Ye Olde Rocket Forum

Go Back   Ye Olde Rocket Forum > Weather-Cocked > FreeForAll
User Name
Password
Auctions Register FAQ Members List Calendar Today's Posts Search Mark Forums Read


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 07-31-2017, 05:35 AM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default 53 years ago today...

Hello All,

53 years ago today, Ranger 7 impacted in the Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds, in an area that was later named the Mare Cognitum [the Known Sea]) on the Moon, returning the first close-up images; this contemporary JPL film (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL9ObreaOE8 ) shows the action in the SFOF (Space Flight Operations Facility) and the Von Karman Auditorium. Also, here (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqLtNzB_S18&t=25s ) is the live coverage of Surveyor 1’s soft landing in the Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms) on June 2, 1966, less than two years later.
__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 07-31-2017, 07:17 AM
tbzep's Avatar
tbzep tbzep is offline
Dazed and Confused
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: TN
Posts: 11,610
Default

I love watching these old documentaries. The things we (USA with new funny sounding citizens) accomplished with slide rules, simple plotters, and just a few k of memory in two or three computers were amazing. I look at N. Korea and shake my head. The thugs in power think they are so bleepin smart and all they've done is semi successfully lofted a few rockets. We bullseyed the moon on the sixth try in 1964. It takes them six tries just to hit the ocean in 2017!
__________________
I love sanding.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 07-31-2017, 07:36 AM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by tbzep
I love watching these old documentaries. The things we (USA with new funny sounding citizens) accomplished with slide rules, simple plotters, and just a few k of memory in two or three computers were amazing. I look at N. Korea and shake my head. The thugs in power think they are so bleepin smart and all they've done is semi successfully lofted a few rockets. We bullseyed the moon on the sixth try in 1964. It takes them six tries just to hit the ocean in 2017!
I've often wondered if they use ocean impact points (there are islands that they could target) because it makes it easy for them to hide the low accuracy of their ballistic missiles; if they say it landed on target, there's no way--short of getting hold of a copy of the pre-launch flight test documentation--that anyone can prove that they lied. But at least they're building and flying space hardware (their Unha-3 launch vehicle uses a two-plane Stage 1/2 separation system like the Saturn 5's); so much of our best hardware was junked, and the SLS just isn't "son of Saturn 5." Hopefully the Falcon Heavy and New Glenn will give us new, practical (and partly reusable), and reliable hardware.
__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 07-31-2017, 09:16 PM
tbzep's Avatar
tbzep tbzep is offline
Dazed and Confused
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: TN
Posts: 11,610
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by blackshire
I've often wondered if they use ocean impact points (there are islands that they could target) because it makes it easy for them to hide the low accuracy of their ballistic missiles;

I'm sure that's a bonus for them, but that only helps when they actually hit the ocean. They've been having them blow up and break up during ascent, so even if those do hit the ocean, they don't count.
About the only missiles that look like they may be consistent performers are the short range stuff that's derived from the Scuds they got back in the 70's.
__________________
I love sanding.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 08-02-2017, 06:05 AM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by tbzep
I'm sure that's a bonus for them, but that only helps when they actually hit the ocean. They've been having them blow up and break up during ascent, so even if those do hit the ocean, they don't count.
About the only missiles that look like they may be consistent performers are the short range stuff that's derived from the Scuds they got back in the 70's.
Yes, clearing the launch site perimeter fence is a pretty low bar (even *we* here can do that, without even trying!). If they wanted to (maybe for orbiting batches of CubeSats for foreign customers, to make money), I'm sure that they could make the Al Abid (the clustered, Scud-derived Iraqi satellite launch vehicle, see: http://www.google.com/search?site=&...1k1.Nx32EVFlykY ) work, given their long experience with Scud and Scud-derived missiles.
__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:05 AM.


Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.0.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe © 1998-2024