Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel
Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965
Image credit: Martin Marietta
Image source: Numbers Station
Cover Art
Tag: Spacecraft
Leynnwood Gallery
Dyna-Soar On A Leash
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
The Space Shuttle
Man Will Conquer Space Soon
- Man will Conquer Space Soon.
- Men and materials arrive in a winged rocket and take “space taxis” to wheeled space station at right. Men wear pressurized suits. Three “space taxis’ can be seen – one leaving rocket, another reaching satellite, a third near the already-built astronomical observatory.
- Skin of rocket ship’s third stage (shown over Cape Town, South Africa) glows read hot on return trip. Phenomenon does not occur during ascent.
Man will Conquer Space Soon
Collier’s, March 22, 1953
Image credit: Collier’s
Image source: AIAA Houston
The Ferry Rocket
Von Braun’s rocket ship design. Tall as a 24-story building, it will weight 7,000 tons and have a 65-foot base.
Man will Conquer Space Soon
Collier’s, March 22, 1953
Image credit: Collier’s
Image source: AIAA Houston
PEP
Construction In Space
The Round-The-Moon Ship
The first trip to our moon will be without landing, in a ship designed to travel in space only, taking off near the Space Station and returning to it. Here the round-the-moon ship is some 240,000 miles from earth, 50 miles above the lunar surface. The large crater is Aristillus (diameter 35 miles); the other crater is Autolycus; the distant mountains are the lunar Apennines.
Man will Conquer Space Soon
Collier’s, March 22, 1953
Image credit: Collier’s
Image source: Mike Acs
Pioneer G
Image credit: NASA
Image source: Numbers Station
255-GRC-1980-01085
Image credit: Boeing
Image source: National Archives
330-CFD-DF-ST-85-11979
Image credit: Boeing
Image source: National Archives
