Jr., Arthur G. Cohen and Steven Goodstein, and the Southmark Corporation of Dallas.

 

HongKong and Shanghai Hotels closed The Peninsula New York in 1998 for complete $45 million internal reconstruction. The hotel reopened on November 1, 1998. In 2008 the hotel's rooftop bar, The Pen-Top, received an extensive renovation and repositioning to Salon de Ning.

  

- The Peninsula New York Operating Statistics -

(The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited Annual Report for 2010)

(1.00 HKD = 0.1285 USD)

 

2011 (six months ended June 30)

Occupancy Rate - 70%

Average Room Rate - US$ 681

RevPAR - US$ 478

 

2010

Occupancy Rate - 67%

Average Room Rate - US$ 715

RevPAR - US$ 478

 

2009

Occupancy Rate - 62%

Average Room Rate - US$ 683

RevPAR - US$ 426

 

2008

Occupancy Rate - 64%

Average Room Rate - US$ 814

RevPAR - US$ 520

 

2007

Occupancy Rate - 75%

Average Room Rate - US$ 812

RevPAR - US$ 613

  

In 1986 Robert Jean Berge was appointed the general manager. French-born, Mr. Berge studied at the Hotel School in Toulouse and the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. He later managed the La Mamounia in Marrakech. As of 2010 Robert Bergé is supervising the pre-opening and opening phases of the Mandarin Oriental Marrakech.

 

Berge opened Mediterranean-style luxury restaurant called Adrienne on the second floor overlooking Fifth Avenue. On a corner of the second floor, facing 55th Street will be a bar and a more casual restaurant called Bistro d' Adrienne. ''We will serve real bistro food - rack of lamb, comfit of goose with french fries, cassoulet,'' he promises.

 

Jacques Chibois, chef of the Royal Gray, a highly rated restaurant in Cannes on the French Riviera (two stars in the Michelin Guide), will be the consulting chef at the new Hotel Maxim's de Paris.

 

In 1988, Rocco DiSpirito went to work at Adrienne in Hotel Maxim's de Paris under Jean-Michel Diot and Jacques Chibois.

 

In 1989, Chef Grey Kunz moved to New York to become executive chef at The Peninsula Hotel's Adrienne and the Bistro restaurants.

 

As of 2011 the Peninsula's executive chef is Thomas Piede. He oversees the Fives restaurant, Gotham Lounge, and the rooftop bar - Salon de Ning. Piede joined Peninsula New York as Executive Sous Chef in 2003, and previously held positions at Aureole, and Le Cirque.

 

In May 2007 Robert H. Rechtermann was appointed General Manager, The Peninsula New York. Previously he was Resident Manager of The Peninsula Chicago. He holds a B.S. in hotel management from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

 

In April, 2011 The Peninsula New York appointed Jonathan Crook as General Manager, he previously served two years as the GM of The Peninsula Manila.

 

The Peninsula New York appointed Sharon Telesca Feurer as Director of Marketing in September 2011. She previously was Director of Marketing for Trump SoHo New York, and prior to that, she was Vice President of Marketing for AKA Hotels.

 

Text compiled by Dick Johnson. Photos by Dick Johnson.

December 2011

richardlloydjohnson@hotmail.com

Structural system for my next model.