Carefully watching the displays on their instrument panel, two astronauts in their Gemini ferry prepare to rendezvous with the MOL.
Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel
Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965
Image credit: USAF
Image source: Numbers Station
The SST: Here it comes, ready or not
by Don Dwiggins
Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1968
Image credit: Lockheed
Image source: Numbers Station
This drawing from the magazine Air Force and Space Digest shows a proposed NASA “ONE-STAGE-TO-ORBIT” aerospace plane. The craft would be able to take off from a regular airport using turbojet engines, then switch to ramjet propulsion at supersonic speed. To reach orbital speed in space, the aerospace plane would use a third set of engines using rocket propulsion.
In the drawing (above) the combination turbo-ramjet engines are housed in pods, just inside the vertical tailfins (on either side). The huge scoop atop the rear half of the fuselage contains the rocket engines and a novel collection and compression unit for gathering oxygen to burn in the rockets. The other propellant would be liquid oxygen carried in the craft’s tanks.
After it’s orbital mission, the aerospace plane would be able to reenter the atmosphere and land as a conventional aircraft at an airfield. The craft would be about 90 feet long and weigh some 100,000 pounds.
CREDIT LINE (UPI PHOTO) 7-21-62 (ML)
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL ROTO SERVICE
Image credit: USAF
Image source: Numbers Station
Image credit: NASA
Image source: Internet Archive
Is there Life on Mars?
Collier’s, April 30, 1954
Image credit: Collier’s
Image source: AIAA Houston
Stunning representation of a NAR Phase A orbiter about to land by Henry Lozano Jr., from the collection of everyone’s favorite space archivist.
Image credit: North American Rockwell
Image source: Mike Acs
Image credit: Boeing
Image source: National Archives
