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Author
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Topic: British Interplanetary Society's Spaceflight
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ed zigoy
Member Posts: 31
From: Portland,OR,USA
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 06-27-2005 09:57 PM
   
quote:
Originally posted by Apollo-Soyuz:
Are there any pad camera films in the public domain?
Check out Disc 2 of the new DVD set "Liftoff: Success & Failure". It features a chapter with multiple views of the pad explosion of AC-5 plus commentary. |
DDAY
Member Posts: 48
From: Vienna, VA
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 06-28-2005 04:17 PM
With regards to the Lift Off! DVD, see my review here. The pictures at the top of the page show that launch pad explosion. |
DDAY
Member Posts: 48
From: Vienna, VA
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 07-08-2005 11:12 AM
Has anybody seen the August issue yet? I think I have something in that one.Anyway, I still have several more articles in the queue. One is a very short article on the use of the 747 Airborne Laser for ASAT purposes. That's probably going to appear in September. Then three more articles--one policy, two history: - a discussion of the options for space astronomy after Hubble, focusing on optical/UV space observatory proposals.
- a history of US radar ferret satellites in the 1960s and 1970s.
- a short article that is the first of a series on nuclear space power and propulsion. The first part is on Orion and NERVA and nuclear rocket systems. Part 2 will be on nuclear reactors. And Part 3 will be on the Prometheus/JIMO program, with lots of interesting stuff about that.
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Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 07-11-2005 10:08 AM
Well it is the "holiday months" and the BIS Spaceflight magazine might be a bit slow.  Although, publication of the cover on BIS website occurred as always on the 10th of the month. Subscribers should get the issue on the 15th of each month... |
DDAY
Member Posts: 48
From: Vienna, VA
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 07-14-2005 09:16 AM
The August Spaceflight landed at my door yesterday (the postman has a nasty habit of crushing many of my magazines in my small mailbox, but fortunately he leaves these packages at the door).Anyway, my military metsats article is in there. But a pleasant surprise is an article by Brian Harvey on the Beijing Rocket Engine Test Station based upon US intelligence information. I have not read it yet, but based upon past experience, Harvey does great work. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 07-15-2005 12:17 PM
Just checked the issue 'diagonally' and noticed the 12-page long article by Dwayne on the Corona and Tiros military satellites... superb USAF-photos as usual in his articles!I'll take the issue with me on holidays. |
DDAY
Member Posts: 48
From: Vienna, VA
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 07-22-2005 01:23 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Philip:
Just checked the issue 'diagonally' and noticed the 12-page long article by Dwayne on the Corona and Tiros military satellites...
I missed the previous post until today. The article on military metsats has relatively minor mentions of CORONA. It is mostly about Tiros and the military metsats program. The photos are indeed pretty good, if I may say so myself. The color illustrations are from a set of slides that I obtained from the National Reconnaissance Office several years ago. I've used several of them before. They were essentially Lockheed slides from the Samos program and I think they were assembled for a briefing ca 1960 or so. I got them in the form of color photocopies and they contained some interesting stuff, including confirmation that the Samos E-5 spacecraft was essentially derived from Lockheed's proposal for the Man In Space Soonest proposal. For those of you who have never encountered these kinds of things, back then "slides" really meant large glass plates, about two inches by three inches and mounted in metal frames. I've seen a few sets in archives and they always make me cringe, because dropping a box of them on the floor would destroy them all. They crack very easily. Anyway, there are a few other excellent photos in that article, including some that I acquired down at Maxwell Air Force Base years ago in a large collection of Discoverer photos. Former JSC historian and creator of Quest magazine Glen Swanson and I went there with his scanner and we stumbled across some very thick 3-ring binders filled with those great photos. But I think that the info in the article itself is the most valuable part, because that story has not been told in that amount of depth before. Meanwhile, I have just received page proofs for two more upcoming articles of mine. The September issue will contain a relatively small article by me on the use of lasers as ASAT weapons. The article is rather straightforward, providing an overview of US ASAT programs and then mentioning that the USAF has initiated a study of using the 747 Airborne Laser (ABL) to shoot down satellites. It includes a couple of very nice photos of the aircraft in flight. The second article, scheduled for the October issue, is much more substantive. It is an overview of the recent history concerning servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope. It also discusses possible replacements for the Hubble. It includes some computer illustrations of possible Hubble successors. I think that people will find that article rather intriguing. In addition, a near-future issue should also include my long-in-the-queue article on American ferret satellites during the 1960s. And after that I will turn some attention to space nuclear power and propulsion. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 07-24-2005 05:07 AM
Thanks for the info Dwayne ... those glass plates were also used by astronomers but nowadays everything is CCD. |
DDAY
Member Posts: 48
From: Vienna, VA
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 07-25-2005 09:33 AM
I have occasionally come across boxes of the glass plates in archives. The plates are usually in boxes lined with some felt, stacked vertically--I imagine that they would never survive outside their boxes. They slide into grooves in the boxes. The frames of the plates are thin metal.The problem is that if you don't slide them into the correct grooves, they go in at an angle and you can possibly crack them just by putting them in the box. I've never had this happen, but it amazes me at how easy it would be to crack the slides in such a manner. I don't think the boxes were very heavily padded either, so that even a slight jolt, like dropping them too hard onto a table after carrying them, could crack them. Like I said, they make me cringe. I can see how 35mm slides were a massive improvement. You could drop a 35mm slide off a buiding and it will not crack. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 08-05-2005 10:30 AM
BIS Spaceflight magazine September has the Space Shuttle launch on the cover... amazing timing of the printing press. |
D-Day
Member Posts: 27
From:
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 08-09-2005 11:41 AM
I just got the page proofs for my article on early American signals intelligence satellites. It is currently scheduled for the November issue.(I'm going to be in London next month and may drop by the BIS offices at some point.) |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 08-09-2005 01:32 PM
Nice article again on military spaceflight Dwayne... the September issue has an article (by Alan Lawrie) on the J-2 rocket engines with superb photos I have never seen before! |
D-Day
Member Posts: 27
From:
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 08-10-2005 12:25 PM
Thanks, but that was another case where I wrapped a slim amount of information around some really nice photos. I was happy with the layout.After searching for photos of the 747 with the ABL laser system for missile defense, I managed to find some really nice missile defense photographs and am now thinking about writing another article around them. I know that missile defense is not really spaceflight, but there are some really great photographs available of the 747 ABL, the X-band tracking radar, and some of the interceptor missiles being loaded in their silos in Alaska. |
AlanLawrie
Member Posts: 95
From: hitchin, herts, UK
Registered: Oct 2003
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posted 08-12-2005 07:58 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Philip:
the September issue has an article (by Alan Lawrie) on the J-2 rocket engines with superb photos I have never seen before!
Thanks Philip. Glad you liked the J-2 photos. The best ones came from negatives untouched in a fridge at the National Archives for 35 years. The not-so-good ones  were photos I took myself and stored in my study for 27 years.Alan. |
heng44
Member Posts: 3386
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 08-16-2005 05:30 AM
quote:
Originally posted by D-Day:
Thanks, but that was another case where I wrapped a slim amount of information around some really nice photos.
This is the idea behind my "centre-page photo spreads"; I have some very nice photos (seen the "Photo of the week" feature) but often not enough new information to write an elaborate article around them. I think the photo features are a nice solution. Ed Hengeveld |
D-Day
Member Posts: 27
From:
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 08-26-2005 12:07 PM
I've gotten into a busy writing mode again lately. Unfortunately, this means that I put aside some of the thicker, more detailed articles for shorter, easier ones.The October issue will have a large article by me on space-based astronomy after Hubble. There is some new, never-before-published information in there. The November issue will feature another large article by me on American signals intelligence satellites from the late 1950s until the early 1970s. This one has been in the works a long time, but I think that anybody interested in the subject of early classified space programs will find it quite interesting. Lately I have begun work on three shorter articles that I hope to submit soon. One is about what the Apollo astronauts said about lunar EVA spacesuits and equipment. That will be a slight update of a recent article that I wrote for The Space Review. After that, I have two other articles in the works. One is on the WB-57 aircraft that NASA uses to track space shuttle launches. I got some nice photos of those and some information from one of the pilots. Incidentally, the WB-57s were originally built as USAF intelligence aircraft. Another article that I have in the works is on future plans for exploring Neptune. I have some good information on this subject, but have to collect illustrations for it. Then of course I have a number of articles sitting on my hard drive that I need to finish up. These include: - a two-part series on space nuclear power and propulsion projects throughout the space age
- parts 2 and 3 of my history of American military weather satellites
- a multi-part series on the KH-7/8 GAMBIT and other post-CORONA reconnaissance satellties
- a history of the KH-6 LANYARD reconnaissance satellite that will correct many errors in my earlier article on this subject
- a few miscellaneous space-intel satellite related articles whose subjects escape me at the moment.
So much writing to do, so little time... |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 09-12-2005 11:59 PM
The one-page article on President Bush must be your shortest ever? |
D-Day
Member Posts: 27
From:
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 09-21-2005 09:07 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Philip:
The one-page article on President Bush must be your shortest ever?
Maybe my shortest for Spaceflight. I've written short stuff for other publications, however. Maybe I should try to write an article as a haiku?On a related note, that issue has my article on Hubble in it. I discuss various proposed space telescopes to follow Hubble. There's a lot of interesting information there that has not appeared anywhere else before. And as I have mentioned previously, the November issue will have a really interesting article about Cold War ferret satellites that I think a lot of people will be interested in. |
D-Day
Member Posts: 27
From:
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 10-13-2005 01:59 PM
Just got the November issue. It includes my large article on American elint satellites. Also includes an example of an airbrushed rocket photograph, courtesy of the USAF. |
D-Day
Member Posts: 27
From:
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 11-02-2005 08:22 AM
Just an FYI: I will have an article in the December issue on developing EVA equipment and spacesuits for future lunar missions.I will also have something in a near future issue (January?) about hanging SpaceShip 1 in the Smithsonian. I went down there the weekend before last and took some really nice photos of the vehicle hanging in the main hall. It is surprisingly weather-beaten. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 11-02-2005 10:21 AM
Noticed your photo in the November issue on page 409. |
D-Day
Member Posts: 27
From:
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 11-02-2005 10:47 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Philip:
Noticed your photo in the November issue on page 409.
That wasn't me. I look like Tom Cruise. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 11-02-2005 11:19 AM
Right Doctor  The December 2005 will be a bit later in stores I guess (it was so in the past 2 years) probably due to making of the index 2005 in a November month full of holidays... |
D-Day
Member Posts: 27
From:
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 11-02-2005 11:47 AM
For those who don't have the issue at hand, there was a photo taken at a space conference in the town of Neubrandenberg, Germany in September. I was one of the speakers. The Germans kept handing us flowers and taking photographs. It was a little odd. But the conference was surprisingly good. I got to meet Chen Lan, who's a great guy.We also got an exclusive tour of Peenemunde, including the A4 launch stand, or what is left of it. That is not normally open to the public. I took some good photos and hope to write about the museum there for a future issue of Spaceflight. The Germans have done a very good job of telling the story of the A4 (V-2) rocket development. They didn't gloss over anything, including the use of slave labor in constructing missiles that were used to kill people. (I should also add a correction to that article about the conference. It stated that I was a "member" of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. That is incorrect. I worked on the staff as an investigator. There were only a dozen actual Board members.) |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 12-09-2005 02:15 PM
Does anybody know if the January issue is out yet? |
MCroft04
Member Posts: 1634
From: Smithfield, Me, USA
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 12-09-2005 03:12 PM
I received the January issue but have not read it yet. A couple articles: First Woman in Space, Soyuz soft landing system, Canada's pioneering space telescope, and Argentina's cosmonaut. |
ALAIN
Member Posts: 355
From: GENT, Belgium
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 12-15-2005 10:28 AM
Excellent article with amazing photos on the Valentina Tereshkova training in this January 2006 issue (part 2 for the February 2006 issue). Happy New Year to everybody involved with BIS and Spaceflight magazine! |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 12-16-2005 03:07 PM
Who are the authors in this issue?I don't subscribe to Spaceflight, so I don't see the issues that I don't write for. |
Tonyq
Member Posts: 199
From: UK
Registered: Jul 2004
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posted 12-16-2005 03:14 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Dwayne Day:
Who are the authors in this issue?
Dwayne - happy to say that I wrote the Tereshkova piece which spans two issues.Lots in information not published in English before and photographs which haven't been widely seen either. Excellent support from Rex Hall who gave me access to his massive collection and to Amy Collins who shares my interest in the Vostok female group. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 12-17-2005 03:46 AM
Excellent article Tony! It looks like BIS is more & more working towards a 'themed monthly'. This time on Soviet-Russian themes, the other being the Soyuz-type soft landing system article by Boris Spasski & Aleksandr Zheleznyakov.I was also amazed to see an Almaz capsule being used to promote tourist flights by Japanese entrepreneurs. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 12-17-2005 05:23 PM
Regarding the Almaz proposal, go here Scroll down and get the PowerPoint presentation by Art Dula. It has some more info on this proposal. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 01-03-2006 08:50 AM
Did you all see the February 2006 issue? |
Rex Hall
Member Posts: 170
From: London, England
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted 01-03-2006 10:00 AM
The article about the private trip into space is an interview with Gregory Olsen who flew as the 3rd space participant last October. Some very good insights. There is also the second part of Tony's great article on Soviet women in space.Enjoy.
The new BIS website is up and running and you can join via it.Have a good 2006.
Rex |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 01-03-2006 03:21 PM
Question: do either the January or February issues feature any of my photos of the SpaceShipOne hanging in the Smithsonian? I'm guessing not (because I haven't heard back on them), but I don't get the magazine and don't know. |
Rex Hall
Member Posts: 170
From: London, England
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted 01-03-2006 06:01 PM
Dwayne, the January issue does not and I have not seen the Febuary issue as it is due in the next few days. I will have a look when it arrives and advise.Rex |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 01-07-2006 03:32 PM
Rex, was the Spaceflight magazine index CD-ROM updated to include the 2004 and 2005 subjects?Best regards,
Philip |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 01-12-2006 11:28 AM
Just to let everybody know that the March issue of Spaceflight will include an article by me. It is a short one, the first of a three-part history of US space nuclear power and propulsion projects. This one is on space propulsion such as Orion and NERVA. The second will be on space power, such as SNAP. And the third will be on the Prometheus program.I'll be honest and confess that the material in part 1 is not new. It is simply a basic overview. The material in the latter parts will be more interesting, however, and much of it has not been published before. For instance, I have pictures of the SNAP-8 reactor mockup, and interesting material on Prometheus. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 01-29-2006 01:01 PM
Just an update: I have an upcoming series on American space nuclear power and propulsion appearing in Spaceflight. Part 1 will be in the March issue. It deals with NERVA, Orion, etc. I have just finished part 2, which deals with the RTGs, SNAP-8, SNAP-10A, and the SP-100 program of the 1980s. That is tentatively scheduled for April.In the course of researching part 2 (which has some new and original material in it), I came across an interesting mention in a 1963 magazine article that stated that the Atomic Energy Commission was considering starting its own space program. They were planning on buying several Atlas rockets and launching their test reactors into orbit. Of course, this never happened, but it is rather intriguing. I suspect that what happened was that AEC was more enthusiastic about space nuclear power than NASA or DoD and was frustrated that neither of those other agencies wanted to fund much test work. So they decided that they might do it on their own. Eventually I will have to start doing some research in old AEC files to learn how realistic their proposal was. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 02-01-2006 04:12 PM
I just wanted to note that the February 2006 issue has an interesting article in it by Alan Lawrie, "When Skylab Was a Rocket." He gets kudos for doing some original research on the construction of the tanks that became the Skylab and Skylab-B workshops. And he has some nice photos that I've never seen before. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 02-03-2006 04:10 AM
Hoping to see a Mars-related (MER) cover of Spaceflight soon. |
Topic Closed
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