space age

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...

During the 1960's one proposal for the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) was make it so that after the manned mission was over it could be used as an unmanned rover for further exploration. Here is the final presentation report for the Bendix Version...

Just uploaded to the NTRS, a rather interesting study from the late 1960's The Aerospike Engine. Concept, Performance, Design & Operational Data. Liquid Hydrogen Propellants 250-500 KBLF Thrust Class http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19900066185_1990066185.pdf

Sea Dragon Concept, Volume III, Aerojet-General Corporation, February 12, 1963 http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19880069340_1988069340.pdf The hunt is on to find Volume I and Volume II!

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...

Back in 1968 TRW proposed that the last spacecraft in the series Pioneer A-E be modified so that it could be used as the first Venus Orbiter. Mission objectives included a study of the solar winds interaction with the Venusian environment...

...Dear God/Yahweh/Roddenberry, the Air Farce really *did* test cats in zero-g :o :o :o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9XtK6R1QAk&feature=relmfu

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 --...

Dornier Post 1/2 - 71

McDonnell Douglas' "Big Gemini" transport spacecraft is now available in the Fantastic Plastic Virtual Museum Store: http://fantastic-plastic.com/BigGeminiCatalogPage.htm This meticulously detailed 1:48 kit was mastered by Paul Roberts based on extensive documentation, and cast by BLAP...

Douglas print ad from 1961 showing space vehicle concepts. URL: http://cgi.ebay.com/1961-DOUGLAS-Missiles-SPACE-SYSTEMS-Lunar-Vehicles-Ad-/310237049775?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

Spaceflight News , August Year ?

There are always tons of spacecraft in the world of science fiction but I am always especially looking out for ones that look plausible and could be built today or in the near future. First are some sketches and designs for various vehicles shown in the Japanese animated series "Gundam" (Set in...

Well, question may seem idiotic, but really - why all we see so few photos (not talking of many hi-reses) from three Skylab manned missions - I mean those that were taken in space? You can look through NASAImages with keyword 'Skylab' to make your own opinion. Warning - my question has nothing...

What is this? Seems a Biconic lifting body docked with a some Saturn-IB Station! I have found on web,but don't know what is.

Renowned space artist Robert McCall, whose artwork may be found on many attachments here at Secret Projects illustrating various NASA concepts, died of a heart attack on February 26, 2010 at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Hospital. He was 90 years old. Obituary at Space.com...

Vladimir Sergeevich Ilyushin was born on 31 March, 1927, the eldest son of leading Soviet aircraft designer Sergei Vladimirovich Ilyushin. Ilyushin's father was a favoured member of the Soviet establishment. It may be noted that aircraft designer Tupolev blamed Ilyushin's father for the...

The single known image of the design meant to shuttle crews to and from the Orion "Battleship." Further discussion and reconstruction: http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=5167

North American Aviation X-15 model by Topping URL: http://cgi.ebay.com/X-15-Rocket-Plane-Contractor-Model-USAF-NASA_W0QQitemZ250561548077QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a56a1cf2d Description: