space age

After the cancellation of Voyager(Mars) in 1967 NASA started up a new series of studies to come up with a spacecraft for the 1973 launch opportunity. This Martin-Marietta designed soft-lander of 1969 was intended to put the maximum payload weight on the surface of Mars using a mission profile...

This specification is intended to set forth the requirements for an unmanned artificial satellite, including the basic rocket. the payload, and the necessary ground and launching equipment. It is desired that a rocket craft be designed and constructed which will rise to an altitude at which the...

Artist's impression of unmanned Martian reconnaissance vehicle concept press photo found on eBay. Source: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1958-Boeing-Minute-Man-Missile-Martian-Reconnaissance-vehicle-Press-Photo-/190706754178?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item2c67022282

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1975-Boeing-Aircraft-Co-power-Seatellite-Press-Photo-/221120728172?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item337bd28c6c

Artist's impression of NASA Meter Platform concept photograph found on eBay. Source: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-NASA-Artist-Concept-of-Meter-Platform-Press-Photo-39-/200805205802?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item2ec0ec472a

Concept photograph of Grumman Advanced Space Construction Base circa 1978 found on eBay. URL: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-NASA-Artist-Concept-Advanced-Space-Construciton-Base-Press-Photo-59-/190713102269?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item2c6762ffbd

Northrop "Walking" Lunar Vehicle from 1965 concept photo found on eBay. Source: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Press-Photo-1965-Moon-Lunar-Concept-Vehicle-By-Northrop-Space-Lab-Apollo-Moon-La-/160790921570?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item256fe2c162

I was looking for information on the Lunar Surveying Staff, an instrument proposed for the first series of Apollo flights and stumbled across a report into the proposed lunar surveying instrumentation intended for the lunar flights carried out under Apollo Applications. What is of interest...

Westinghouse Moon Shelter concept drawing circa 1965 found on eBay. URL: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Press-Photo-1965-Concept-Drawing-Moon-Shelter-Astronauts-Moon-Stay-/160738182426?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item256cbe051a

Retronaut.co just put up a beautiful collection of Soviet space propaganda posters from 1958-1963; worth checking out if you are a fan of vintage space art!

Kaman Moon Helicopter concept circa 1967 artist's impression found on eBay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kaman-helicopter-use-moon-planets-artist-concept-8x10-1965-/370580580978?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item564852ea72

Cloudbase is the fictional skyborne headquarters of international security organisation Spectrum, from Gerry Anderson's science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons Years later the British Interplanetary Society proposed so a Cloudbase, but for Atmosphere of Venus ! In...

Artist's concept of United States Air Force space plane painted by Robert McCall found on eBay. Was this a real concept? Source: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Space-Shuttle-vintage-rare-US-Air-Force-Space-artists-concept-art-picture-/190614086223?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c617c224f

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) artist's concept for "Space Taxi" circa 1966. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1966-Vintage-NASA-8x10-Photo-Space-Taxi-Artists-concept-drawing-/110787704453?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19cb763685

What is it? :o http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/6335602942/sizes/l/in/photostream/

It seems that in 1962 the proposal was made to fit out what could have been 'Ranger 6' with a camera installation comprising the Ranger 3-4-5 vidicon unit paired with a high resolution (80ft at closest approach) film camera and a re-entry capsule that would drop the high resolution camera film...

Concerned about the cost of Viking 1 & 2, NASA looked at lower cost alternatives for the 1977 & 1979 Mars launch opportunities . One of the proposed missions was to use a modified version of the Pioneer Venus Orbiter to carry six RTG powered penetrators to Mars. Once the spacecraft entered...

In this months Spaceflight, there is an article on Starships of the Future (mostly Daedalus and Icarus) that mentions a suggestion by G H Stein published in Analog, October 1973 called "A Program for Star Flight". 'A full program of exploration was proposed which would utilise a fleet of no...

The space shuttle project thread, http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1928.0, had a brief discussion of ideas to put passenger modules in the cargo bay. I thought it might be interesting to try and capture some more details in a separate thread. I believe some concepts were...

The first three spacecraft studied under NASA's Apollo program designation were proposals by Martin, General Electric and Convair Astronautics (General Dynamics) in partnership with Avco. Depicted here is the Convair Phase C lunar lander, in which the entire Apollo vehicle landed on the moon --...