View allAll Photos Tagged components.
Components of nature !
Yalova Harbor - Turkey 2009
for better quality
www.yousifalhomoudi.com/?gallery_category=tourism#!pretty...[pp_gal]/17/
Testing, Testing, ... BANG!!!
Nondestructive testing
Nondestructive testing or Non-destructive testing (NDT) is a wide group of analysis techniques used in science and industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage.[1] The terms Nondestructive examination (NDE), Nondestructive inspection (NDI), and Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) are also commonly used to describe this technology.[2] Because NDT does not permanently alter the article being inspected, it is a highly valuable technique that can save both money and time in product evaluation, troubleshooting, and research. Common NDT methods include ultrasonic, magnetic-particle, liquid penetrant, radiographic, remote visual inspection (RVI), eddy-current testing,[1] and low coherence interferometry.[3][4] NDT is commonly used in forensic engineering, mechanical engineering, petroleum engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, systems engineering, aeronautical engineering, medicine, and art.[1] Innovations in the field of nondestructive testing have had a profound impact on medical imaging, including on echocardiography, medical ultrasonography, and digital radiography.
Methods[edit]
NDT methods may rely upon use of electromagnetic radiation, sound, and inherent properties of materials to examine samples. This includes some kinds of microscopy to examine external surfaces in detail, although sample preparation techniques for metallography, optical microscopy and electron microscopy are generally destructive as the surfaces must be made smooth through polishing or the sample must be electron transparent in thickness. The inside of a sample can be examined with penetrating radiation, such as X-rays, neutrons or terahertz radiation. Sound waves are utilized in the case of ultrasonic testing. Contrast between a defect and the bulk of the sample may be enhanced for visual examination by the unaided eye by using liquids to penetrate fatigue cracks. One method (liquid penetrant testing) involves using dyes, fluorescent or non-fluorescent, in fluids for non-magnetic materials, usually metals. Another commonly used NDT method used on ferrous materials involves the application of fine iron particles (either liquid or dry dust) that are applied to a part while it is in an externally magnetized state (magnetic-particle testing). The particles will be attracted to leakage fields within the test object, and form on the objects surface. Magnetic particle testing can reveal surface & some sub-surface defects within the part. Thermoelectric effect (or use of the Seebeck effect) uses thermal properties of an alloy to quickly and easily characterize many alloys. The chemical test, or chemical spot test method, utilizes application of sensitive chemicals that can indicate the presence of individual alloying elements. Electrochemical methods, such as electrochemical fatigue crack sensors, utilize the tendency of metal structural material to oxidize readily in order to detect progressive damage.
Analyzing and documenting a non-destructive failure mode can also be accomplished using a high-speed camera recording continuously (movie-loop) until the failure is detected. Detecting the failure can be accomplished using a sound detector or stress gauge which produces a signal to trigger the high-speed camera. These high-speed cameras have advanced recording modes to capture some non-destructive failures.[5] After the failure the high-speed camera will stop recording. The capture images can be played back in slow motion showing precisely what happen before, during and after the non-destructive event, image by image.
One of my work colleagues ordered this circuit board in a kit form.
I offered to put it together for him, as I used to work as a communications technician.
It's been over 16 years since I last fitted components onto a circuit board....it was quite enjoyable.
It worked 1st go!!
It is a voice changer module
Two Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II fighter jets have successfully landed on board HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first time, laying the foundations for the next 50 years of fixed wing aviation in support of the UK’s Carrier Strike Capability.
Royal Navy Commander, Nathan Gray, 41, made history by being the first to land on board HMS Queen Elizabeth, carefully maneuvering his stealth jet onto the thermal coated deck. He was followed by Royal Navy Squadron Leader Andy Edgell, RAF, both of whom are test pilots, operating with the Integrated Test Force (ITF) based at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.
Shortly afterwards, once a deck inspection has been conducted and the all-clear given, Cmdr Gray became the first pilot to take off using the ship’s ski-ramp.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather, stealth, fifth-generation, multirole combat aircraft, designed for ground-attack and air-superiority missions. It is built by Lockheed Martin and many subcontractors, including Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, and BAE Systems.
The F-35 has three main models: the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A (CTOL), the short take-off and vertical-landing F-35B (STOVL), and the catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery, carrier-based F-35C (CATOBAR). The F-35 descends from the Lockheed Martin X-35, the design that was awarded the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program over the competing Boeing X-32. The official Lightning II name has proven deeply unpopular and USAF pilots have nicknamed it Panther, instead.
The United States principally funds F-35 development, with additional funding from other NATO members and close U.S. allies, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Canada, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and formerly Turkey. These funders generally receive subcontracts to manufacture components for the aircraft; for example, Turkey was the sole supplier of several F-35 parts until its removal from the program in July 2019. Several other countries have ordered, or are considering ordering, the aircraft.
As the largest and most expensive military program ever, the F-35 became the subject of much scrutiny and criticism in the U.S. and in other countries. In 2013 and 2014, critics argued that the plane was "plagued with design flaws", with many blaming the procurement process in which Lockheed was allowed "to design, test, and produce the F-35 all at the same time," instead of identifying and fixing "defects before firing up its production line". By 2014, the program was "$163 billion over budget [and] seven years behind schedule". Critics also contend that the program's high sunk costs and political momentum make it "too big to kill".
The F-35 first flew on 15 December 2006. In July 2015, the United States Marines declared its first squadron of F-35B fighters ready for deployment. However, the DOD-based durability testing indicated the service life of early-production F-35B aircraft is well under the expected 8,000 flight hours, and may be as low as 2,100 flight hours. Lot 9 and later aircraft include design changes but service life testing has yet to occur. The U.S. Air Force declared its first squadron of F-35As ready for deployment in August 2016. The U.S. Navy declared its first F-35Cs ready in February 2019. In 2018, the F-35 made its combat debut with the Israeli Air Force.
The U.S. stated plan is to buy 2,663 F-35s, which will provide the bulk of the crewed tactical airpower of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps in coming decades. Deliveries of the F-35 for the U.S. military are scheduled until 2037 with a projected service life up to 2070.
Development
F-35 development started in 1992 with the origins of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program and was to culminate in full production by 2018. The X-35 first flew on 24 October 2000 and the F-35A on 15 December 2006.
The F-35 was developed to replace most US fighter jets with the variants of a single design that would be common to all branches of the military. It was developed in co-operation with a number of foreign partners, and, unlike the F-22 Raptor, intended to be available for export. Three variants were designed: the F-35A (CTOL), the F-35B (STOVL), and the F-35C (CATOBAR). Despite being intended to share most of their parts to reduce costs and improve maintenance logistics, by 2017, the effective commonality was only 20%. The program received considerable criticism for cost overruns during development and for the total projected cost of the program over the lifetime of the jets.
By 2017, the program was expected to cost $406.5 billion over its lifetime (i.e. until 2070) for acquisition of the jets, and an additional $1.1 trillion for operations and maintenance. A number of design deficiencies were alleged, such as: carrying a small internal payload; performance inferior to the aircraft being replaced, particularly the F-16; lack of safety in relying on a single engine; and flaws such as the vulnerability of the fuel tank to fire and the propensity for transonic roll-off (wing drop). The possible obsolescence of stealth technology was also criticized.
Design
Overview
Although several experimental designs have been developed since the 1960s, such as the unsuccessful Rockwell XFV-12, the F-35B is to be the first operational supersonic STOVL stealth fighter. The single-engine F-35 resembles the larger twin-engined Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, drawing design elements from it. The exhaust duct design was inspired by the General Dynamics Model 200, proposed for a 1972 supersonic VTOL fighter requirement for the Sea Control Ship.
Lockheed Martin has suggested that the F-35 could replace the USAF's F-15C/D fighters in the air-superiority role and the F-15E Strike Eagle in the ground-attack role. It has also stated the F-35 is intended to have close- and long-range air-to-air capability second only to that of the F-22 Raptor, and that the F-35 has an advantage over the F-22 in basing flexibility and possesses "advanced sensors and information fusion".
Testifying before the House Appropriations Committee on 25 March 2009, acquisition deputy to the assistant secretary of the Air Force, Lt. Gen. Mark D. "Shack" Shackelford, stated that the F-35 is designed to be America's "premier surface-to-air missile killer, and is uniquely equipped for this mission with cutting-edge processing power, synthetic aperture radar integration techniques, and advanced target recognition".
Improvements
Ostensible improvements over past-generation fighter aircraft include:
Durable, low-maintenance stealth technology, using structural fiber mat instead of the high-maintenance coatings of legacy stealth platforms
Integrated avionics and sensor fusion that combine information from off- and on-board sensors to increase the pilot's situational awareness and improve target identification and weapon delivery, and to relay information quickly to other command and control (C2) nodes
High-speed data networking including IEEE 1394b and Fibre Channel (Fibre Channel is also used on Boeing's Super Hornet.
The Autonomic Logistics Global Sustainment, Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS), and Computerized maintenance management system to help ensure the aircraft can remain operational with minimal maintenance manpower The Pentagon has moved to open up the competitive bidding by other companies. This was after Lockheed Martin stated that instead of costing 20% less than the F-16 per flight hour, the F-35 would actually cost 12% more. Though the ALGS is intended to reduce maintenance costs, the company disagrees with including the cost of this system in the aircraft ownership calculations. The USMC has implemented a workaround for a cyber vulnerability in the system. The ALIS system currently requires a shipping-container load of servers to run, but Lockheed is working on a more portable version to support the Marines' expeditionary operations.
Electro-hydrostatic actuators run by a power-by-wire flight-control system
A modern and updated flight simulator, which may be used for a greater fraction of pilot training to reduce the costly flight hours of the actual aircraft
Lightweight, powerful lithium-ion batteries to provide power to run the control surfaces in an emergency
Structural composites in the F-35 are 35% of the airframe weight (up from 25% in the F-22). The majority of these are bismaleimide and composite epoxy materials. The F-35 will be the first mass-produced aircraft to include structural nanocomposites, namely carbon nanotube-reinforced epoxy. Experience of the F-22's problems with corrosion led to the F-35 using a gap filler that causes less galvanic corrosion to the airframe's skin, designed with fewer gaps requiring filler and implementing better drainage. The relatively short 35-foot wingspan of the A and B variants is set by the F-35B's requirement to fit inside the Navy's current amphibious assault ship parking area and elevators; the F-35C's longer wing is considered to be more fuel efficient.
Costs
A U.S. Navy study found that the F-35 will cost 30 to 40% more to maintain than current jet fighters, not accounting for inflation over the F-35's operational lifetime. A Pentagon study concluded a $1 trillion maintenance cost for the entire fleet over its lifespan, not accounting for inflation. The F-35 program office found that as of January 2014, costs for the F-35 fleet over a 53-year lifecycle was $857 billion. Costs for the fighter have been dropping and accounted for the 22 percent life cycle drop since 2010. Lockheed stated that by 2019, pricing for the fifth-generation aircraft will be less than fourth-generation fighters. An F-35A in 2019 is expected to cost $85 million per unit complete with engines and full mission systems, inflation adjusted from $75 million in December 2013.
PictionID:44808639 - Title:Atlas Payload Component - Catalog:14_014200 - Filename:14_014200.TIF - - - Image from the Convair/General Dynamics Astronautics Atlas Negative Collection. The processing, cataloging and digitization of these images has been made possible by a generous National Historical Publications and Records grant from the National Archives and Records Administration---Please Tag these images so that the information can be permanently stored with the digital file.---Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Imaginative Components.
Courtisans importants erratiques mécontents satiristes ballades flagrantes circulation,
puritanical scriptores vertiginous impetus periculosum devoravit,
Begrenzung Ernten finanziell empfindlich erstaunlich wiederholt imaginären unorthodoxen,
gwrthfesurau ddiwygio pregethwyr pryderus i'r amlwg,
признал, охватывающий гедонизма пророческие окружающие мощные критики,
paesaggi discorsive evoca metafore rigogliosamente morti,
ανθρώπινες συνειδητοποιήσεις ρητορική έμφαση διευκολύνει συρρίκνωση αποφάσεις εντάσσονται,
încălcări hrănit restrâns mituri poezie evocări fără precedent colectate,
diskou transparan progrès unpersuasive monak allusion pale,
stále nejisté verze náboženské sonety sympatického rýmované překlady dluhopisy,
צורות עוינות חדשנות קיצונית ביקורת מניפולטיבית נאבקות תהילים טקסים,
Molann militancy monarchical láidre traidisiúnta mhúineadh gníomhaíochta Dhiaga,
vicissitudes grunsemdir sameina miskunnarlaus hnjóðs berjast gegn flókinn accentual pathos,
spegling policies belastningar investera kulturella lingvistiska invånare aristokrati struktur,
信用をアクセント破壊根本人間味中世の伝統.
Steve.D.Hammond.
SoulRider.222 / Eric Rider © 2021
2007 Azonic Steelhead
2005 Marzocchi 66RC
WTB Pure Race seat
vintage Kalloy 4130 steel post
Animal BMX collar
Profile BMX 4130 steel bottom bracket
Redline Flight double pinch 4130 steel BMX cranks
Redline chain tensioners
KMC Z510HX BMX chain
Odyssey 15 tooth sprocket
Deity Components Termite 28 tooth chainring
Deity Components Decoy pedals
FSA The Pig Pro DH headset
FSA Superstar top cap
Renthal Duo stem
Renthal Fatbar Lite Carbon handlebar
2010 Hope M4 brake system
Hope 203mm floating rotor
Hope 160mm standard rotor
Kenda K-Rad 26 x 1.95 tires
Rear wheel: Mavic X517 rim with Shimano XT hub and DT Swiss spokes.
Front wheel: Mavic Crossline 26 inch wheel with 20mm thru-axle.
The iconic feature of the GTW is the middle power module, which contains all traction and auxilliary components. Both end cars rest on the power car, which gives it additional traction weight on the driving axles.
However due to its overall light weight, the GTW is more prone to slip/slide in adverse weather conditions than any other similiar rail vehicle.
Trust me, I know what I'm talking about since I'm qualified to drive these units.
The Vehicle Assembly Building (originally the Vertical Assembly Building), or VAB, is a large building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), designed to assemble large pre-manufactured space vehicle components, such as the massive Saturn V and the Space Shuttle, and stack them vertically onto one of three mobile launcher platforms used by NASA. As of March 2022, the first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket was assembled inside in preparation for the Artemis 1 mission.
At 129,428,000 cubic feet (3,665,000 m3) it is one of the largest buildings in the world by volume. The building is at Launch Complex 39 at KSC, 149 miles (240 km) south of Jacksonville, 219 miles (352 km) north of Miami, and 50 miles (80 km) due east of Orlando, on Merritt Island on the Atlantic coast of Florida.
The VAB is the largest single-story building in the world, was the tallest building (526 ft or 160 m) in Florida until 1974, and is the tallest building in the United States outside an urban area.
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of human spaceflight. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC.[4] Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property.
Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from the then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.
Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and In-Situ Resource Utilization for off-Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015.
There are about 700 facilities and buildings grouped across the center's 144,000 acres (580 km2). Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525-foot (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Launch Control Center, which conducts space launches at KSC, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronauts dormitories and suit-up area, a Space Station factory, and a 3-mile (4.8 km) long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex open to the public on site.
Since 1949, the military had been performing launch operations at what would become Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
President John F. Kennedy's 1961 goal of a crewed lunar landing by 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1, 1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center (LOC). Also, Cape Canaveral was inadequate to host the new launch facility design required for the mammoth 363-foot (111 m) tall, 7,500,000-pound-force (33,000 kN) thrust Saturn V rocket, which would be assembled vertically in a large hangar and transported on a mobile platform to one of several launch pads. Therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island.
NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles (340 km2) and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km2). The major buildings in KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, and again just a week before his assassination on November 22, 1963.
On November 29, 1963, the facility was given its current name by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Executive Order 11129. Johnson's order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station ("the facilities of Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range") under the designation "John F. Kennedy Space Center", spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. NASA Administrator James E. Webb clarified this by issuing a directive stating the Kennedy Space Center name applied only to the LOC, while the Air Force issued a general order renaming the military launch site Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.
Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast, due east of Orlando. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly six miles (9.7 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour's drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center's support facilities are located, is 5 miles (8 km) south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation Facility. The astronaut crew quarters are in the O&C; before it was completed, the astronaut crew quarters were located in Hangar S[39] at the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station). Located at KSC was the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex.
Facilities at the Kennedy Space Center are directly related to its mission to launch and recover missions. Facilities are available to prepare and maintain spacecraft and payloads for flight. The Headquarters (HQ) Building houses offices for the Center Director, library, film and photo archives, a print shop and security. When the KSC Library first opened, it was part of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. However, in 1965, the library moved into three separate sections in the newly opened NASA headquarters before eventually becoming a single unit in 1970. The library contains over four million items related to the history and the work at Kennedy. As one of ten NASA center libraries in the country, their collection focuses on engineering, science, and technology. The archives contain planning documents, film reels, and original photographs covering the history of KSC. The library is not open to the public but is available for KSC, Space Force, and Navy employees who work on site. Many of the media items from the collection are digitized and available through NASA's KSC Media Gallery or through their more up-to-date Flickr gallery.
A new Headquarters Building was completed in 2019 as part of the Central Campus consolidation. Groundbreaking began in 2014.
The center operated its own 17-mile (27 km) short-line railroad. This operation was discontinued in 2015, with the sale of its final two locomotives. A third had already been donated to a museum. The line was costing $1.3 million annually to maintain.
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North since 1995, has a variety of exhibits, artifacts, displays and attractions on the history and future of human and robotic spaceflight. Bus tours of KSC originate from here. The complex also includes the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center, north of the VAB and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, six miles west near Titusville. There were 1.5 million visitors in 2009. It had some 700 employees.
It was announced on May 29, 2015, that the Astronaut Hall of Fame exhibit would be moved from its current location to another location within the Visitor Complex to make room for an upcoming high-tech attraction entitled "Heroes and Legends". The attraction, designed by Orlando-based design firm Falcon's Treehouse, opened November 11, 2016.
In March 2016, the visitor center unveiled the new location of the iconic countdown clock at the complex's entrance; previously, the clock was located with a flagpole at the press site. The clock was originally built and installed in 1969 and listed with the flagpole in the National Register of Historic Places in January 2000. In 2019, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program, and the launch of Apollo 10 on May 18. In summer of 2019, Lunar Module 9 (LM-9) was relocated to the Apollo/Saturn V Center as part of an initiative to rededicate the center and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program.
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property.
Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from the then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.
Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and in-situ resource utilization for off-Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015.
There are about 700 facilities and buildings grouped throughout the center's 144,000 acres (580 km2). Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525-foot (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Launch Control Center, which conducts space launches at KSC, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronauts dormitories and suit-up area, a Space Station factory, and a 3-mile (4.8 km) long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex on site that is open to the public.
Since 1949, the military had been performing launch operations at what would become Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
President John F. Kennedy's 1961 goal of a crewed lunar landing by 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1, 1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center (LOC). Also, Cape Canaveral was inadequate to host the new launch facility design required for the mammoth 363-foot (111 m) tall, 7,500,000-pound-force (33,000 kN) thrust Saturn V rocket, which would be assembled vertically in a large hangar and transported on a mobile platform to one of several launch pads. Therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island.
NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles (340 km2) and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km2). The major buildings in KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, and again just a week before his assassination on November 22, 1963.
On November 29, 1963, the facility was named by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Executive Order 11129. Johnson's order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station ("the facilities of Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range") under the designation "John F. Kennedy Space Center", spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. NASA Administrator James E. Webb clarified this by issuing a directive stating the Kennedy Space Center name applied only to the LOC, while the Air Force issued a general order renaming the military launch site Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.
Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast, due east of Orlando. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly six miles (9.7 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour's drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
From 1967 through 1973, there were 13 Saturn V launches, including the ten remaining Apollo missions after Apollo 7. The first of two uncrewed flights, Apollo 4 (Apollo-Saturn 501) on November 9, 1967, was also the first rocket launch from KSC. The Saturn V's first crewed launch on December 21, 1968, was Apollo 8's lunar orbiting mission. The next two missions tested the Lunar Module: Apollo 9 (Earth orbit) and Apollo 10 (lunar orbit). Apollo 11, launched from Pad A on July 16, 1969, made the first Moon landing on July 20. The Apollo 11 launch included crewmembers Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, and attracted a record-breaking 650 million television viewers. Apollo 12 followed four months later. From 1970 to 1972, the Apollo program concluded at KSC with the launches of missions 13 through 17.
On May 14, 1973, the last Saturn V launch put the Skylab space station in orbit from Pad 39A. By this time, the Cape Kennedy pads 34 and 37 used for the Saturn IB were decommissioned, so Pad 39B was modified to accommodate the Saturn IB, and used to launch three crewed missions to Skylab that year, as well as the final Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project in 1975.
As the Space Shuttle was being designed, NASA received proposals for building alternative launch-and-landing sites at locations other than KSC, which demanded study. KSC had important advantages, including its existing facilities; location on the Intracoastal Waterway; and its southern latitude, which gives a velocity advantage to missions launched in easterly near-equatorial orbits. Disadvantages included: its inability to safely launch military missions into polar orbit, since spent boosters would be likely to fall on the Carolinas or Cuba; corrosion from the salt air; and frequent cloudy or stormy weather. Although building a new site at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was seriously considered, NASA announced its decision in April 1972 to use KSC for the shuttle. Since the Shuttle could not be landed automatically or by remote control, the launch of Columbia on April 12, 1981 for its first orbital mission STS-1, was NASA's first crewed launch of a vehicle that had not been tested in prior uncrewed launches.
In 1976, the VAB's south parking area was the site of Third Century America, a science and technology display commemorating the U.S. Bicentennial. Concurrent with this event, the U.S. flag was painted on the south side of the VAB. During the late 1970s, LC-39 was reconfigured to support the Space Shuttle. Two Orbiter Processing Facilities were built near the VAB as hangars with a third added in the 1980s.
KSC's 2.9-mile (4.7 km) Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) was the orbiters' primary end-of-mission landing site, although the first KSC landing did not take place until the tenth flight, when Challenger completed STS-41-B on February 11, 1984; the primary landing site until then was Edwards Air Force Base in California, subsequently used as a backup landing site. The SLF also provided a return-to-launch-site (RTLS) abort option, which was not utilized. The SLF is among the longest runways in the world.
On October 28, 2009, the Ares I-X launch from Pad 39B was the first uncrewed launch from KSC since the Skylab workshop in 1973.
Beginning in 1958, NASA and military worked side by side on robotic mission launches (previously referred to as unmanned), cooperating as they broke ground in the field. In the early 1960s, NASA had as many as two robotic mission launches a month. The frequent number of flights allowed for quick evolution of the vehicles, as engineers gathered data, learned from anomalies and implemented upgrades. In 1963, with the intent of KSC ELV work focusing on the ground support equipment and facilities, a separate Atlas/Centaur organization was formed under NASA's Lewis Center (now Glenn Research Center (GRC)), taking that responsibility from the Launch Operations Center (aka KSC).
Though almost all robotics missions launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), KSC "oversaw the final assembly and testing of rockets as they arrived at the Cape." In 1965, KSC's Unmanned Launch Operations directorate became responsible for all NASA uncrewed launch operations, including those at Vandenberg Space Force Base. From the 1950s to 1978, KSC chose the rocket and payload processing facilities for all robotic missions launching in the U.S., overseeing their near launch processing and checkout. In addition to government missions, KSC performed this service for commercial and foreign missions also, though non-U.S. government entities provided reimbursement. NASA also funded Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launch pad maintenance and launch vehicle improvements.
All this changed with the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, after which NASA only coordinated its own and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ELV launches. Companies were able to "operate their own launch vehicles" and utilize NASA's launch facilities. Payload processing handled by private firms also started to occur outside of KSC. Reagan's 1988 space policy furthered the movement of this work from KSC to commercial companies. That same year, launch complexes on Cape Canaveral Air Force Force Station started transferring from NASA to Air Force Space Command management.
In the 1990s, though KSC was not performing the hands-on ELV work, engineers still maintained an understanding of ELVs and had contracts allowing them insight into the vehicles so they could provide knowledgeable oversight. KSC also worked on ELV research and analysis and the contractors were able to utilize KSC personnel as a resource for technical issues. KSC, with the payload and launch vehicle industries, developed advances in automation of the ELV launch and ground operations to enable competitiveness of U.S. rockets against the global market.
In 1998, the Launch Services Program (LSP) formed at KSC, pulling together programs (and personnel) that already existed at KSC, GRC, Goddard Space Flight Center, and more to manage the launch of NASA and NOAA robotic missions. Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and VAFB are the primary launch sites for LSP missions, though other sites are occasionally used. LSP payloads such as the Mars Science Laboratory have been processed at KSC before being transferred to a launch pad on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
On 16 November 2022, at 06:47:44 UTC the Space Launch System (SLS) was launched from Complex 39B as part of the Artemis 1 mission.
As the International Space Station modules design began in the early 1990s, KSC began to work with other NASA centers and international partners to prepare for processing before launch onboard the Space Shuttles. KSC utilized its hands-on experience processing the 22 Spacelab missions in the Operations and Checkout Building to gather expectations of ISS processing. These experiences were incorporated into the design of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF), which began construction in 1991. The Space Station Directorate formed in 1996. KSC personnel were embedded at station module factories for insight into their processes.
From 1997 to 2007, KSC planned and performed on the ground integration tests and checkouts of station modules: three Multi-Element Integration Testing (MEIT) sessions and the Integration Systems Test (IST). Numerous issues were found and corrected that would have been difficult to nearly impossible to do on-orbit.
Today KSC continues to process ISS payloads from across the world before launch along with developing its experiments for on orbit. The proposed Lunar Gateway would be manufactured and processed at the Space Station Processing Facility.
The following are current programs and initiatives at Kennedy Space Center:
Commercial Crew Program
Exploration Ground Systems Program
NASA is currently designing the next heavy launch vehicle known as the Space Launch System (SLS) for continuation of human spaceflight.
On December 5, 2014, NASA launched the first uncrewed flight test of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), currently under development to facilitate human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Launch Services Program
Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa)
Research and Technology
Artemis program
Lunar Gateway
International Space Station Payloads
Camp KSC: educational camps for schoolchildren in spring and summer, with a focus on space, aviation and robotics.
The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center's support facilities are located, is 5 miles (8 km) south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation Facility. The astronaut crew quarters are in the O&C; before it was completed, the astronaut crew quarters were located in Hangar S at the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station). Located at KSC was the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex.
Facilities at the Kennedy Space Center are directly related to its mission to launch and recover missions. Facilities are available to prepare and maintain spacecraft and payloads for flight. The Headquarters (HQ) Building houses offices for the Center Director, library, film and photo archives, a print shop and security. When the KSC Library first opened, it was part of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. However, in 1965, the library moved into three separate sections in the newly opened NASA headquarters before eventually becoming a single unit in 1970. The library contains over four million items related to the history and the work at Kennedy. As one of ten NASA center libraries in the country, their collection focuses on engineering, science, and technology. The archives contain planning documents, film reels, and original photographs covering the history of KSC. The library is not open to the public but is available for KSC, Space Force, and Navy employees who work on site. Many of the media items from the collection are digitized and available through NASA's KSC Media Gallery Archived December 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine or through their more up-to-date Flickr gallery.
A new Headquarters Building was completed in 2019 as part of the Central Campus consolidation. Groundbreaking began in 2014.
The center operated its own 17-mile (27 km) short-line railroad. This operation was discontinued in 2015, with the sale of its final two locomotives. A third had already been donated to a museum. The line was costing $1.3 million annually to maintain.
The Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building (O&C) (previously known as the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building) is a historic site on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places dating back to the 1960s and was used to receive, process, and integrate payloads for the Gemini and Apollo programs, the Skylab program in the 1970s, and for initial segments of the International Space Station through the 1990s. The Apollo and Space Shuttle astronauts would board the astronaut transfer van to launch complex 39 from the O&C building.
The three-story, 457,000-square-foot (42,500 m2) Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) consists of two enormous processing bays, an airlock, operational control rooms, laboratories, logistics areas and office space for support of non-hazardous Space Station and Shuttle payloads to ISO 14644-1 class 5 standards. Opened in 1994, it is the largest factory building in the KSC industrial area.
The Vertical Processing Facility (VPF) features a 71-by-38-foot (22 by 12 m) door where payloads that are processed in the vertical position are brought in and manipulated with two overhead cranes and a hoist capable of lifting up to 35 short tons (32 t).
The Hypergolic Maintenance and Checkout Area (HMCA) comprises three buildings that are isolated from the rest of the industrial area because of the hazardous materials handled there. Hypergolic-fueled modules that made up the Space Shuttle Orbiter's reaction control system, orbital maneuvering system and auxiliary power units were stored and serviced in the HMCF.
The Multi-Payload Processing Facility is a 19,647 square feet (1,825.3 m2) building used for Orion spacecraft and payload processing.
The Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) contains a 70-by-110-foot (21 by 34 m) service bay, with a 100,000-pound (45,000 kg), 85-foot (26 m) hook height. It also contains a 58-by-80-foot (18 by 24 m) payload airlock. Its temperature is maintained at 70 °F (21 °C).[55]
The Blue Origin rocket manufacturing facility is located immediately south of the KSC visitor complex. Completed in 2019, it serves as the company's factory for the manufacture of New Glenn orbital rockets.
Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) was originally built for the Saturn V, the largest and most powerful operational launch vehicle until the Space Launch System, for the Apollo crewed Moon landing program. Since the end of the Apollo program in 1972, LC-39 has been used to launch every NASA human space flight, including Skylab (1973), the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (1975), and the Space Shuttle program (1981–2011).
Since December 1968, all launch operations have been conducted from launch pads A and B at LC-39. Both pads are on the ocean, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the VAB. From 1969 to 1972, LC-39 was the "Moonport" for all six Apollo crewed Moon landing missions using the Saturn V, and was used from 1981 to 2011 for all Space Shuttle launches.
Human missions to the Moon required the large three-stage Saturn V rocket, which was 363 feet (111 meters) tall and 33 feet (10 meters) in diameter. At KSC, Launch Complex 39 was built on Merritt Island to accommodate the new rocket. Construction of the $800 million project began in November 1962. LC-39 pads A and B were completed by October 1965 (planned Pads C, D and E were canceled), the VAB was completed in June 1965, and the infrastructure by late 1966.
The complex includes: the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), a 130,000,000 cubic feet (3,700,000 m3) hangar capable of holding four Saturn Vs. The VAB was the largest structure in the world by volume when completed in 1965.
a transporter capable of carrying 5,440 tons along a crawlerway to either of two launch pads;
a 446-foot (136 m) mobile service structure, with three Mobile Launcher Platforms, each containing a fixed launch umbilical tower;
the Launch Control Center; and
a news media facility.
Launch Complex 48 (LC-48) is a multi-user launch site under construction for small launchers and spacecraft. It will be located between Launch Complex 39A and Space Launch Complex 41, with LC-39A to the north and SLC-41 to the south. LC-48 will be constructed as a "clean pad" to support multiple launch systems with differing propellant needs. While initially only planned to have a single pad, the complex is capable of being expanded to two at a later date.
As a part of promoting commercial space industry growth in the area and the overall center as a multi-user spaceport, KSC leases some of its properties. Here are some major examples:
Exploration Park to multiple users (partnership with Space Florida)
Shuttle Landing Facility to Space Florida (who contracts use to private companies)
Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)-3 to Boeing (for CST-100 Starliner)
Launch Complex 39A, Launch Control Center Firing Room 4 and land for SpaceX's Roberts Road facility (Hanger X) to SpaceX
O&C High Bay to Lockheed Martin (for Orion processing)
Land for FPL's Space Coast Next Generation Solar Energy Center to Florida Power and Light (FPL)
Hypergolic Maintenance Facility (HMF) to United Paradyne Corporation (UPC)
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North since 1995, has a variety of exhibits, artifacts, displays and attractions on the history and future of human and robotic spaceflight. Bus tours of KSC originate from here. The complex also includes the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center, north of the VAB and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, six miles west near Titusville. There were 1.5 million visitors in 2009. It had some 700 employees.
It was announced on May 29, 2015, that the Astronaut Hall of Fame exhibit would be moved from its current location to another location within the Visitor Complex to make room for an upcoming high-tech attraction entitled "Heroes and Legends". The attraction, designed by Orlando-based design firm Falcon's Treehouse, opened November 11, 2016.
In March 2016, the visitor center unveiled the new location of the iconic countdown clock at the complex's entrance; previously, the clock was located with a flagpole at the press site. The clock was originally built and installed in 1969 and listed with the flagpole in the National Register of Historic Places in January 2000. In 2019, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program, and the launch of Apollo 10 on May 18. In summer of 2019, Lunar Module 9 (LM-9) was relocated to the Apollo/Saturn V Center as part of an initiative to rededicate the center and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program.
Historic locations
NASA lists the following Historic Districts at KSC; each district has multiple associated facilities:
Launch Complex 39: Pad A Historic District
Launch Complex 39: Pad B Historic District
Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) Area Historic District
Orbiter Processing Historic District
Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) Disassembly and Refurbishment Complex Historic District
NASA KSC Railroad System Historic District
NASA-owned Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Industrial Area Historic District
There are 24 historic properties outside of these historic districts, including the Space Shuttle Atlantis, Vehicle Assembly Building, Crawlerway, and Operations and Checkout Building.[71] KSC has one National Historic Landmark, 78 National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) listed or eligible sites, and 100 Archaeological Sites.
Further information: John F. Kennedy Space Center MPS
Other facilities
The Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) is responsible for the preparation of solid rocket booster segments for transportation to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The RPSF was built in 1984 to perform SRB operations that had previously been conducted in high bays 2 and 4 of the VAB at the beginning of the Space Shuttle program. It was used until the Space Shuttle's retirement, and will be used in the future by the Space Launch System[75] (SLS) and OmegA rockets.
Set of 6 connectors. I came up with the colors to match some turquoise stone I have.
Copyright © 2013 by Ginger Davis Allman The Blue Bottle Tree, all rights reserved.
More info about these bad boys on my blog:
cyclingwmd.blogspot.com/2009/02/introducing-vallie-compon...
// Lightweight chainring – Made in Germany //
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Photo: Stefan Haehnel / www.recentlie.com/
"FIGURAZIONI"
2 paintings on paper and 4 terracotta.
For "SOGNO LUCIDO" solo show, at Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea - Milano
Curated by Michela D'Aquisto
colomboarte.com/108-sogno-lucido/
It's clear that 108's shapes sink their roots into the intangible. Essential and yet perfectly eloquent, they are sections of shadow with irregular borders, projected by something indefinite. They don't represent anything directly recognizable, laden instead with meanings belonging to a liminal dimension.
Equally obvious is the return to colors: always integral components in the artist's works, over time their proportion compared to the black – constantly dominant – has changed several times. In the works immediately preceding these, color had assumed a marginal role in representing their small rational element, reduced to thin lines that entered the preponderant irrationality of the dark stains and were largely absorbed by them.
Now, in an impulsive process strongly inspired by the writings of Huxley concerning perception and by Kandinsky's theory of colors, 108 re-evaluates their sensitive properties capable of bringing reality closer to the spiritual plane. It's therefore no coincidence that blue, associated with the sphere of the supernatural, is present in most of the works that make up Sogno Lucido (Lucid Dream), intent as they are to explore the dimension of dreams, the unconscious, the irrational part: «The inclination of blue to deepen is so strong that its inner appeal is stronger when its shade is deeper. The deeper the blue the more it beckons man into the infinite, arousing a longing for purity and the supersensuous. […] When very dark, blue develops an element of repose. When it sinks into black, it echoes a grief that is hardly human»1. Present as well are the hues of the earth during fall – to which the artist is inextricably attached – such as yellow, which «is also akin to the utter waste when the last rays of summer strike the intense autumn leaves»2, the variable and vibrant shades of red, the stillness of green, and white and its winter shades, which recall the absolute silence of the sky waiting for the snow.
What stays unchanged is the prevalence of black, «[...] the least harmonious colour yet, for that reason, any other colour, even the weakest, will appear stronger and more precise in front of it»3. Introspective and irrational, with an incomparable symbolic and visual impact, it also formally expresses the marked duality of 108's works – as it's plenitude and, at the same time, emptiness.
The artist's entire work is aimed at freeing itself from the subordination of reality and at releasing the most instinctive part of its essence, at least on the level of the immaterial. The arrangement itself of the works in the gallery perfectly summarizes the tension resulting from the attempt to reconcile rational and non-rational: the linearity of the installation is interrupted in the project room, where a random accumulation of primitive ceramics and irregular shapes – in 108's own words, a “museum to the inexplicable” – reflects the inexorable affirmation of irrationality over reason.
Above all, the unresolved nature of the shapes persists. In adapting and altering the lexicon of geometry to represent what lies beyond the visible, 108 is rightfully among the artists that reject figuration to represent spirituality exclusively through geometric abstraction: above all, the Swedish Hilma Af Klint, who after coming into contact with Helena Blavatsky's Theosophical Society and the anthroposophical theories of Rudolf Steiner, creates a cycle composed of hundreds of diagrammatic paintings, directed by superior entities to which she dedicates the monumental work of her whole lifetime. Already active during the decade before the one in which Kandinsky works, she's just one in a presumably infinite series of authors who assimilate abstraction and immateriality: from the best known Malevič and Mondrian, to Emma Kunz, who in the first half of Twentieth century's Switzerland realizes drawings on large-scale graph paper that share both aesthetics and function with the mandala, and Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn, a peer of Jung, who translates his archetypes into vivid works with an important symbolic value.
108 is associated to these artists not only by the absolute necessity to transcend reality, to invent and mold it as in a lucid dream – during which one is aware that one is dreaming and therefore it becomes possible to orientate its narrative – but also by the need to act as a medium between art and spiritual, abandoning the control of rationality and working guided solely by the unconscious.
The depersonalization carried out by giving up his own name and the choice to be instead identified as 108 – three numbers, commutable in a line and three circles, with a sacred meaning for many religions – fully accomplishes this purpose: in this way the artist works anonymously, uniquely in function of a transcendent drive that goes beyond mere artistic practice.
For 108, the latter is tantamount to an instinctive process ascribable to an intensely private ritual, the result of which is an all-encompassing work, also declined in photography and music, which encloses each and every aspect of his life: the clear influences of Arp and the laws of chance – and, more generally, of the avant-gardes of the Twentieth century – the Eastern cultures and religions encountered during his studies and travels, which are opposed to the primordial cults and the folk traditions of his Piedmont.
Not for nothing, the diptych Portali D'Inverno (Winter's Gates) refers already from the title to all that is dear to the artist: chance and the repetitions that govern nature, the cold season and its colors, the 108 shapes with elusive meaning that behave as abstract openings in communication with other realities. Equally intense is Ingresso Al Sogno (Entrance To The Dream), emblem of the entire exhibition, in which a single blue stain with an exceptional hypnotic power induces a state of artificial calm, as a prelude to dreamlike visions.
Although apparently simple, 108 works are inexplicable through words. Or rather, I notice an obvious limitation in using language to describe the art of someone who communicates exceptionally without any kind of mediation.
I met his works for the first time thirteen years ago, in a group show: even if very different from the current ones, they already distinguished themselves from all the others. Only long afterwards, following a completely random series of events and meetings, I came back into contact with his works, which in the meantime had freed themselves of the superfluous, reaching the extraordinary expressive quality that still makes them unique. In that moment they revealed to me something that at the time I didn't know yet about myself, the necessity – and the possibility – of finding in art a sense of belonging to something superior. This is what I feel when in front of the works of some of the artists I have mentioned in this essay, but more frequently through those of 108 and all the anonymous creators or those guided by spirits, of those who produce art unwittingly and without constraints. I have rarely felt the same in galleries and museums; much more often when walking surrounded by the nature of lower Piedmont, where both Guido and I come from.
Observing his black shapes, abstract yet organic, incredibly simple and hypnotically repetitive, is for me a modality of aniconic meditation. They hold and reveal a belonging to the earth and its primordial cults, a knowledge rooted in the underworld and, in their essentiality, they connect to the purest state of awareness.
Exercise Cobra Warrior After my afternoon visit on Tuesday 14th March, where I just missed photographing the visiting fighters arriving back at base, I made up for it on the following Friday 17th - managing to record the departure home of all six of the Belgian Air Component F-16s, four of the Finnish Air Force F-18s and a pair of the 'exotic' Indian Air Force Mirage 2000s 😎 :)
In this view we see FA-136 - the third of four Belgian Air Component F-16s that departed Waddington around 09.30 - arrived at the holding position. FA-136 carries an eye-catching "The X Tiger" display livery :)
Exercise Cobra Warrior is a biannual exercise run by the Royal Air Force and is designed to exercise participants in high intensity large force tactical training. This year's exercise is taking place from the 6th to the 24th of March, controlled by directing staff at RAF Waddington. More info on Exercise Cobra Warrior here: www.raf.mod.uk/news/articles/international-participants-f...
Cobra Warrior Participants
Based at Waddington
🇧🇪Belgian Air Force (Force Aérienne Belge)🇧🇪
General Dynamics F-16AM Fighting Falcon (Viper) x6
FA-77
FA-102
FA-116 (349 sqd special tail)
FA-127
FA-134
FA-136 (display special)
🇫🇮 Finnish Air Force (Ilmavoimat) 🇫🇮
McDonnell Douglas F-18C Hornet x6
HN-406
HN-411 (small bull on nose)
HN-422
HN-424 (black lynx on nose)
HN-438
HN-448
🇮🇳 Indian Air Force 🇮🇳
Dassault Mirage 2000 x5
KF112 - 2000I
KF118 - 2000I
KT208 - 2000TI
KT211 - 2000TI
KT213 - 2000TI
Based at Coningsby
🈂 Royal Saudi Air Force 🈂
EF2000 Eurofighter Typhoon x6
1020 - T3
316 - FGR4
8019 - FGR4
1019 - FGR4
1022 - FGR4 (Green Canard)
8018 - FGR4
More info here: www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=455&t=...
Low-res shot taken with an iPhone 6s iPhone photography - apologies for the poor quality of some of these phone photos - sometimes they're nice and sharp - sometimes they're all pixelated and not up to my usual standard. The videos are better :)
You can see a random selection of my aviation memories here: www.flickriver.com/photos/heathrowjunkie/random/
Infographic of the Security Components from the 2016-2017 Information Digest, NUREG 1350, Volume 28.
Published in August 2016. For more information go to: www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1350/
Visit the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's website at www.nrc.gov/.
For those who wish to leave a comment or feedback please send via email to opa.resource@nrc.gov.
1988 IVECO-Ford Cargo horsebox.
2000 Nissan Primera S 5-door. 1769cc. Scrapped (last MoT test expired in April 2014). It failed a test that month -
Exhaust emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (7.3.d.3)
Nearside front mechanical brake component has restricted free movement (3.5.1k)
Nearside front track rod end ball joint dust cover excessively damaged so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.2.c.1c)
Offside front mechanical brake component has restricted free movement (3.5.1k)
Offside obligatory mirror seriously damaged, affecting the rear view (8.1.2a)
Offside rear upper suspension spring mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded (2.4.a.3)
Rear exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2)
Windscreen has damage to an area in excess of a 10mm circle within zone 'a' (8.3.1a)
Verify out these turning components images:
Mura (XXIX)
Image by Jose Luis Mieza Photography
Listen All I Ask You – Sarah Brightman
No more speak of darkness
Forget these wide-eyed fears
I am right here
Nothing at all can harm you
My words will warm and calm you
Let me be your...
Read more about Cool Turning Components pictures
(Posted by a Precision Machining China Manufacturer)
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iss073e0118757 (May 29, 2025) --- NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers cleans and services life support components that are part of the Oxygen Generation System rack located inside the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory module.
Interesting Renovation
This ship weathervane has pride of place on the top of the University Park Building, Portsmouth. The building was undergoing renovations and as part of the works the University wanted to restore the weathervane to working order.
The exposed costal environment had resulted in extensive corrosion and loose components. On inspection we found that the frame had been made of electrically welded mild steel with the masts fabricated from gas pipe, this strongly indicated that the framework had been replaced at least once. The void inside the ships hull had been filled with expanding polyurethane foam leaving a foam ‘deck’ exposed to the elements. Years of exposure to moisture and UV had degraded the foam to such an extent that it had filled with water, significantly increasing the weight of the weathervane. Pooling water had cased the worst corrosion at ‘deck’ level although the entire framework was significantly corroded and failing, only worsened by galvanic reaction at points where the copper was in contact with the iron. The exposed ironwork had corroded to such an extend that tube mast had corroded through and separated, causing at the hull to drop down and wedge onto the cast iron shaft.
The entire 3m weathervane was removed from the building to our workshop, a difficult task from 40m up a scaffold. The foam was cut out to expose the fixing points for the masts and to allow the copper sheets to be removed from the frame. All components were tagged and labeled to and carefully removed for later reassembly.
The iron frame was in such poor condition that it decided that it should be replaced with Stainless steel, made in three sections to the same design as the existing one. On inspection, the iron frame did not fit the copper hull very well. It was loose in places and additional patches of copper had been stuck on to hide the framework. The copper hull was carefully examined and templated to create a more accurate framework.
The
PictionID:44811519 - Title:Atlas Payload Component - Catalog:14_014436 - Filename:14_014436.TIF - - - - Image from the Convair/General Dynamics Astronautics Atlas Negative Collection. The processing, cataloging and digitization of these images has been made possible by a generous National Historical Publications and Records grant from the National Archives and Records Administration---Please Tag these images so that the information can be permanently stored with the digital file.---Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
One of the biggest and best Veterans Day parades this area has ever seen. More than 100 units with multiple components signed up to march or perform during this year's annual parade, hosted by the Hampton Roads Council of Veterans Organizations (HRCVO). The parade started at 9 a.m. at 16th Street and Atlantic Avenue, and ended at the Tidewater Veterans Memorial at 19th Street, across from the Virginia Beach Convention Center.
This year's Grand Marshal is CPL Johnny Johnson, USMC (Ret.) and MR1 William T. Jones, Jr., USN (Ret.) is this year's Co-Marshal. The parade will include, among others: Marching bands from the U. S. Army Training & Doctrine Command at Fort Eustis, Bayside, Green Run, Kellam, Landstown, Ocean Lakes, Salem and Tallwood High Schools, Honor Guards and/or Motorcycle and Mounted Units from Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach Police Departments and the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office.
This year's parade is co-sponsored by the La Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux (40 & 8) Voiture Locale 86). It will include military units from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force that represent military installations across the region. Veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Desert Shield, Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom will participate, as well as several Tidewater municipal and veterans support organizations, including Naval Junior ROTC Units and Boy Scout and Girl Scout Troops.
The Veterans Day Parade is sanctioned by the Department of Veterans Affairs National Veterans Day Committee and the Mayors of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach who signed the Veterans Day Proclamation resolving that "citizens, businesses and organizations demonstrate due appreciation, admiration and respect for all veterans who have served our great nation."
Immediately following the parade, a formal ceremony was held at the Tidewater Veterans Memorial. This service included military and civilian honors to the Veterans. Afterwards, there was a luncheon at the DoubleTree Hotel.
Photography - Craig McClure
17076
© 2016
ALL Rights reserved by City of Virginia Beach.
Contact photo[at]vbgov.com for permission to use. Commercial use not allowed.
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.
The system includes two alternate plywood components with very sharp spikes instead of the rubberized gasketing material. This is very similar to the spikes that are used on the Aigner X-Guide component.