Sarah and Jack finished their coffee, avoiding the topic of the Initiative in further discussion. Jack implied that it was something to be kept secret. This is why he did not go by his real name, why Sarah would be given her own alias, and why the Initiative had gone through so much trouble in the first place to hide the evidence of what happened on Kohara. After the coffee was gone and the balance paid, Jack, Sarah, and Uther set out from the small diner. Far off in the distance, the horizon was starting to glow as dawn approached. As light flushed the pale sky, Sarah felt as though a weight was lifting off her chest. The crisp morning light started to clear the darkness that had been her headspace as of late.

Uther would be sent ahead to prep the ship, while Jack was to accompany Sarah to where she was staying in order to retrieve her belongings. Truth be told, Sarah was embarrassed to realize that what little she now had could be left behind and she would not be worse off. Most of what mattered was already in her bag. But Jack had offered, and the little voice in her head that warned against blindly trusting a stranger was put at ease by having more time to pick at Jack’s brain. He became more conversational once they were moving, no longer at risk of being overheard while they walk the nearly abandoned early morning streets.

“The Initiative has been around longer than you might suspect. Its early beginnings started when we made the technological breakthroughs that brought interplanetary colonization into practical feasibility. We began to expand faster than it felt we could keep track. Many were concerned that if technology kept rolling forward it would become impossible to keep up with it. Many beliefs about physics and reality were shattered. The question became, if you move the goal post for what is possible, where does it stop? Is that new line really the true line, or will it be moved further itself when the time comes?

“This sort of thinking bothered a great deal of those in positions of influence. In time, however, most would become distracted with avenues of profitability brought on by this mass expansion and these fears would fall to the wayside. That was, of course, until first contact was made. Can you imagine it? Definitive answer to the age-old question of if we were alone. Like a match to dry grass.”

Sarah nodded, “I wish I could have been there, at the beginning.”

“Right. This all is your field of specialty. This is where your whole school of science began.”

“It would have been amazing to have been a part of the first contact team.” Sarah sighed happily. Her smile, though, vanished the moment she saw Jack’s serious face.

“I’m not sure it was the way you picture,” He warned, “They must have been terrified. All the stories, all the hopes and fears, and now living proof is before you – what do you believe? Your actions set the course for future interspecies relations. One mistake is all it takes.”

“I suppose so, yes.”

“This is what S.S.I. was concerned about. We began to realize that these breakthroughs- the rapid advancements in tech, the groundbreaking discoveries, the first contact scenarios, all of it -would be decisive in shaping the role of humanity in the galaxy. We could not afford to leave it to chance and hope that all the chips fell in our favor. What is the Initiative? More than anything else, we try to reach the breakthrough first so that we can gently guide the rest of our kind, the rest of humanity through it.”

Sarah scoffed, “Isn’t that all a bit controlling? You don’t trust people to choose for themselves and sort things out?”

“No, we do. What we don’t trust is for everyone to always be thinking of the long game. We don’t expect everyone to see every angle. We aren’t trying to control everything, but we are trying to prevent the preventable.”

“And what is that?”

“The end of the world. Or at least the end for us. As we spread out our systems become so delicate. One great cataclysm could wipe out our species if it fell at the wrong time. We may not be able to stop it. But it would be a shame to break your leg stepping into a hole someone could have warned you about. Likewise, it’d be a shame to face extinction for something we could have stopped.”

Their conversation paused as they reached the small, cheap hotel where Sarah had been staying.

“I’ll just be a minute, do you mind waiting here?” Sarah asked, reaching for the door.

“I’ll be fine Ms. Wallace,” Jack winked and grinned, “I don’t expect extinction level events in your hotel room.”

Uther led Sarah from her hotel to the SSI ship, Jack having gone ahead. He lived up to his reputation, mostly communicating with grunts, glares, and an occasional rare raised eyebrow. The sun had just finished rising as they arrived at the docking terminal. The blueish tint of the system’s star amplified the strange feeling of the dim daybreak light. Sarah found herself surprised by it. She remembered arriving here, but the memories came through a haze. It was as if she had watched someone else arrive here, not herself. She had been so close to breaking, so close to despair. The world had been dark, suffocating, and hostile. Now she had a purpose, a mission, and the hope of getting answers. Though she kept trying to warn herself against hoping, she could not help it. Her heart rose within her as the sun rose higher into the sky. The morning air was clear and fresh in her lungs. She knew she had every reason to be afraid of what was next. She was about to board a ship with a man whose very identity was fake as well as another man whose only job description was being good at killing things. Her parents would not think this a wise life choice. Yet the tingle of anticipation she had felt on Kohara, the excitement of the day when they set out to study the local animals, had returned to her. Adventure. In this moment Sarah realized she would rather die on some crazy wild goose chase with the Initiative than to pass away in a bed. Or even worse, in an embassy.

The SSI ship was not very large. Sarah wasn’t expecting it to be, but still she was surprised by how sleek and compact it seemed. It was too small for the docking equipment of the port, so instead it perched upon a landing platform below the main docking terminal. And perch it did, for the whole craft gave off an avian appearance. Perhaps it was the many pointed flaps of its wings, that appeared like massive metal feathers. Maybe it was the curves of the ships shape, which converged into a swooping point that strongly evoked a beak. It was T-shaped, with two large thrusters at the end of wings that emerged from the rear portion of the craft, several of the large extending metal “feathers” protruding from these primary thrusters. Another thruster was concealed within the rear of the central fuselage. Two smaller, reversible thrusters jutted out closer to the front; for positioning, take off, landing, and hovering. An assortment of weaponry peeked out from below the “beak” of the ship where three wide horizontal windows, arranged above one another, provided a view from a double-decker command bridge. Though fully manned with a crew of around six, it was clearly suited for being able to carry out full operations on its own.

It gave off every impression of being a fighter craft or perhaps a racing vessel, yet the closer Sarah moved toward the ship the larger she realized it was, far too large for a standard military fighter. She found herself smiling; if she had gone off to be a pilot as her parents- no, her entire family -had wanted, perhaps she could be flying a vehicle like this herself. More likely than not, something smaller. This was nothing like any ship she had trained in simulations for. In that moment, she knew she wanted to pilot the SSI ship. Was this what Jack meant when he said he needed a pilot? As they approached, she spotted Jack standing up in the docking bay’s observation deck. He was talking quietly with someone via a holographic screen, the privacy filter making it impossible to discern who from this distance. Uther nudged her, pointed to the ship’s boarding ramp, and then busied himself with disengaging the refueling hoses.

Thus began Sarah’s time aboard the CSS “Munin Wing,” one of two such ships belonging to SSI for the purpose of rapid response and intelligence gathering. SSI preferred to work more covertly, through fronts such as Minerva University and through the private efforts of wealthy, influential members, yet they fielded such craft for tasks that required more direct intervention. Sarah pieced this and a few other things together after her first few days.

She learned that Uther could speak, and more than just the few swear words she often heard him mumble under his breath. His accent was heavy, and she had the distinct impression that while he understood well enough he wasn’t comfortable speaking. She heard him speak in his native tongue once to Jack, who surprisingly responded in kind. She did not recognize the language, and she suspected they chose it to speak about her at that moment, but she did notice the Uther seemed quick and eloquent in his native tongue. Surprisingly, Sarah learned that Uther was also the medical professional aboard the ship. What he lacked in bedside manner he made up for with astonishing precision and efficiency.

Jack, however, remained an enigma. Satisfied that Sarah was settled in and had enough information to be comfortable with her choice to join the Initiative, he became significantly less open and conversational. He answered her questions, to the extent that he felt bothered to or had clearance to. He gave her adequate instructions to carry out her orders and seemed attentive to her needs. Truthfully, she had little to complain about. Jack clearly had a good read on the ideal minimum required to run a tight crew without engaging any more deeply, revealing any more information, or spending any excess time with any member of the crew. Jack was not just the point person for SSI, but also the captain of the ship. He spent the majority of the time behind the helm guiding the ship, so as to free up Sarah to carry on research in the Munin’s small (but surprisingly high-tech) lab. She would swap out and pilot during any operations which required Jack fill other roles.

Sarah also became acquainted with an additional member of the crew: Miriam. If Jack was ice and Uther a rock, Miriam was warm autumn sunlight. She was the Munin’s mechanic and apparently served on the original engineering crew that built it. She kept the ship running and, prior to Sarah’s recruitment, helped pilot, however she loudly proclaimed a distaste for piloting. Instead, she now helped Uther man the Munin’s guns as well as proclaimed herself ship cook. A shorter, broad built woman of middle age, her complexion was dark. She was freckled and almost constantly dirty from working on the ship. Her hair was a wild mess of curls in every direction, though if natural or the result of excessive electrical exposure, Sarah never found out. She was well muscled and could fix a glare to stop even Jack in his tracks, yet ready to smile in an instant and radiated warmth.

Sarah learned quickly to never say no to Miriam. She was loud, both in temper and in humor. Sarah’s first impression was that this woman would not hesitate to physically throw someone off the ship if she had to, and yet would be the first one to offer a hug on a bad day. This impression was proved correct: Miriam became a fast friend to Sarah. When Sarah began to wonder, as the tedium of ship life set in, if she made the right choice, Miriam assured her. When the unprocessed grief of losing her research team finally caught up to her, Miriam consoled her and made warm soup.

By the time the Munin arrived at the next mission location, to recruit the technical officer Jack was seeking out, Sarah’s resolve for the mission had hardened. She would keep her eyes open, the Initiative did not have her full trust and neither did Jack, but she believed in the mission. If people like Miriam were aboard the crew, she knew she could trust them.

Hull Classification: DD-20

Class & type:

Valley Forge Class Destroyer

Complement:

22 officers, 298 enlisted

Armament:

4x Electromagnetic rail system

16x 50 caliber anti-ship gun, mounted on eight turrets

4x 38 caliber twin-barrel point defense cannons

20x Superluminal torpedo tubes

--

The third Valley Forge-class destroyer commissioned by the Union Space Navy, the USS Ticonderoga entered service in 2265.

The "Tico" served with distinction during the pivotal final engagement of "Operation Black Sword", where she and two Hulick-class destroyers, USS Saratoga and USS Ranger, successfully engaged and destroyed a superior enemy taskforce that was en route to attack the civilian hospital complex in the Beta Aquilae star system. By activating their stealth suites and hiding in the system's Kuiper belt, the three destroyers were able to play cat and mouse for 26 hours with the enemy taskforce and lure them into orbit around the system's Jovian gas giant. The planet's gravity well limited the movement of the enemy's larger battlecruisers and carriers, and evened the odds for the more nimble destroyers.

Ships of the Valley Forge-class:

Valley Forge, Bunker Hill, Ticonderoga, Yorktown, Antietam, Gettysburg, Normandy

--

Credit to Red Spacecat for his amazing USS Saratoga, which is the inspiration for this design.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, Thursday, July 29, 2021 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 2:53 p.m. EDT Friday, July 30, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

My great uncle El Fuego loves flying his stunt plane. He actually doesn't do the stunts; he simply loves to make havoc and mayhem for those who ride with him. I say great uncle, for he is great, and he is my uncle.

20201124 329/366

November is National Aviation History Month

According to the Government Printing Office, “National Aviation History Month is dedicated to exploring, recognizing, and celebrating America’s great contributions and achievements in the development of aviation. Aviation history refers to the history of development of mechanical flight—from the earliest attempts in kites and gliders to powered heavier-than-air, supersonic, and space flights.”

It has hard to tell where you are going if you do not know where you have been. The FAA has kicked on National Aviation History Month that runs for the month of November.

To kick off our celebration of National Aviation History Month, here’s a brief history of the FAA . For U.S. aviators—manned and unmanned alike—the FAA is a critical partner in operations. Ever thought that the concept of managing low altitude airspace was new to the unmanned industry, or that the FAA’s incredible safety history a given? Here are a few interesting picks from the FAA article:

“The modern age of powered flight began in 1903 when Orville Wright made the first sustained, powered flight on December 17 in a plane he and his brother Wilbur built. This twelve-second flight led to the development of the first practical airplane in 1905 and launched worldwide efforts to build better flying machines.”

“Pilots flew 200 to 500 feet above ground so they could navigate by roads and railways. Low visibility and night landings were made using bonfires on the field as lighting. Fatal accidents were routine.”

The commercial airline industry got started later. In 1925 an FAA act supported the commercial passenger service with the Air Mail Act of 1925. “…airline companies such as Pan American Airways, Western Air Express, and Ford Air Transport Service began scheduled commercial passenger service. By the mid-1930s, the four major domestic airlines that dominated commercial travel for most of the 20th century began operations: United, American, Eastern, and Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA).” (Where are those airlines today?)

Those initial commercial efforts led to the development of air traffic control. “As air travel increased, some airport operators, hoping to improve safety, began providing an early form of air traffic control (ATC) based on visual signals. Early controllers stood on the field and waved flags to communicate with pilots. Archie League, the system’s first flagmen, began work in the late 1920s at the airfield in St. Louis, Missouri.”

As has happened in the unmanned industry, stakeholders in the early manned aviation industry came to government to ask for clear standards, which the FAA delivered in 1926. “Aviation industry leaders believed the airplane could not reach its full commercial potential without federal action to improve and maintain safety standards. At their urging, the Air Commerce Act was passed in 1926. This landmark legislation charged the Secretary of Commerce with fostering air commerce, issuing and enforcing air traffic rules, licensing pilots, certifying aircraft, establishing airways, and operating and maintaining aids to air navigation. A new Aeronautics Branch in the Department of Commerce assumed primary responsibility for aviation oversight, and William P. MacCracken, Jr., became its first director.”

There is much history in both the Federal Aviation Administration as well as in commercial manned aircraft. Airplanes have improved over the years thanks to modern technology, radar, computers, and general safety.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is the Cleveland-based headquarters of the U.S. Federal Reserve System's Fourth District. The district is composed of Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. It has branch offices in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. The check processing center in Columbus, Ohio was closed in 2005. The chief executive officer and president is Sandra Pianalto.[2] The bank building, located at Superior Avenue and East 6th Street in downtown Cleveland was designed by the Cleveland firm of Walker and Weeks and completed in 1923. Its exterior architecture emulates an Italian Renaissance palazzo, is clad in pink Sienna marble.

In January 2006, the bank opened the Learning Center and Money Museum, replacing the public teller windows vacated after September 11, 2001. Over 25 hands-on exhibits focus on the history of money, its effects on societies and cultures, and its central role in peoples' lives. The museum is open from Monday through Thursday, except for bank holidays, and admission is free

NRHP Reference#:76001392

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, May 19, 2022, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 launched at 6:54 p.m. ET, and will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

+++ 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 Sondergerät SG104 "Münchhausen" was a German airborne recoillless 355.6 mm (14-inch) caliber gun, intended to engage even the roughest enemy battleships, primarily those of the Royal Navy. The design of this unusual and massive weapon began in 1939. The rationale behind it was that a battleship’s most vulnerable part was the deck – a flat surface, with relatively thin armor (as typical hits were expected on the flanks) and ideally with vital targets underneath, so that a single, good hit would cripple of even destroy a ship. The purpose of such a high angle of attack was likely to allow the projectile to penetrate the target ship's deck, where the ship's armor, if there was any, would have been much thinner than the armor on its sidesHowever, hitting the deck properly with another ship’s main gun was not easy, since it could only be affected through indirect hits and the typical angle of the attack from aballistic shot would not necessarily be ideal for deep penetration, esp. at long range.

The solution to this problem: ensure that the heavy projectile would hit its target directly from above, ideally at a very steep angle. To achieve this, the gun with battleship caliber was “relocated” from a carrier ship or a coastal battery onto an aircraft – specifically to a type that was capable of dive-bombing, a feature that almost any German bomber model of the time offered.

With the Allied invasion of France and a worsening war condition, the SG 104 program was stopped in August 1944 and the idea of an airborne anti-ship gun axed in favor of more flexible guided weapons like the Hs 293 missile and the Fritz-X glide bomb. Plans for a further developed weapon with a three-round drum magazine were immediately stopped, also because there was no carrier aircraft in sight that could carry and deploy this complex 6.5 tons weapon. However, work on the SG 104 and the experience gained from EKdo 104's field tests were not in vain. The knowledge gathered from the Münchhausen program was directly used for the design of a wide range of other, smaller recoilless aircraft weapons, including the magnetically-triggered SG 113 "Förstersonde" anti-tank weapon or the lightweight SG 118 "Rohrblock" unguided air-to-air missile battery for the Heinkel He 162 "Volksjäger".

General characteristics:

Crew: 3 (pilot, navigator, radio operator/gunner)

Length: 20,73 m (67 ft 11 in) overall

18,93 m (62 ft 3/4 in) hull only

Wingspan: 19 m (62 ft 4 in)

Height: 4.97 m (16 ft 4 in)

Wing area: 57 m² (610 sq ft)

Empty weight: 9,065 kg (19,985 lb)

Empty equipped weight:10,950 kg (24,140 lb)

Max takeoff weight: 16,700 kg (36,817 lb)

Fuel capacity: 2,960 l (780 US gal; 650 imp gal) in fuselage tank and four wing tanks

Powerplant:

2× BMW 801D-2 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, delivering

1,300 kW (1,700 hp) each for take-off and 1,070 kW (1,440 hp) at 5,700 m (18,700 ft),

driving 3-bladed VDM constant-speed propellers

Performance:

Maximum speed: 475 km/h (295 mph, 256 kn) at sea level

560 km/h (350 mph; 300 kn) at 5,700 m (18,700 ft)

Cruise speed: 400 km/h (250 mph, 220 kn) with loaded Gerät 104 at optimum altitude

Range: 2,180 km (1,350 mi, 1,180 nmi) with maximum internal fuel

Ferry range: 2,500 km (1,600 mi, 1,300 nmi); unarmed, with auxiliary fuel tanks

Service ceiling: 7,370 m (24,180 ft) with loaded Gerät 104,

9,500 m (31,200 ft) after firing

Rate of climb: 3.5 m/s (690 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in 4 minutes 10 seconds

2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 8 minutes 20 seconds

6,100 m (20,000 ft) in 24 minutes 40 seconds

Armament:

1x 355.6 mm (14-inch) Sondergerät 104 recoilless gun with a single round in ventral position

1x 15 mm (0.787 in) MG 151 machine cannon with 200 rounds, fixed in the nose

1x 13 mm (0.512 in) MG 131 machine gun with 500 rounds, movable in dorsal position

Two underwing hardpoints for a 900 l drop tank each, but only used during unarmed ferry flights

The kit and its assembly:

This was another submission to the "Gunships" group build at whatifmodellers.com in late 2021, and inspiration struck when I realized that I had two Italeri Do 217 in The Stash - a bomber and a night fighter - that could be combined into a suitable (fictional) carrier for a Sondergerät 104. This mighty weapon actually existed and even reached the hardware/test stage - but it was never integrated into an airframe and tested in flight. But that's what this model is supposed to depict.

On the Do 217, the Sg 104 would have been carried externally under the fuselage, even though there had been plans to integrate this recoilless rifle into airframes, esp. into the Ju 288. Since the latter never made it into production, the Do 217 would have been the most logical alternative, also because it had the highest payload of all German bombers during WWII and probably the only aircraft capable of carrying and deploying the Münchhausen device, as the SG 104 was also known.

The fictional Do 217 F-0 is a kitbashing, using a Do 217 N fuselage, combined with the wings from a Do 217 K bomber, plus some modifications. What initially sounded like a simple plan soon turned into a improvisation mess: it took some time to realize that I had already donated the Do 217 K's BMW 801 engines to another project, an upgraded He 115... I did not want to use the nightfighter's more powerful DB 603s, and I was lucky to have an Italeri Ju 188 kit at hand which comes with optional BMW 801s and Jumo 211s. Transplanting these engines onto the Do 217's wings took some tailoring of the adapter plates, but was feasible. However, the BMW 801s from the Ju 188 kit have a flaw: they lack the engine's characteristic cooling fans... Another lucky find: I found two such parts in the scrap box, even though from different kits - one left over from another Italeri Do 217 K, the other one from what I assume is/was an Italeri 1:72 Fw 190 A/F. To make matters worse, one propeller from the Ju 188 kit was missing, so that I had to find a(nother) replacement. :-/

I eventually used something that looked like an 1:72 F6F Hellcat propeller, but I an not certain about this because I have never built this model...? With some trimming on the blades' trailing edges and other mods, the donor's overall look could be adapted to the Ju 188 benchmark. Both propellers were mounted on metal axis' so that they could also carry the cooling fans. Lots of work, but the result looks quite good.

The Do 217 N's hull lost the lower rear gunner position and its ventral gondola, which was faired over with a piece of styrene sheet. The pilot was taken OOB, the gunner in the rear position was replaced by a more blob-like crew member from the scrap box. The plan to add a navigator in the seat to the lower right of the pilot did not work out due to space shortage, but this figure would probably have been invisble, anyway.

All gun openings in the nose were filled and PSRed away, and a fairing for a bomb aiming device and a single gun (the barrel is a hollow steel needle) were added.

The SG 104 was scratched. Starting point was a white metal replacement barrel for an 1:35 ISU-152 SPG with a brass muzzle brake. However, after dry-fitting the barrel under the hull the barrel turned out to be much too wide, so that only the muzzal brake survived and the rest of the weapon was created from a buddy refueling pod (from an Italeri 1:72 Luftwaffe Tornado, because of its two conical ends) and protective plastic caps from medical canulas. To attach this creation to the hull I abused a conformal belly tank from a Matchbox Gloster Meteor night fighter and tailored it into a streamlined fairing. While this quite a Frankenstein creation, the overall dimensions match the real SG 104 prototype and its look well.

Other cosmetic modifications include a pair of underwing dive brakes, translanted from an Italeri 1:72 Ju 88 A-4 kit, an extended (scratched) tail "stinger" which resembles the real dive brake arrangement that was installed on some Do 217 E bombers, and I added blast deflector vanes and a dorsal stabilizer fin.

In order to provide the aircraft with enough ground clearance, the tail wheel was slightly extended. Thanks to the long tail stinger, this is not blatantly obvious.

Painting and markings:

This was not an easy choice, but as a kind of prototype I decided that the paint scheme should be rather conservative. However, German aircraft operating over the Atlantic tended to carry rather pale schemes, so that the standard pattern of RLM 70/71/65 (Dunkelgrün, Schwarzgrün and Hellblau) with a low waterline - typical for experimental types - would hardly be appropriate.

I eventually found a compromise on a He 177 bomber (coded 6N+BN) from 1944 that was operated by KG 100: this particular aircraft had a lightened upper camouflage - still a standard splinter scheme but consisting of RLM 71 and 02 (Dunkelgrün and Grau; I used Modelmaster 2081 and Humbrol 240), a combination that had been used on German fighters during the Battle of Britain when the standard colors turned out to be too dark for operations over the Channel. The aircraft also carried standard RLM 65 (or maybe the new RLM76) underneath (Humbrol 65) and on the fin, but with a very high and slightly wavy waterline. As a rather unusual feature, no typical camouflage mottles were carried on the flanks or the fin, giving the aircraft a very bleak and simple look.

Despite my fears that this might look rather boring I adapted this scheme for the Do 217 F-0, and once basic painting was completed I was rather pleased by the aircraft's look! As an aircraft operated at the Western front, no additional markings like fuselage bands were carried.

To set the SG 104 apart from the airframe, I painted the weapon's visible parts in RLM 66 (Schwarzgrau, Humbrol 67), because this tone was frequently used for machinery (including the interior surfaces of aircraft towards 1945).

RLM 02 was also used for the interior surfaces and the landing gear, even though I used a slightly different, lighter shade in form of Revell 45 (Helloliv).

A light black ink washing was applied and post-shading to emphasize panel lines. Most markings/decals came from a Begemot 1:72 He 11 sheet, including the unusual green tactical code - it belongs to a staff unit, a suitable marking for such an experimental aircraft. The green (Humbrol 2) was carried over to the tips of the propeller spinners. The unit's code "1A" is fictional, AFAIK this combination had never been used by the Luftwaffe.

The small unit badge was alucky find: it actually depicts the fictional Baron von Münchhausen riding on a cannonball, and it comes from an Academy 1:72 Me 163 kit and its respective sheet. The mission markings underneath, depicting two anti-ship missions plus a successful sinking, came from a TL Modellbau 1:72 scale sheet with generic German WWII victory markings.

After some soot stains around the engine exhaust and weapon muzzles had been added with graphite, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and final details like position lights and wire antennae (from heated black plastic sprue material) were added.

Well, what started as a combination of two kits of the same kind with a simple huge pipe underneath turned out to be more demanding than expected. The (incomplete) replacement engines were quite a challenge, and body work on the hull (tail stinger, fairing for the SG 104 as well as the weapon itself) turned out to be more complex and extensive than initially thought of. The result looks quite convincing, also supported by the rather simple paint scheme which IMHO just "looks right" and very convincing. And the whole thing is probably the most direct representation of the inspiring "Gunship" theme!

M/V Stewart J. Cort was the first 1000-foot vessel on the Great Lakes when she entered service for Bethlehem Steel Corporation in 1972. Her bow and stern sections, built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, were joined together and called “Stubby” for the trip to the Great Lakes. At Erie Marine, Erie, Pennsylvania, “Stubby” was cut apart and joined with the midbody built there. The Cort is the only 1000-footer with pilot house forward. All crew accommodations are also forward. Her self-unloading system’s shuttle boom is contained within the after cabin structure. Interlake Leasing III secured the bareboat charter of the Cort in 2005.

Scale: The width of this image is about 250 kilometers (150 miles)

Topographic information from the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) is used to colorize a image mosaic of Goethe basin, located in Mercury's northern region. The purple colors are low and white is the highest; the total range of heights shown in this view is about 1 kilometer. Goethe basin is home to a variety of interesting features, including ghost craters with graben, wrinkle ridges that outline the basin, and dark craters that host radar-bright materials.

The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. Visit the Why Mercury? section of this website to learn more about the key science questions that the MESSENGER mission is addressing. During the one-year primary mission, MDIS acquired 88,746 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is now in a yearlong extended mission, during which plans call for the acquisition of more than 80,000 additional images to support MESSENGER’s science goals.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/Brown University

NASA image use policy.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

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Thisi is just one of several photographs that I'll be sharing. This one was underexposed so I could emphasize the solar flares and show that there were at least 3 flares at the moment I captured this photograph. Interesting note that the larger flare at center-bottom, due to the softer focus around the edges took the shape of a heart.

About Solar Flares:

Considered our solar system's largest explosive events, solar flares occur when magnetic energy associated with sunspots is released, creating intense bursts of radiation.

(c) Kelly Shipp

April 8, 2024. Conway, Arkansas.

Photo # K04_8463ac.

Boeing and NASA teams participate in a mission dress rehearsal to prepare for the landing of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in White Sands, New Mexico, Monday, May 23, 2022. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the horizontal integration facility at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Feb. 28, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission will be the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 2:49am launch on March 2, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen after being raised into a vertical position on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Feb. 28, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission will be the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 2:49am launch on March 2, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

The AAPRCO's Autumn Explorer is southbound on Vermont Railway's B&R Sub at MP 51 three miles south of Rutland Yard on VRS' former Rutland mainline that once extended all the way to Chatham, NY.

The train left Albany-Rensselaer in the morning behind two Amtrak P42s and traveled up CP's ex D&H Canadian main. At Whitehall they diverges on to Vermont Rail System's CLP mainline, also former D&H for the trip to Rutland, VT. There the Amtrak power was exchanged for red GP40-2 307 that will take the train south all the way to Hoosick Junction before returning to North Bennington to spend the night, then the train will travel north to Burlington where it will spend a few days.

The eight PVs on this year's trip listed in order are the: NYC 3, Promontory Point, Northern Sky, Northern Dreams, Dagny Taggart, San Marino, Wisconsin, and Chapel Hill.

Erected in 1860 the 190 ft tall steeple of Grace Congregational Church in the distance completes the New England tableau as fall colors begin to pop in the surrounding Green Mountains.

Clarendon, Vermont

Sunday September 27, 2020

And for speeches like this we thank eloquent politicians.. unlike some orange speakers.

It cannot be an accident that the Canadian flag was in the picture for this video of my #page1project: www.tiktok.com/@deeprednoise_vzw/video/7595160863862951201

Note: The image is not at full resolution, but is best viewed as LARGE as possible. Zoom in and out by clicking on the image.

WARNING:

Don't look at the Sun though a Telescope's Eyepiece or Finder Scope without protective Solar filters, as it can cause permanent eye damage. The same applies when you use a camera, and look through the Camera's Eyepiece. If at all possible, rather look at the Sun in Live View on the Camera's LCD Screen.

About this photo:

The Sun on 28 March 2016 from the Southern Hemisphere. Our Star is ever changing, and today there was a huge Sunspot.

This image was created by Stacking several 16 bit RAW images, that were photographed with a Canon 60Da DSLR, on a 6" wide field Newtonian Reflector Telescope (Astrograph).

Scale Reference:

If you consider that the planet Earth fits into the volume of the Sun 1.3 million times, the scale of the Sunspot becomes apparent. Don't be alarmed, this is normal.

Wavelength of Light:

This is a photograph of the Sun was mostly photographed in the wavelengths of visible light, and the H-Alpha (Ha) Infrared (IR) spectral line of Hydrogen at 656.28 nm).

Over 99.999% of the light was blocked with a R-G "White Light" Solar filter. Some finer details like the surface granulation and filaments are visible due to the use of an additional Baader Planetarium Solar Continuum filter (passing a narrowband spectral wavelength of light at 540 nm).

About Sunspots:

The dark spots are cooler holes in the Sun's Photosphere and are called Sunspots. The Photosphere has a temperature of 5,800 degrees Kelvin, and Sunspots have temperatures of about 3,800 degrees K. Sunspots only appear to be dark, as they are surrounded by much brighter and hotter regions of the Sun's Photosphere.

With the use of extreme narrowband Hydrogen-Alpha Solar filters, Ca K-Line filters, and other wavelengths of light like Ultraviolet (UV), the detail of the Sun's surface, prominences and solar flares will be apparent.

About the Sun:

The Sun is a G-type Main-Sequence Yellow Dwarf (G2V) Star. As far as stars go, the Sun is a very average star in the middle of its life cycle (around 5 billion years old). To give an indication of the Sun's size, about 1.3 million Earth sized planets can fit into the volume of the Sun. Through the process of fusion, the Sun burns approximately 600 million tonnes (metric tons) of Hydrogen each second, turning it into 596 million tonnes of Helium. As the Hydrogen nuclei fuse, Photons are emitted, which in short is why the Sun and other stars shine.

The Sun is roughly 150,000,000 km (93,205,679 mi) from Earth. The speed of light is 300,000 km/sec (186,000 miles/sec), which means that the light took just over 8 light-minutes (8 minutes and 26 seconds) to reach my Telescope.

The mass of the Sun is about 2 Nonillion kilograms:

M☉ = (1.98855±0.00025) × 10^30 kilograms or 10^27 metric tons, and is referred to as 1 Solar Mass. The Sun contains 99.86% of the mass in our Solar System.

About Hydrogen and the Chemical Elements:

The Hydrogen Atom is the simplest and most abundant element in the Universe (with only 1 Proton and 1 Electron). Through the process of fusion, more complex elements are made at different stages of a star's life and death cycle.

This is what Carl Sagan meant with one of his well known quotes from Cosmos, "The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff."

About the Milky Way, and our Solar System's place within it:

The Milky Way Galaxy is estimated to have over 400 billion stars. Stars are suns, and just like in our Solar System, many of the stars have planets with moons orbiting them. Our sun is a middle aged Yellow Dwarf star, located in the Orion Arm (or Orion Spur) of the Milky Way Galaxy. It's a minor side spiral arm, located between two larger arms of the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral. The Milky Way is merely one mid-sized barred spiral Galaxy, amongst over 100 billion other Galaxies in the observable Universe. When we look up at the night sky from Earth, we see a glimpse of the Carina-Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It takes about 250 million years for the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral arms to complete one rotation.

The size, distance and age of the Universe is far beyond human comprehension. The known Universe is estimated to contain over One Billion Trillion stars.

1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000

Click on this link to view an image that illustrates ''our Solar System's position within the Milky Way Galaxy''.

View the spectacular images and videos captured in several wavelengths of light with the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Martin

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Ex. NVS # 126 from Schwerin arrived in Almaty in 2004 in the years of the system's slight revival after the 90s. As all other Schweriners, it contained a second cabless twin car. The latter was in service until 2006 and 1027 was the last of the operating multiple-units here. The head car was running through the next years until the arrival of ex-Berliners in 2013.

Toraygyrov koshesi, Almaty, KZ

On 25th March 1986, 'N.C.B. 38' (ex-BR Class 14 No.D9513) stands outside the British Coal Ashington running shed and workshops in the company of the system's rail-mounted crane and an Andrew Barclay diesel-hydraulic locomotive, just visible behind.

© Copyright Gordon Edgar - No unauthorised use.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission, Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch on 6:54 p.m. ET on May 19, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Whose RR is this??? RF&P GP40-2-141 & Family Lines Caboose-05750 are parked W/B on track one at the east end of a section of double track on Chessie System's Philly Sub. The signal for track two will soon turn to green for an approaching E/B. Once the E/B passes, 141 & cab will get a green to back past the signal and cross over to continue west on track two to Bay View.

Cu tren EC 274 METROPOLITAN Budapest Nyugati - Praha hlavni nadrazi.

With train 274 "METROPOLITAN" Budapest Nyugati to Praha hlavni nadrazi.

Praha hlavni nadrazi,

02.08.2023

“This is an artist’s conception of a three-man moon vehicle preparing ground for a lunar base. The vehicle is of the type which could be driven by a new power system designed by the Martin Company. The new system, the company says, would provide electrical power for motors which would drive the vehicle’s tracks. The system’s exhausts would be regenerated by a nuclear reactor and re-used by [the] vehicle. Primary source of power would be a turbine generator driven by hydrogen gas under pressure.”

Oh happy day...in all the years I’ve come across this image, this is the first with some meat to its description…finally...and it's by John Gorsuch!

As pointed out by Mr. Dempsey in one of the below linked images, “note the intentionally obscured NASA "Meatball" emblem on the antenna pylon of the closest bulldozer.”

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, Monday, Aug. 2, 2021 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 1:20 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 3, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Four multiple-units take a regular weekend break at the system's Bury depot. I feel sure that a lot of the graffiti that covered these trains in their latter days was perpetrated at this location! This photo was taken in earlier days when such graffiti was unheard of.

This is a train I don't normally get to photograph as it runs Sun-Thu corresponding with my work week and is off the only two days I can usually get out. But this week, thanks to some early morning training I was able to get out after and try for something different. Knowing that the Providence and Worcester Railroad's WOGR/GRWO turns have had a nice matched pair of classic red and brown painted GEs of late I figured they were worth a look.

I made it to the Chair City just as they were pulling into the Pan Am Southern yard along the old Boston and Maine mainline. Having dropped their train and run back to the east end of the yard they have paused for the conductor to grab their EOT off the hind end before heading down another track to pick up a small cut of empty aluminum hoppers which is all they'll return to Worcester with. PW 3903 (B39-8E blt. Apr. 1988 as LMX 8594) and 4005 (B40-8W blt. Feb. 1992 as ATSF 561) will make quick work of the light train down the 26 miles of the former Boston and Maine Gardner Branch.

And as for history of this line, how about a little courtesy of the Holden Historical Society?

In 1869, the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad (BB&G) commenced construction of a railroad from Worcester (at Barber), through Holden, to Gardner. This 26-mile line, which cost 1.2 million dollars to build, opened in 1871. It was extended 10 miles to Winchendon in January, 1874 and later that same year the company leased the Monadnock Railroad north another 16 miles to Peterborough, New Hampshire. The BB&G thus attained a total length of 52 miles.

Beset by financial reversals, the Monadnock lease was surrendered to the Cheshire Railroad in 1880. The BB&;G was leased itself to the Fitchburg Railroad in 1884. The following year it was merged into the Fitchburg and became that road's Worcester Division. In 1900 the Fitchburg was leased and soon thereafter merged into the Boston & Maine Railroad (B&M), becoming the B&M's Fitchburg Division. As a part of the B&M system's Fitchburg Division the line through Holden was referred to at different times by various names including the Worcester & Contoocook (N.H.) Branch, the Worcester & Hillsboro (N.H.) Branch, the Peterboro (N.H.) Branch, and finally after the line was severed north o f Gardner, as the Worcester Branch of the Fitchburg Division. At Worcester, the line joined the B&M Portland Division's Worcester Main Line at Barber.

The original 52-mile BB&G line through Holden remained under B&M control for 73 years. In 1974, the line was bought by the Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W) from the trustees of the bankrupt B&M which was considering the route for abandonment. The last B&M freight left Holden for Worcester in January 1974 and the P&W operated its first train over the line on February 2, 1974.

At various times, passenger stops existed at Chaffins, Dawson, Holden, Jefferson, and at North Woods. Holden and Jefferson were small country depots, while the others were flag stops with small shelters. Only two station structures remain: the Holden depot in its original location and the Jefferson depot which was moved in 1975 to a site next to the Wong Dynasty Chinese Restaurant on Reservoir Street.

In 1878 there were four round trip passenger trains between Worcester and Winchendon. This increased to six round trips at the turn of the century. Under B&M ownership, the old BB&G line became part of a rather unlikely through passenger route from Worcester to Concord, NH. This service ended after the floods of 1936 severed the line north of Peterboro. However, a round trip passenger local from Worcester to Peterboro would survive another 17 years, handling passengers and mail. In its last years, it acquired a certain degree of fame and became known as the Peterboro Local or the Blueberry Special. By the early 1950s the B&M was hemorrhaging financially from passenger train losses and was given permission to discontinue this train. It made its last run, with extra coaches and much fanfare, on March 7, 1953. It had remained a steam train with an ancient wooden combine and one coach almost to the very end, at which time steam power had been taken off and a diesel locomotive substituted.

B&M operated through symbol freights Worcester to Mechanicville, NY (WM-1), and Mechanicville, NY, to Worcester (WM-2), as well as a local freight that switched customers between Worcester and Gardner. The through freights between Worcester and Mechanicville, NY, operated until about 1968. WM-1 would arrive punctually in Holden at 7:30 every evening, switch the small yard, and then depart for Gardner and points west. The eastbound WM-2 passed through in the small hours of the night. The local switcher out of Worcester worked during the day. By the end of B&M control, through service on the line had been discontinued and the Worcester switcher ventured out the line only to service customers as needed.

The line has undergoing a dramatic renaissance since the P&W commenced operations in 1974 and today is a well kept modern 30 mph railroad. In fact it's so well kept that chasing a train along its length is downright challenging!

Gardner, Massachusetts

Wednesday March 16, 2022

The solar system's best known fireball descends west of Crater Lake.

www.michaelbollino.com

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, Thursday, July 29, 2021 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard launches from Launch Complex 39A, Saturday, March 2, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission launched at 2:49am ET and was the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

EVA Astronaut Bruce McCandless II, is using a special power tool to conduct an experiment. His feet are anchored in the mobile foot restraints, which are connected to the Remote Manipulator System's (RMS) End Effector. The Shuttle pallet satellite (SPAS-01A) serves as a test subject for McCandless's experiment. The SPAS-01A is located in the center of the open cargo bay. Behind him is the protective cradle for the Westar VI satellite.

NASA Media Usage Guidelines

Credit: NASA

Image Number: S84-27036

Date: February 12, 1984

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission, Thursday, May 19, 2022 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch 6:54 p.m. ET, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

EN: ÖBB 4020 307 passes by not far away from Baden, towards Wiener Neustadt. Greets to the Driver! 👋

The Class 4020 is a 3-part electric multiple unit, equiped with thyristor controled regulator equipement, operated by ÖBB.

- Specifications:

- Manifacturer: SGP, BBC, Siemens

- Constructed: 1978-87 (total of 120 units)

- Axle arrangement: Bo'Bo'

- Power output: 1200 kW

- Tractive force: 117 kN

- Lenght: 69,4 m

- Unladen weight: 128,4 t

- Permitted speed: 120 km/h

- Safety system(s): PZB90

- Capacity: seats for 184 passengers

The EMU operates from the 15 kV 16⅔ Hz overhead line.

HU: ÖBB 4020 307-es halad Baden-től nem messze Wiener Neustadt felé. Üdv a vezérnek! 👋

A 4020-as sorozat egy az ÖBB által üzemeltetett, tirisztoros szabályozóelektronikával szerelt, 3 részes villamos motorvonatcsalád.

Műszaki adatok:

- Gyártó: SGP, BBC, Siemens

- Gyártásban: 1978-87 (120 db)

- Tengelyelrendezés: Bo'Bo'

- Vonóerő: 117 kN

- Teljesítmény: 1200 kW

- Hossz: 69,4m

- Öntömeg: 128,4 t

- Engedélyezett legnagyobb sebesség: 120 km/h

- Vonatbefolyásoló rendszer(ek): PZB90

- Kapacitás: 184 (ülő) utas

A motorvonat a 15 kV 16⅔ Hz feszültségű felsővezetékről üzemel.

Star Hawk Vx

Less than three lunar months after the mysterious disappearence of Unitron system's Star Hawk V test prototype, sightings were reported of a Galaxy Patrol that bore a striking resemblance to the missing craft.

Galaxy Patrol Engineering and Weapons Division added upgraded proton fusion gravity drive engines designed for a much larger craft, making the Vx capable of achieving incredible speeds and distances. Unitron surveillance gear was scrapped in favor of twin triple-barrel plasma cannons and photon missile batteries.

The Vx also displays the Galaxy Patrol’s dark blue and orange livery and characteristic bling.

Unitron system representatives deny any link to their missing craft.

Pixy's coat colour changes with the light!

This photo was taken in incandescent/tungsten light ... my camera's tungsten white balance setting wasn't able to eliminate the warmth of this light!

(I'm in awe of the human visual system's ability to "automatic white balance"!!!)

Since 2011, Europe has been building a world-class satellite navigation system, serving billions of users worldwide. Today, the Galileo constellation counts over 30 satellites in orbit, fully occupying all slots across its three orbital planes, with two spare satellites per plane for added resilience.

On 17 December, two Galileo satellites will be launched on Ariane 6, the 14th launch of the Galileo programme for operational satellites. This is the first of three Ariane 6's that will deliver the final six first-generation Galileo satellites, further strengthening the system’s robustness.

For the December 2025 launch, the European Space Agency is responsible for carrying out the Galileo launch with Arianespace. The Galileo programme is managed by the European Commission under the EU Space programme. Once in orbit, the EU Agency for the Space Programme will bring the satellites into service and oversee their operation.

Credits: ESA

Denver's history of boiler houses is tied to the nation's oldest continuous district steam heating system, started in 1880 by the Denver City Steam Heating Co. This system, powered by boiler houses, delivered steam to downtown buildings, offering a safer alternative to numerous individual, on-site boilers that posed explosion risks, such as the fatal 1895 Gumry Hotel explosion. The system, which grew to include the CB&Q Powerhouse and the boiler house of the Denver Medical Depot, has continuously evolved to supply steam for heating and cooling.

The Rise of Centralized Steam Heating

1879-1880:

Local businessmen formed the Denver City Steam Heating Co., installing a Holly district steam system and beginning steam service on November 5, 1880.

Safety & Growth:

The system provided a safer alternative to the dangerous on-site coal-fired boilers that were common in Denver and other cities at the time. A major boost to the system's popularity came after the 1895 Gumry Hotel boiler explosion, which killed 22 people, highlighting the risks of individual boilers.

By the late 1880s, the system was expanded with new boilers and a larger distribution pipe network.

The System's Evolution

Ownership Changes:

In 1909, the system was acquired by the Denver Gas and Electric Co., which later became part of the Public Service Company of Colorado.

Technological Advancements:

Engineers continued to upgrade the system, with innovations like using steam from a new turbine to supply the downtown network in 1949.

Boiler Houses:

Boiler houses, such as the one at the former CB&Q Denver Shops and the 1942 Denver Medical Depot, were crucial industrial landmarks, providing heat for large complexes.

Enduring Legacy

Longevity:

The Denver system is recognized as the oldest continuously operating commercial district heating system in the world.

Current Operation:

The network continues to supply steam to customers in downtown Denver, although its future is uncertain.

“This photomosaic of Triton, assembled from 14 individual frames, shows the great variety of its surface features. At the bottom of the image are remnants of the south polar cap, containing “dark” streaks generally aligned towards the northeast (upper right in the image). Even though these are darker than other features on Triton, they reflect nearly ten times as much light as the surface of the Earth’s moon. North of the cap, in the western (left) half of the disk is the region which has been informally dubbed the “cantaloupe” terrain. Small dimples with upraised rims and shallow central depressions dot the area. Long fractures have opened allowing some icy material to ooze up and form a central ridge. These criss-cross the region and extend into parts of the polar cap region. Towards the south this terrain has a light covering of frost. Running east to the limb of Triton, just north of the polar cap, is an area of smooth plains and low hills which is the most densely cratered region seen. In the northeast (upper right) of this image are plains which show evidence for extensive resurfacing, including possible extrusions of flowing material onto the surface. This region also contains two large smooth areas reminiscent of the maria of the Earth’s moon which were formed by large-scale volcanic flooding. Near the eastern (right) limb of Triton are three darker gray markings with sharply defined brighter borders. These are unlike anything else seen in the solar system, and their origin is not yet understood. The Voyager Mission is conducted by JPL for NASA’s Office of Space Science and Applications.”

Being from the estate of Eric Burgess, the photograph was utilized in the publication of his book “FAR ENCOUNTER: THE NEPTUNE SYSTEM”, With the following additionally affixed caption/description:

“FIGURE 6-4: This picture of Triton was assembled from 14 individual frames. At the left are the remnants of the south polar cap. It contains dark streaks aligned generally toward the northeast (lower right on the image). Even though they appear dark, these streaks reflect ten times as much light as the surface of Earth's Moon, which is a very dark body. North of the cap in the western (top) half of the disk is what has been informally dubbed the "cantaloupe" region. Running east to the limb of Triton, just north of the polar cap, is an area of relatively smooth plains and low hills which is the most densely cratered region seen on the satellite. In the northeast (lower right) of this image are plains which show evidence of extensive resurfacing, and contain two large smooth areas similar to lunar maria. (NASA/JPL)”

The book is available at the wonderful Internet Archive website. A free account is now required to view/”borrow” documents, to include this one. It’s well worth it. If you should so choose, it’s on actual book page 118/online page 229, at:

archive.org/details/farencounternept00burg/page/118/mode/...

Note the hand-annotated changes of the affixed description, necessary based on the different orientation of the image in the book, that being more ‘normal’, familiar & sort of expected, that of a terminator running up & down/top-to-bottom.

I’ve noticed this before - in other images of the gas giants’ moons - in which terminators don’t seem to be oriented in the direction that makes sense to me. Other than Uranus, with its messed up rotational axis, I of course expect its moons to also be unconventionally oriented. That is, with respect to the plane of the elliptic.

But not Neptune. Obviously, I’m clueless regarding the orbital planes of the solar system’s moons; however, a quick search reveals Neptune’s axis to be tilted only ~28°. So, wouldn’t its moons be orbiting around it at/near that angle?

FINALLY, back to the posted photograph. According to the NASA/JPL caption & photo orientation, the “remnants of the south polar cap” are at the bottom. If so, isn’t that terminator running basically perpendicular to its position/location??? I must be missing something, like adequate synaptic activity, but I don’t get it.

Regardless, it’s an amazing image of an amazing heavenly body.

FOUR! No, not the great Miles Davis jazz tune, but four wheel sets with four MDOT F9PHs 7184, 7183, 7185 & 7181. The F's are laying over in Chessie System's Brunswick Yard on an early Sunday afternoon. On Monday morn, they will get to work shoving a horde of commuters to work.

The San Francisco Muni's 2019 heritage weekend September 7-8 featured the public debut of former Sacramento-Clay Line Car 19, built in 1883 by the Central Pacific Railroad Company in Sacramento. Now fully restored, it is the system's oldest (and largest) operating cable car. The weekend's festivities included public operation of the car on all of the surviving cable lines, including the non-revenue trackage.

More on this car's unique history can be found here: www.sfmta.com/blog/cable-car-19-make-historic-debut-muni-...

Winter greyness in the urban sprawl of an industrial town at the dawn of the 1970s. If it wasn’t for the Teesside 'trackless', it could have been almost anywhere in built-up Britain; even a setting for the Likely Lads.

This atmospheric scene shows Teesside Municipal Transport trolleybus T286 (formerly Teesside Railless Traction Board, Car No16) at the elongated roundabout on Birchington Avenue during the last months before the system’s closure in the April of 1971.

maps.google.com/maps?q=Easton+St,+Thornaby,+Stockton-on-T...

Boeing and NASA teams participate in a mission dress rehearsal to prepare for the landing of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in White Sands, New Mexico, Monday, May 23, 2022. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Less than three lunar months after the mysterious disappearence of Unitron system's Star Hawk V test prototype, sightings were reported of a Galaxy Patrol fighter that bore a striking resemblance to the missing craft.

Galaxy Patrol Engineering ...

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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off on May 19, 2022, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for NASA Boeing’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff for OFT-2 occurred at 6:54 p.m. EDT. Starliner is expected to arrive at the space station for docking about 24 hours later with more than 500 pounds of NASA cargo. The flight test is designed to test the system’s end-to-end capabilities for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program providing valuable data towards NASA certifying Boeing’s crew transportation system for regular crewed flights to and from the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Kevin Davis and Chris Coleman

NASA image use policy.

Technicians with NASA's Exploration Ground Systems lower a mock-up, or pathfinder, of the Space Launch System's (SLS) center booster segment onto an aft pathfinder segment inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 14, 2020. Teams rehearsed stacking both pathfinder segments on top of the mobile launcher in High Bay 3 of the VAB in preparation for the Artemis I launch. Stacking of the actual SLS booster segments will occur later this year, when the rocket's core stage arrives at Kennedy. Artemis I is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will test SLS and the Orion spacecraft as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

NASA image use policy.

Northbound S3 (S-Bahn Hamburg; between Wilhelmsburg and Veddel)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission, Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch on 6:54 p.m. ET on May 19, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, left, and Suni Williams, right, take a selfie as a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, Thursday, July 29, 2021 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 2:53 p.m. EDT Friday, July 30, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Epps and Williams are assigned to fly on Starliner’s first operation mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

1. Don’t use his name;

2. Remember this is a regime and he’s not acting alone;

3. Do not argue with those who support him–it doesn’t work;

4. Focus on his policies, not his orange-ness and mental state;

5. Keep your message positive; they want the country to be angry and fearful because this is the soil from which their darkest policies will grow;

6. No more helpless/hopeless talk;

7. Support artists and the arts;

8. Be careful not to spread fake news. Check it;

9. Take care of yourselves; and

10. Resist!

And keep demonstrations peaceful. In the words of John Lennon, “When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight! Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.”

When you post or talk about him, don’t assign his actions to him, assign them to “The Republican Administration,” or “The Republicans.” This will have several effects: the Republican legislators will either have to take responsibility for their association with him or stand up for what some of them don’t like; he will not get the focus of attention he craves; Republican representatives will become very concerned about their re-elections.

Peter.

(Please copy and paste to all of your accounts – it will reach a wider audience than just sharing)

SOURCE: J. Jerrald Hayes

Rationally Thinking Out Loud

In this image, Mercury's horizon cuts a striking edge against the stark blackness of space. On the right, sunlight harshly brings the landscape into relief while on the left, the surface is shrouded in the darkness of night.

This image was acquired as part of MDIS's limb imaging campaign. Once per week, MDIS captures images of Mercury's limb, with an emphasis on imaging the southern hemisphere limb. These limb images provide information about Mercury's shape and complement measurements of topography made by the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) of Mercury's northern hemisphere.

The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. In the mission's more than three years of orbital operations, MESSENGER has acquired over 250,000 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is capable of continuing orbital operations until early 2015.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

NASA image use policy.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

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Ex. NVS # 126 from Schwerin arrived in Almaty in 2004 in the years of the system's slight revival after the 90s. As all other Schweriners, it contained a second cabless twin car. The latter was in service until 2006 and 1027 was the last of the operating multiple-units here. The head car was running through the next years until the arrival of ex-Berliners in 2013.

[AET / АЭТ] Tatra T3DC # 1027

Makatayev koshesi, Almaty, KZ 🇰🇿

Avenue de Fonsny 21/04/2021 18h49

PCC tram with fleetnumber 7927 on line 81 on the Avenue de Fonsny near the station Bruxelles Midi on its way to Montgomery and coming from Marius Renard. This tram is part of a series of 61 trams with a length of 27 meters and with three sections. This series has been delivered in 1977 and 1978. Tram line 81 has a length of 13.8 kilometers and has 35 stops.

Trams in Brussels

The Brussels tram (or streetcar) system is a transport system in Brussels, Belgium. It is the 16th largest tram system in the world by route length, and in 2012 carried some 123.5 million passengers. As of 2017, the tram system's total route length was 141.1 km, making it one of the larger tram networks in Europe. In 2016, the Brussels tram system consisted of 17 tram lines (three of which – lines 3, 4 and 7 – qualified as premetro lines). Its development has demonstrated many of the quandaries that face local public transport planners. The Brussels tram system also has a number of interesting peculiarities.

STATISTICS

- Passenger journeys (2016): 126.4 million

- Length of tram line (double-track, 2016): 141.1 km, of which 80.6 km are in dedicated lanes (i.e. own right-of-way) and 12.1 km of which are in tunnels or underground

- Average distance between stops: 395 metres

- Vehicle-kilometres travelled (2016): 15.2 million

- Commercial speed (2016) 16.0 km/hr

- Share of passengers holding a season-ticket (2016): 87%

- Number of trams (2021): 388

- Peak run-out (winter 2017): 301

- Number of depots: 6, with 2 workshops

- Number of points: c. 850 including those in depots

[ Wikipedia - Tram Brussels (ENG) ]