Space Junk

Able chap that Thor!

2009-05-17T09:59:00.003+01:00

Photo caption “1958 July 10 - 02:30 GMT - Cape Canaveral LC17A. Thor Able 118 Able RTV re-entry vehicle test flight Agency: USAF 6555ATW. Apogee: 1,600 km (900 mi). Mouse 'Mia II' reached 1600 km altitude, flew 9600 km range, but re-entry vehicle not recovered.” Unknown source

Another blast of picture this time of the adapted ballistic missile Thor-able the unsung hero of the US space programme responsible for 10’s of launches for almost 20 years. This one had little Mouseanaut “Mia-II” on board who sadly was recovered when the missile re-entered. More Info here

No need to Hunt the "Snark" it's there at the back!

2009-03-14T11:33:00.004Z

Photo information:USAF Graduation Ceremony circa 1960 Hawthrone (?) Airforce base. Back drop of SM-62 "Snark" Intercontinental Missile. unknown source.

I haven’t posted much for a while and released I had several vintage press shots to share. Here’s nice one of a passing out ceremony. The military do enjoy a bit of sort of a macho "camp "don’t they? Isn’t having a huge guided missile as set dressing for ceremony ever so slightly over the top and a bit dramatic. You can forget “la cage au foile” the lads with the gold braid and sharp creases love a statement.

A bit of reading shows the Northrop SM-62 “Snark” was a bit of pig and didn’t last long in service, although in this film of launch it doesn’t look too bad. Not sure I’d been keen on living near an airfield that regularly had un-launched nuclear warheads returning home and skidding along the tarmac!

School boy daydreams

2008-11-29T08:08:00.004Z

Photo info: AQM-60 Kingfisher anti-missile system test missile circa 1958 no photo credit visible

Another scan from the archive, a fairly standard press shot a little short on background info. The main attraction of this photo is that the Kingfisher Missile seems to have been designed on the back of schoolboy's maths book being almost comically rocket shape. After sports cars, fighter jets and tanks rockets must one of the most doodled machines making a change from rock band logos, optimistic scribbles of buxom maidens, sharks fins and sadly swastikas on the blank canvas of the exercise book.

The AQM-60 Kingfisher it seems was developed as test missile to test the newly developed 1950's anti-missile weapons system sadly it proved too efficient and not many of systems were able to destroy it as it sped at mach 3 across the Arizona skies. This is all obviously proves that next time the Us military need a problem solving they just need to contact the best research lab in the world i.e. any year 8 double maths lesson on wet Wednesday afternoon.

The Wild Rover

2008-11-02T22:47:00.004Z

Pic Info: Lunar Rover Vehicle circa 1969 being tested prior to Apollo 15. Postcard posted from Kennedy Space centre Aug 1975

It could be a weak joke along the lines of Americans are so lazy they even took a car to moon, can't they walk anywhere. The justification for the lunar rover or as it was called all through my youth the "moon buggy" was to carry rock samples and to allow much longer journeys as walking in bulky space suits was extremely difficult. This picture shows the first crew to use the LRV on Apollo 15, on this mission the LRV went about 3 .5 miles and back from the Luna lander.

It's rather amusingly an early example of electric vehicle although one with un-rechargeable batteries and that only ever drove eight miles! One curious thing about the LRV is that it's tires are made of woven wire not rubber.

I always thought even though it's basically a go art that the lunar rover was kind of cool looking with reflective gold covered camera etc and chunky "land rover" wheels. Lastly I have suspicion that one of the reasons they were built is that it must have been a good laugh driving around on the moon's brittle sandy surface even at less than 10 miles a hour!

Like it always says in the car ads one careful owner and to prove it here's the hand book

For more details as always go to wiki

Eagle eyed drawings

2008-10-23T21:47:00.009+01:00

Pic info: Centre fold cutaway Eagle comic circa 1966. Artist Roy Cross.

Taken from Eagle Annual Of cutaways Orion Press.

It goes like this one of our family stories was that my Dad use to read Eagle in 50’s and had collected a number of these centre page cutaway pictures. A rare splash of colour in the black and white world of rationing Britain. Sadly as parents do his mum chucked them out which is slightly ironic as my Nan's house was full of dusty useless old tut in later years.

Anyway I found this reprint book (the Eagle Annual of Cutaways)in a comic shop a while ago and bought it for my Dad’s Birthday. It full of the most wonderful drawings.

I know most of the world isn’t turned on by cutaway diagrams of 1950’s cargo planes etc but I would heartily recommend you at least open the book in Foyle’s as its a marvel for anyone interested in drawing, design, history, culture, graphics etc.
It's a 100 pages of incredibly detailed technical drawing mostly in colour. It’s dripping with the sensibility of 1950-60’s Britain and even though everywhere is smoky chimneys and meat and 2 veg there’s refreshing optimism of the choice subject.

The enthusiasm for science and for a better world is pleasing. It’s also refreshingly un-patronising towards children as the artists assumed that they’ll be interested in more things than football and trainers. They perhaps naively assume that not only racing cars and jet fighters might spark interest but also dustbin Lorries and spectacularly oddly a potato harvester might pique some interest in young minds.

Jonathon Glancey writes an entertaining introduction revelling in a world were we still made stuff and even where even the most glamorous of motor boat is piloted by men in car coats and trilbies. So have a look you never know what you’ll learn.

This picture if the X- 15 is one of a number of space themes spreads including Telstar and Mercury capsules. The X-15 is a what might have been on space craft after a number of successful years of record breaking experimental flights it's funding dwindled to pay for the moon flights the contention of X-15 supporters is that it had been developed further we would now be flying into space much like Dan Dare in sleek rocket planes.

This striking drawing is by Roy Cross who some of you may know was the genius behind the classic box art from those other essentials for any 1960's childhood Airfix kits!
Roy's work is always full of excitement and action even if now the PC police have removed the bullets and bombs from modern boxes in case presumably any kids decide to restage the strafing of a German U boat.

Ps. there's a GPO tower cutaway on my other site as a Brucie bonus
Go here for the more details of Eagles Cutaway

Another Stellar first!

2008-10-04T09:51:00.003+01:00

Picture Info. Lt. Colonel Guion Bluford May 1982 B/W Postcard

Here’s a nice postcard of America’s first black astronaut who goes by the marvellous name of Guion "Guy" Bluford (and being American) Junior. I won’t rehash the details he suffice to say he’s made 4 shuttle flights and spent a wapping 668 hours in space. The Guion's full story is here.

A bigger splash!

2008-09-24T17:18:00.005+01:00

Picture Info:
Postcard Caption "Recovery of Lieutenant Commander Shepard, the first U.S man in space, after his 302 mile ride down the atlantic Missile range". Plastichrome Postcard circa 1960 (?)

Here’s a dramatic shot of Alan Shepard being pulled from the drink after his first sub-orbital trip. Looking at this 40 plus year card a handful of things struck me firstly I don’t know what formal process developed the design, colour scheme and typography of the American military planes etc but some how their planes always look great.

The stars and typeface are simple and clear, I always like the little labels on the side of places for ducts and vents and escape hatches. There is something about this era’s craft that’s appealing both the chopper and the capsule are close to the planes of ww11 in design. They are lithe and simple none of the chunky excess of the shuttle or modern military choppers they are made up of slim simple forms with ribs and welds visible. They just look cool some how.

Another thing about this shot is that considering this was all happening out at sea and the main goal was to rescue old Alan and his capsule it’s really nice shot taken with some bulky camera by some marine snapper hanging out the door of another chopper, of course decent shots where very important to the US’s space mission as NASA lives and dies by the public support and this support needs to be fed with exciting pictures like this one.

By Jupiter

2008-09-19T22:32:00.003+01:00

Pic info: launch of Jupiter Booster Feb 27th 1959
Photo credit: AP Wirephoto.

Not much to say about this photo from my collection, except that it’s a really dramatic atmospheric shot full of movement and fire. The Jupiter was a modified ballistic missile used to carry the pioneer probes to the moon amongst other things .

Jobs for the spaceboys

2008-09-15T22:06:00.006+01:00

Picture Info: “What do you do? The Astronaut” By Michael Pollard Drawings by Peter Kesteven photos NASA MacMillan press 1972
Thank marx for the socialistic comprehensive education system that blossomed in the Britain after the war there was role in this bright world for every child. Our purpose built schools rang to excited voices of children crying out for learning and enlightenment. Our future was planned and useful job could be found for every kid. Sorry I got a bit carried away there, sadly I think even the most addled of touchy feely, sociology graduate would have had hard job selling shoemender and astronaut as equal jobs offering the same amounts of excitement, adventure and fulfilment.

I mean god bless cobblers and builder’s labourers, we all need fitters and trawler men and if things had gone differently many of the lads at our school would have gone down the pit. But you know I think only fireman (in this impressive list) might have only been as popular choice as spaceman.
Also fancy writing a career book for less than 1000th of a percent of the human population!

Anyway I salute the world’s binmen, pipe benders, spanner boys, till operators, white line huggers and cow botherers but forgive me if I rather had joined Yuri, Alan, Alexei and Valentina Tereshkova on page 26. Check the tasty centrifuge action below!

Mystery rocket

2008-09-10T20:53:00.009+01:00

Picture info:
Thor-able (?) launch of Dicoverer II Satellite from Vandenberg Air Force base California 13th April 1959.Source: US Air Force Photo.

My first post was a fake looking picture of space dog Danka so to maintain cold war balance here’s a weird looking American photo is it me or does it look weird like a model or a set up. It’s made more confusing as I can’t find the blast off described in the caption for Thor-able rocket I think it reality it’s Thor-Agena rocket.

Anyway it’s a nice dramatic shot. And we’ve all learnt that Spanish for Launch is “Lanzamieto”

click on the original english caption below to read the official version

Update
God Bless flickr through which "Almiy's" got in touch
and said this in repsonse to the picture above and my questioning it's correctness. I'm a bit jealous having a grandad who helped launch rockets, mine launched trawlers which is cool but rockets well that's must be better!

"It looks legit to me. Where did you find it? I happen to work at Vandenberg AFB where they launched the Thor and Agena rockets way back when during my grandfathers day when he worked there. Although the Thor was only one type of rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 2 at VAFB, this photo looks like the old SLC-2 East site (I know it well) where they still do some current rocket prep work. They now launch at SLC-2 West which is a much bigger tower to accommodate modern Delta II rockets. See a photo of the most recent launch at my Flickr site. The first ballistic missile in the US was launched from this site and the buildings remain historical landmarks still in use.Also see: www.ulalaunch.com/ or www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d335/gallery/www.spaceflightnow.com/ "

Flying carpets to the stars

2008-09-05T21:52:00.013+01:00

Pic info.
Cool as Fuck!
Inspiral Carpets badge 2cm diameter
Circa 1992

Song info
Saturn 5
1994
By Inspiral Carpets (Tom Hingley, Clint Boon, Graham Lambert, Craig Gill, Martyn Walsh)
Produced by Pascal Gabriel
UK chart position 18 format mp3

Time for some music, a nice obvious tune first. Most songs about space use the heavens as a metaphor for earthly matters generally affairs of the heart. But this slice of poppy organ drive baggy delight, from a close perusal of the lyrics seems to be just a celebration of the world’s biggest and most complicated flying machine. Clint Boons trade mark organ rifts rise and fall throughout the tune and the only sour note is the rather pedestrian drumming.

Saturn five has special place for me being a perennial indie club favourite, it’s the soundtrack to many a good night especially in the unlikely New York New York which is down on the left just off the Ramblas. Enjoy!
Ps: Clint and Tom and the boys had some other astral tinged tracks: Party In The Sky, Pluto man, Paper Moon.

Lady take a ride on a Zeke 64,

Jerry wants to be a rockette

That's a popular misconception,

says we haven't seen anything yet

Laying down the lifeless corpse of President 35

The lady crying by his side is

the most beautiful woman alive

Saturn 5, you really were the greatest sight

Stretching out on a summer's day

Houston, it's calling me back to her

An Eagle lands, and a planet full of people raises its hands

All hail the men who will walk up in heaven today

Monochrome TV,

all the things you ever represented to me

Take me once more, take me to heaven again

Saturn 5, you really were the greatest sight

Stretching out on a summer's day

Houston, it's calling me back to her

More band info.

Gus Grissom Space Hero.

2008-09-03T22:45:00.004+01:00

Picture Info.
Postcard caption:
"Captain Gus Grissom USAF, shown in his space suit prior to being the second U.S astronaut launched into space"
Plastichrome postcard printed after January 1961.

Of all the Apollo and Mercury astronauts, one of my favourites has always been Virgil Ivan Grissom.

I don’t know why maybe it because Virgil was the coolest of the Thunderbird pilot (flying number 2 into danger not your work shy fop like Scott in T-Bird one showboating and getting the glory). Maybe it was his portrayal in “the Right Stuff” or maybe it’s finding out today that we share a birthday hurrah!

I won’t rehash his life story suffice to say 100 missions in Korea , chosen for Mercury Redstone -7 he was the 2nd American in space. Then came the incident with hatch door and the sinking of his capsule on splash down, the controversy that dogged him the rest of life.

Misfortune followed Gus as he was killed on the test pad of Apollo 1 with his colleagues Ed White and Roger B. Chaffee in a terrible fire caused by a number of problems: bad wiring, 100% oxygen atmosphere and a door that didn’t open from the inside!

So Gus is one of space true hero’s. It’s a nice shot too.

The fuller story here.

Proyectil Teledirigido

2008-09-03T21:59:00.008+01:00

Picture Info.
Russian Rocket launches: press release date 15 April 1958.

Another picture from my archive I think it’s a Russian photo possibly showing the rockets used to launch Damka into orbit.

It’s a great picture I might get round to translating the caption at my Spanish class in a week or so.

Anyone more fluent please post your attempt.

Otherwise let’s just enjoy the picture.

Drawn to the Skies

2008-09-01T22:47:00.005+01:00

Pic info:
Taken from "longacre Book of Aircraft" 1963
no author/artist listed
designed by Peter Sulivan

Picture Books:
One of the overlooked benefits enjoyed by post WWII children was the gradual improvement in the design and production of books. Today’s book shops are a riot of colour with Kids books particularly being full colour throughout. But it wasn’t long ago when books came on rough acid paper with a few pages of often black and white plates in the middle, the odd diagram in the text the only colour being a dust jacket.

Thankfully by the time me and my brothers were taken to Hanley library colour books were more mostly the norm. The MAIN reason of course to go to Hanley library was the chance if there was time to go and see the Spitfire in greenhouse across the road (aren’t the government missing a literacy trick here, forget new books put more fighters, dinosaurs and killer robots in libraries)!

The book we loaned from the library, were a particular golden age of illustration; with photography still costly and complicated children’s books were filled with wonderfully hand drawn illustrations and paintings. These where a special boon to technical books allowing exciting cutaways of space ships or the fiery separation of yet un-built rockets to be depicted.

Also freed from the realism of photography artists could use dramatic angles and inspiring perspectives to brings scenes to life. One the most appealing aspects of these books are the simple bold palettes this type of printing used. This is why this sort of commercial illustration is still sort after much like the colour magazine spreads and print advertising of the period.

I know this book is about flight in general but it has got rockets in it and I wanted to share the cool picture of the chopper carrying a speed boat, reminiscent of the scene from Apocalypse Now, Charlie don’t surf!

Sadly there’s no illustrator listed in the book and I can’t see any signatures on the painting, whoever they were they had bold clear consistent style much more interesting than prose!

Satellite's of Lo......

2008-08-28T21:34:00.005+01:00

Picture Info:
Satellites by Robin Kerrod
Illustrated By Mike Tregenza
Franklin Watts 1980

So as well as archive photos I’m planning on some scans from my space books here’s a good one to start.

Even for space mad types like me a whole kids book on satellites might have been pushing it, that being said you’ve probably used one at least 10 times today!

Some a marvellous drawings pay attention to the diagram as there will quiz at the end on how the phone system works!

Here's the link to bigger versions of the scans

Dogs In Spaaaccccceeeee!

2008-08-26T15:54:00.006+01:00

Photo info:
Damka (Дамка"Little Lady" sometimes called Shutka (Шутка, "Joke") Krasavka (Красавка, "Little Beauty") not shown. Pictures outside a Korabl Sputnik (1K-4) (?) capsule, 22nd Dec 1960 launched by R7 / SL3 rocket.
No photographer Credited.

Here’s my first space photo and it’s dripping with history, it’s of the Russian space dog Damka happily sat outside her capsule tongue lolling in the bright sun of Russian winter. I’m not sure but it’s likely faked; not as fake as I first thought as I was under the impression that like poor old Laika (the first dog in space) that Russian dogs all died in space. This wasn’t always the case and many survived their ordeals.

Damka apparently was very lucky her rocket misfired and never went into full orbit, her luck continued as the capsule came down safely. The rescue crew were wary of the auto-destruct mechanism and it being snowy and dark left the apparently dead dog for the morning for fear of the whole thing blowing up as they tinkered . Fortunately in the morning Damka was heard barking in side and was rescue intact!

As for the picture it’s clearly doctored I’m not sure whether the black lines are state censors work or the work of photo sub making it better defined for reproduction. I can’t believe even in 1950’s anyone bought the picture wholesale

Links:

Damka

Capsules
Rockets

Hello.....

2008-08-25T00:25:00.001+01:00

We come in peace for all mankind…..

Here’s my first post of Space Junk, basically it’s a visual and oral primary to the space detritus that’s in low earth orbit in my flat. It’s not a definitive collection far from it but I thought it would be good for more people to see some it.

The Urbane Space boy

So what’s the fascination with space? Well it could be those episodes of Thunderbirds that used to sneak out on Central telly all those years ago in Stoke. Even Virgil’s and Scots’ (yes, I know those names crop up elsewhere in our story) dystopian mini disasters movies were wondrous.

Maybe it was because one of my earliest memories was a splash down, I’m not sure which one maybe an Apollo mission or perhaps Skylab.

Or maybe it was those “what will you do when you grow up books” with their lists of jobs; postman, doctors, miners and in ‘70’s “astronaut”.

Or maybe it was those endless shots of the Saturn 5 blasting off, the frozen oxygen falling away, all to the tune of Aaron Copeland’s “fanfare to common man”.
The Saturn five just looked cool all ribbed and a chequer board lucky kids had the 3 ft high Airfix kit.

Later we watched the shuttle blast off in the library at lunch time watching TV at school as big as treat as the launch.

And then a long came my left leanings and the discovery of Realist art, Constructivism and Yuri Alexavich Gagarin. Yuri was a true hero, he may have been on the pinnacle of a brutal Totalitarian cartel but here was a man who went from cabbage fields and ox carts to touching the face of god. All in space of 15 years, he was the most famous man alive and then fell from favour with authorities and ended days fighting the controls of a badly maintained trainer jet all before he was 32.
And it goes on.

But sadly we live in “post-modern” world, were a scary percentage of educated people spout rubbish about it all being faked in shed in Arizona. They sceptics do this while driving their cars obediently following the GPS (which some how is all being faked from a shed in ……)

So here in no order are some excellent photos I picked up in a flea market. They are wonderfully evocative; I’ve left the credit notes, photo editor’s scribbles and the ticker tape photo agency tags. I’ve also got everything from badges to mugs to share, so I’ll take some pictures of these as well.

Also to paraphrase Nietzsche “Space without music would be a mistake” I’ll also post the “music of spheres” so expect the best space tunes I can find (I’ll try to go easy on the “moon in June” angle)

Lastly I’m not an expert so if you have things to add and even the odd correction that’s fine.
Just remember some of these pictures may be almost 50 years old but it’s less than 100 miles to space!