Street Racing Cars For Sale: NASA

Showing posts with label NASA. Show all posts

Monday, September 5, 2011

prototype lunar rover... the MTA

This is Frenc Pavlics (the mobility genius) driving the MTA over our “Lunarium” rock field outside of the engineering building. It is controlled with a joystick controller on the right side. The GM Research Labs at the Tech Center donated the same type controller used on the Firebird III. found on http://deansgarage.com/2011/moonmen/#more-4737

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Cool airplanes interest almost everyone.

0 comments Posted by st at 10:11 PM

I wasn't sure what the aircraft on the ground was (above it you see the B52 that it used for piggy back rides to test altitude) , but 3 readers used the comment feature to let me know it was the Northrop HL 10, used to do flight research on aircraft design for unpowered reentry from space, utilizing the speed of falling to create lift for the controlled flight of the spacecraft. More interesting than the facts of it's intended R&D use, is that it was the featured spacecraft the Million Dollar Man tv show appeared to use as the crash vehicle that made it necesary to create the bionic man. Just a fun tidbit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_HL-10

Amelia Earheart and her Cord

Bombers, love them, love the look, the stories, the awesome amount of turret guns

From http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428585&page=920

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Apollo 12 astronauts (and others) were near hero's and GM loaned them Corvettes and a Smokey Yunick connection

0 comments Posted by st at 1:02 PM

The video above and the vette below belong to Danny Reed, who has owned it since 1971

Above image from
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/c3-general-discussion/107644-blast-past-apollo-12-1969-corvette.html

For more photos and the full story : http://www.vetteweb.com/features/vet1101_1969_chevrolet_astrovette_stingray/index.html

Crew of the Apollo 12 space rocket (Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon, Al Bean) each receive a gold Corvette coupe with 427-ci engine.

Through a special General Motors lease program, astronauts were allowed to drive any car for a year for $1. Bean and his Apollo crew ordered matching Corvettes distinguished by the black "wings" and red, white and blue logos on the front fenders reading "LMP" for lunar module pilot.

Why did they have black rear fenders?

The article states that those cars and the lease program had been arranged by Jim Rathmann, in co-operation with Ed Cole. Rathmann owned a Chevrolet Dealership in Melbourne, Florida.

We know that the Gold & Black combination is typical for Smokey Yunick's cars. And Yunick was crew chief for Rathmann for three years in a row (1960 to 1962) at Indianapolis. When Rathmann won the 1960 Indy 500, his car, named "Ken-Paul Special", was blue. But in '62, he drove the "Simoniz Vista Special" (car #44) which was sporting Yunick's Gold & Black.

Thus the colors of these three "Apollo 12" Corvettes, in the most likely possibility.

CORVETTE NEWS Feb/Mar 1970 p.16-17 "The magnificent men and their flying machines". Large picture (courtesy of Ralph Morse - Life Magazine), showing the three '69 Vettes with Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and Al Bean sitting on the T-tops.

One interesting detail in the text deserves a quote: "...Especially Pete Conrad. His checklist of things to do before the flight of Apollo 12 included a call to a friend in the Central Florida Region of the Sports Car Club of America to make sure that all systems were go for his SCCA competition license. Conrad was reported to have said: I'd sure like to have it when I get back from the moon . And he was obliged by being issued 1970 license number 12 in honor of the flight..."

http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-118283.html

Every astronaut had a Corvette of the day. Every one "made full advantage of the social opportunities".

Every one except John Glenn. Glenn drove a Hillman Minx, and lectured the rest about "keeping it zipped up for the good of the program". http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=258763

I didn't know it, but Nik did a post on these 2 months ago: http://carrosantigos.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/the-astrovette/ and thourougly explained the astronaut/corvette association, and far better than I could, Nik is a far better writer. His blog is in Portugese, but you ought to install Google toolbar if you haven't yet, and that is because it will instantly translate any website from another language to your own.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

It's that rare occasion when I found an image, and knew that the object is in a local musuem... The Ryan X-13

0 comments Posted by st at 9:05 PM

Ryan x-13, possibly the only vertical launch, and vertical landing aircraft. How they landed that ono it's hook to tower.. I'm sure ground control must have helped instructions

above photo via http://zelastchancegaragedu78.blogspot.com/

Above image from http://voiture-jaune.tumblr.com/

I can't recall where I found the above image

Above image is with the aircraft in the museum

If you want to see a really cool museum, of aircraft, spacecraft, and a lot of cool WW1 planes, next time you are traveling in San Diego, go to the San Diego Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Airstream, the USS Hornet, and NASA , Quite a combination, and not the first time I've posted about NASA's airstream, incredibly enough

0 comments Posted by st at 9:38 PM

Offloading of the Mobile Quarantine Facility from the prime recovery vessel, the U.S.S. Hornet, July 24, 1969.

Via http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a11/ap11-S69-21881HR.jpg from the unusual and NSFW website http://melisaki.tumblr.com/page/91

For more on the NASA airstream: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/04/remember-apollo-astronauts-getting.html

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The lunar rover going for a spin, and NASA tour busses

0 comments Posted by st at 12:17 AM

From http://americanshaft.tumblr.com/ via: http://melisaki.tumblr.com/ for better photos of the lunar rover http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/12/lunar-rover-only-wheeled-vehicle-off.html

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Remember the Apollo astronauts getting stuck in Airsteam trailers after coming back from the moon walks?

0 comments Posted by st at 9:46 PM

Well one was disposed of as scrap (an Airstream for pete's sake) and ended up at a fish farm run by the US Geological Survey division aquatic research farm in Marion Alabama, it was once used to house the Apollo 12 astronauts upon their return from the moon has been found, rescued and is now in Huntsville where it will eventually become a permanent display in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

The Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) has a remarkable story that would have had a very different ending had it not been for one man who recognized the artifact and took steps to make certain the MQF would find a new home where it would be restored and properly displayed. Dr. Paul Johnson, the newly appointed Director of the Alabama Department of Conservation's Aquatic Biodiversity Center at Marion, says he knew at first glance there was more to the trailer than officials realized.

A space enthusiast, Dr. Johnson had seen the Apollo 11 MQF while it was on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and quickly realized the trailer in Marion appeared identical. Four MQF trailers were produced and delivered to NASA in early 1969. They would be used to quarantine astronauts returning from the moon while scientists ensured the crews had not brought dangerous microbes back to Earth.

The MQF that housed Apollo 11 astronauts Neal Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins was put on public display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, where it stayed for approximately 30 years before being "called home" by the Smithsonian. It is now on display at The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport.

The other three were declared surplus and were transferred to other agencies. Up until March of this year the location of the Apollo 12 MQF had been a mystery. Records indicated in the mid-1970's NASA had turned it over to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), who used it to transport scientists back to the U.S. after they had been exposed to a dangerous virus in Sierra Leone.

After several years in storage, the CDC reportedly handed the MQF over to the Georgia Department of Forestry for use as a mobile command center, where it was reportedly destroyed in a fire. For years, no one could dispute the report and it was assumed the Apollo 12 MQF was forever lost.

"Thinking back, I would have liked to have seen the expressions on our faces as we came up on it," said Mike Kelly, the USSRC's Vice President of Domestic and International Licensing and one of the staff members who traveled to Marion to see the MQF. He adds, "It was like finding a gold nugget." In the days that followed, the paperwork trail for the unit surfaced and it was discovered the CDC had actually transferred the unit to the U.S. Geological Survey's Biological Resources Division in the early 1990's. That's how it got to Perry County and to the fish hatchery the USGS operated near Marion until closing the facility in 1995.

In January, 1998, the U.S. Government conveyed ownership of the old hatchery, including the property, buildings and associated equipment, to the Alabama Department of Conservation, and just last year the State of Alabama initiated efforts to convert the site into a research facility to study endangered aquatic species. Dr. Johnson took over earlier this year. Ownership of the MQF has now officially been transferred to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and the unit was carefully moved to Huntsville earlier this week.

"The historical significance of the MQF cannot be overstated," says the USSRC's CEO, Larry Capps. "You don't stumble across something like this very often and we were lucky to get it. To say it's exciting doesn't come close," he adds.

As for Dr. Johnson, Mr. Capps said, "We owe this man, and for that matter the Alabama Department of Conversation, a debt of gratitude. As a result of their efforts, many future generations are going to have the chance to see the MQF. We hope to get Dr. Johnson up here soon so that the people of Huntsville can meet him and show their appreciation."

http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum14/HTML/000587.html

Also see http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/06/airstream-uss-hornet-and-nasa-quite.html for a NASA airstream being loaded onto the USS Hornet