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Author
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Topic: British Interplanetary Society's Spaceflight
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Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 02-07-2006 01:26 PM
   
Okay, so here's a question:I have previously mentioned my new series of articles on American space nuclear power and propulsion programs. The series is: part 1-nuclear space propulsion (Orion, NERVA, etc.)
part 2-nuclear space power (SNAP, SP-100, etc.)
part 3-Prometheus I recently came across some interesting material from the mid-1960s on proposals for using the Russian Topaz-II reactor for interplanetary missions. My impression is that this was the Russians shopping around their technology after the American research project ended. I'm thinking of doing that as an additional article in the series. So should I do that as part 4, or should I insert it as a part 2.5 and do it before the Prometheus article? I haven't decided either way, but am trying to gauge the interest out there. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 02-08-2006 08:53 AM
Awaiting the part 1 in March issue but I guess you should try to keep it in historic chronology? |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 02-08-2006 02:08 PM
[sound of crickets chirping]I just got the page proofs for part 2 this morning. That will appear in April, but I don't think that I will be able to follow up with part 3 in May. It may have to wait a month or two because it's a bigger article and will require some more work. I may also try to talk to somebody I know who was intimately involved in Prometheus. As to the order, I've decided to do the report on the mid-1990s study after the Prometheus article. I was looking at the report last night and it's got some really interesting stuff in it. They evaluated a Mercury lander and a Pluto rendezvous, two missions that I have never seen proposed in any other setting. Lots of nice line drawings of the various spacecraft configurations, but I know that too many line drawings in a magazine don't look good. Meanwhile, I do have several other interesting shorter articles in the works for Spaceflight. One is my recounting of a visit to the old Scout launch facility SLC-5. I took a bunch of photos there, plus I have some illustrations of the facility, which is still in good shape despite having been closed for over a decade. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 02-15-2006 04:58 PM
I just got the latest issue of Spaceflight. (This one has my first article on space nuclear power in it.) Two of my photos of SpaceShip One in the Smithsonian appear here, but they look less good than I had hoped.The issue also features an article by Joel Powell and Chuck Walker on Project SCORE. Joel does great work. I have not read the article yet, but I'm sure it's good. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 02-20-2006 08:13 AM
Already looking forward to the second part of your article Dwayne. Superb how you always get 1950s and 1960s photos into your work! |
ALAIN
Member Posts: 355
From: GENT, Belgium
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 02-24-2006 10:52 AM
Did anyone already get the March 2006 issue? |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 02-24-2006 11:19 AM
quote:
Originally posted by ALAIN:
Did anyone already get the March 2006 issue?
I believe that my copy arrived last week, but I get them express-mailed because I wrote for this one. However, usually, my copies and the subscriber copies go out in the same week in the UK. (They take much longer to reach the US.) |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 02-24-2006 11:32 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Philip:
Superb how you always get 1950s and 1960s photos into your work!
I picked up my taste in photos when I worked for the photo editor of Air and Space magazine. She gave me an appreciation of providing interesting illustrations for an article.Just recently I put the finishing touches on Part 2 of the nuclear power/propulsion article. It has a few nice older photos in that one as well, plus some good pictures of the RTG used on the New Horizons Pluto mission. I found the latter ones on the KSC photo website and although they are not the best pics in the world, it is interesting to see how the RTG is handled. Simply put, even though it is a nuclear power source, they do not use special protection for it. It is not highly radioactive. In fact, the primary concern is apparently to not break it, rather than to shield from radiation. The older photos that I used in part 2 come from several sources, but primarily from NASA's history archives. I have some nice images of SNAP-10A (a great launch photo, by the way), and an image of a SNAP-8 nuclear reactor model. I also have several line drawings of the Topaz-II reactor, and notional nuclear powered spacecraft from the 1950s and 1960s. On that note, during a recent trip to the archives (about a half mile from my office), I found some more neat stuff. Totally by accident I stumbled across some more SNAP-8 illustrations. They were actually in the still image archive and they were mislabeled as NERVA/ROVER images. I opened up the photo book and there they were (I was not even looking for NERVA stuff). And while flipping through the book, I came across some outstanding launch photos of a Saturn IB (I think it was SA-6). These are so neat that I'm going to write an article around them simply because they deserve to be seen by a wider audience. On a similar note, while in the archives looking for some Scout launch photos, I came across some really nice photos of the Scout facility at Wallops Island. I may have to acquire those and write an article around them. Part 2 of the nuclear space article will appear in the April issue, but part 3 will have to wait a little bit. Part 3 is going to focus on Prometheus, and I have a lot of inside information on that project and why it failed. That is just a much more intense writing job than the previous two parts (actually, I was originally going to do them all together as one big article, but I realized that the Prometheus stuff is the most important, and so I turned it into a series). I am hoping to run an article about the SLC-5 Scout launch site at Vandenberg in the interim. I got a tour of the facility in November, and took a lot of photos. The launch complex is in good shape and I described its condition in an article. In addition, I may have something else in the near future that will be a nice surprise. It is based upon some new photos that just arrived in the mail and that nobody has seen before. I'm writing an article around them right now and hoping to submit it soon. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 02-26-2006 03:25 AM
I got the March 2006 for the same reason (wrote the NH article) but didn't get my subscription issues yet? |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 03-07-2006 10:40 AM
Here's the April 2006 preview.
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Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 03-07-2006 06:57 PM
Looks like somebody got his MER cover, huh? |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 03-08-2006 07:39 AM
 |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 03-16-2006 03:16 PM
My article about SLC-5, the Scout launch pad at Vandenberg, may be delayed. Instead, an upcoming article will be something that I co-wrote with Colin Burgess about the Discoverer monkey program. Colin and I managed to locate some interesting information on the project as well as some truly great photographs. We've got pictures of the hardware, the trainers, and the three monkeys that were selected for the flights (no more than two flights were ever planned). We don't yet have many of the programmatic details. For instance, I read somewhere that the life support system development fell behind schedule. And we do not know when the flights were originally planned and why they slipped. But there's a lot of information here that has never appeared anywhere before. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 03-20-2006 04:11 PM
Has anybody bought BIS's magazine cases for holding back issues? I was thinking about doing it, but I do not know if it makes any sense. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 04-13-2006 12:08 PM
I haven't seen the May issue yet, but I believe that my article on the Scout launch complex at Vandenberg will probably be in the June issue. An article that I co-wrote with Colin Burgess on the Discoverer monkeys program will be in a future issue as well. That one has some great photos, including pictures of the three monkeys that were selected to fly in the program, but never did.After that I'm debating on what to do next. I have to finish my series on nuclear power and propulsion with a final article on Prometheus. However, the information on Prometheus/JIMO has increased substantially in the past month, including the release of the final report. This information is astounding and indicates that the program was far more out of control than I (or anyone else) ever thought. As much as I would like to finish this one up, it's clear that the subject deserves some careful work. I have two other articles in near-completion. One is a secret. The other is on the Blue Gemini and MODS military space programs and will amplify the work I ran on The Space Review a month or so back. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 04-14-2006 01:39 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Dwayne Day:
I haven't seen the May issue yet...
Click the issue for its contents. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 04-26-2006 08:57 AM
Last week I saw the page proofs for my next Spaceflight article. It is on the SLC-5 Scout launch facility at Vandenberg. I got a tour of the place back in November and took a lot of photos. Beautiful weather. Wish that I had been slightly better prepared, because it was perfect photography weather.The article is rather short, but it does include a complete list of Scout launches from that facility, provided by Jonathan McDowell. This article prompted me to do some digging at NASA archives and I came across a ton of great photos of the Wallops Island Scout complex and scanned them. Now I need to write several articles around them. There's some really unique images there. |
Rex Hall
Member Posts: 170
From: London, England
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted 04-26-2006 11:52 AM
On June the 10th at BIS HQ is the annual Russian and Chinese Forum. Speakers this year include Brian Harvey, Phillip Clark, Bert Vis , Bart Hendrickx, Asif Siddiqi and Dwayne Day. For UK cS who want to attend you can do so via the BIS web site. It is an all day your event. I will be chairing it and I am looking forward to meeting Dwayne and Asif for the first time.Regards
Rex |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3161
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 04-26-2006 11:36 PM
Wow! That's one amazing lineup! Anyone interested in space history, that's quite a summit meeting! |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 04-28-2006 01:06 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Rex Hall:
I will be chairing it and I am looking forward to meeting Dwayne and Asif for the first time.
And the opposite is true as well.Er, okay, I know Asif quite well, but I'm looking forward to meeting the others, including Rex Hall. Unfortunately, due to a work commitment in Houston the following week, I'll probably have to leave London the day after the event, although I'm planning on spending perhaps June 8-10 in London after touring southern England with my girlfriend. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 06-01-2006 05:25 PM
I'm putting the finishing touches on my presentation for the June 10 BIS meeting. Hopping on an airplane Saturday to head to the UK. Gonna spend a week playing tourist and then showing up at the BIS offices (wherever they are--I was last there 17 years ago).FYI, the article on the Discoverer monkey program will appear in the July issue. I also have submitted several other articles as well, including one on the space pen and other apocryphal stories, and another article on the RS-68 engine versus the F-1 for the Cargo Launch Vehicle. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 06-27-2006 09:19 AM
An overview of the recent BIS Soviet/Russian/Chinese space history symposium: Cosmos unmasked: studying Soviet and Russian space history in the 21st century
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ed zigoy
Member Posts: 31
From: Portland,OR,USA
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 06-28-2006 10:03 PM
An excellent overview of the recent forum. Looking forward to seeing the papers published by the BIS. Hope Bart's BOR-4 paper includes the deck shots of the P-3 fly over! |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 06-30-2006 11:59 AM
Bart had some great BOR-4 photos. I thought that the shots from the deck of the Soviet freighter were the best. Really dramatic. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 07-20-2006 12:11 PM
A short update on some upcoming articles. My article on apocryphal space stories will appear in the September issue of Spaceflight. And I was guest editor of the issue of Space Chronicle (JBIS) that is coming out soon. That issue is devoted to Cold War military space history. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 07-28-2006 04:48 PM
Check out The Space Review on Monday, where I'll have an article discussing the upcoming issue of Space Chronicle on Cold War military space history. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 07-31-2006 09:50 AM
The Cold War in space "The Journal of the British Interplanetary Society has been published for over seven decades, making it the oldest space-related journal in existence. JBIS is published monthly and usually contains articles on advanced concepts and technologies—its most famous article appeared in the late 1930s and outlined a manned mission to the Moon using many of the same techniques ultimately developed for Apollo three decades later. For the past four years JBIS has also published a supplement known as Space Chronicle, which addresses more general subjects. Space Chronicle is published twice a year and past issues have focused on the history of the Soviet space program, among other topics. The next issue, due to be released soon, is dedicated to Cold War military space history." |
ed zigoy
Member Posts: 31
From: Portland,OR,USA
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 07-31-2006 10:06 PM
Is this going to be labeled as "part 5"? |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 08-01-2006 12:30 PM
quote:
Originally posted by ed zigoy:
Is this going to be labeled as "part 5"?
No. I don't think number 4 was labeled as such either. I was originally asked by Len Carter back around 1997-1998 to do a space policy issue of JBIS. I proposed a Cold War milspace history issue instead and he agreed. My initial issue was split in two because it was too long. That's how we ended up with 1 and 2. I think that they did the same for the "second" issue, which became #3. Then they stuck the second half into a double issue of JBIS with some non-milspace articles. That's technically #4. Man, this is boring, huh? Anyway, there are some really good articles in those issues and I'm very happy that I was able to get them into print. In particular, there are a couple of memoirs by early pioneers in the Air Force space and CORONA programs that are great pieces of history. They provide a lot of information that was never available before. This new issue of Space Chronicle has some good information in it as well, and I am talking to some authors about the possibility of doing another one. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 08-11-2006 11:10 AM
The September issue of Spaceflight just showed up at my door. This one has my article about space stories that just are not true.I still have not seen the new issue of Space Chronicle that I edited yet, but have been told that it is now out. |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 08-11-2006 12:49 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Dwayne Day:
I still have not seen the new issue of Space Chronicle that I edited yet, but have been told that it is now out.
There's an "ad" for it on page 331 of Spaceflight's September issue. Gee, another publication! You can't subscribe to everything (for ex. Spaceflight, JBIS, Space Chronicle) let alone read everything... Chris. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 09-10-2006 02:41 AM
"Space Stories That Aren't True" is a great article Dwayne! |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 09-11-2006 01:53 PM
Thank you, that is most kind.I think that I was prompted to write that while walking through the Air & Space Museum, where I noticed the new, and inaccurate, sign in front of the Soviet space capsule. I told them about the mislabeled object back in 1999 or so and nobody fixed it. Now it was clear that they had put new signs on a lot of the objects, and this one was still mislabeled. That prompted me to dig through my files for information on other myths of the space age. I collected a number of documents about the "space pen" several years ago, and also documents about the space pencil on the Gemini spacecraft. And I was aware of the John Glenn "go at seven orbits" story as well. So I consolidated all of them into a single article. There are certainly many other space myths out there. I asked for some examples in an online article a few months ago, but the response was not that great. I wanted examples of false stories that have been mentioned in print numerous times. But the only suggestions that I received were rather vague "lots of people believe this stuff" stories that I could not document. Lots of people believe lots of ridiculous things, but I need examples that made it into print. (Oh, and I did not want to repeat the old story about the Great Wall of China being the only manmade object that you can see from space.) |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 09-30-2006 02:52 PM
Looking forward to the December 2006 issue |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 10-01-2006 08:19 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Dwayne Day:
So I consolidated all of them into a single article.
Dwayne, my thanks to you too. Believe (!?) or not, I thought (and was told by a friend) that the million dollar space pen was a true story. I thought the Challenger accident opened up my eyes to not believing everything you hear or read but apparently I never questioned the pen thing... Chris. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 10-02-2006 09:34 AM
quote:
Originally posted by cspg:
Believe (!?) or not, I thought (and was told by a friend) that the million dollar space pen was a true story.
I actually heard the story repeated by somebody who has written quite a few books about space. I cringed when I heard him.As I pointed out in the article, somebody may have spent a million dollars developing the pen, but it was private money, not government money. And the pens certainly do not cost a million dollars apiece. (I'm not even sure of that million dollars number. That might be high considering the time. I'm skeptical that the development costs were that much.) |
art540
Member Posts: 432
From: Orange, California USA
Registered: Sep 2006
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posted 10-02-2006 07:48 PM
Dwayne, I eagerly await any and all of your articles. I know the book will be the ultimate work but letting us know something as it is released from classified status is better than waiting for the definitive book. Thanks for sharing it all with us. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 10-12-2006 10:43 AM
BIS Spaceflight magazine will celebrate its 50th anniversary in the November 2006 issue!Happy Birthday! Philip Corneille
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art540
Member Posts: 432
From: Orange, California USA
Registered: Sep 2006
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posted 10-12-2006 11:48 AM
I just want Dwayne to know I keep my subscription to Spaceflight primarily because of his articles and those of Joel Powell. It is a shame many of the actual participants in those days did not get their stories written or published. |
Dwayne Day
Member Posts: 532
From:
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 10-13-2006 09:41 AM
quote:
Originally posted by art540:
I just want Dwayne to know I keep my subscription to Spaceflight primarily because of his articles and those of Joel Powell.
Thank you, that is most kind. I don't have anything in the next couple of issues, but there is an article in a near-term issue concerning the Apollo Applications Program that is rather interesting. It is written by a colleague of mine, who did some original research and discovered how unrealistic the early AAP plans were. |
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