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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- AIRS_050825_021.JPG: Gemini Paraglider Research Vehicle 1-A:
From 1962 to 1963, NASA used the Gemini Paraglider Research Vehicle, or Paresev, to develop the technology for landing the two-astronaut Gemini capsule on land, instead of parachuting into the ocean as Mercury capsules had done. The astronauts would release an inflatable paraglider wing and maneuver to a runway or dry lake bed.
Astronauts "Gus" Grissom and Neil Armstrong were among those who piloted the Paresev during hundreds of flights at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The Paresev was towed by a ground vehicle or small aircraft and released at an altitude of 1,500 to 3,700 meters (5,000 to 12,000 feet). It was tested with three different wings; the 1-A is the first configuration. Before the paraglider concept could be fully developed for the Gemini program, NASA decided to stick with the proven technology of parachutes and water landings.
- AIRS_050825_052.JPG: Spartan 201 Satellite:
This flown satellite houses instruments from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Goddard Space Flight Center used to study the Sun during five Shuttle flights from 1993 to 1998. It was placed in space by the Shuttle remote manipulator arm and retrieved each time. Both instruments consist of special telescopes that observed the solar corona, the Sun's faint outer atmosphere. One is a spectrometer that uses internal and external means to block the Sun's photosphere (the Sun's luminous surface) in order to reveal the corona's structure.
- AIRS_050825_123.JPG: John Glenn Training Couch:
Astronauts in Project Mercury, the first U.S. human spaceflight program, experienced very strong "g" forces during acceleration into space and deceleration during reentry into the atmosphere -- up to 11 times Earth's gravity. To better withstand these forces, each astronaut had special form-fitted couches made for their bodies. This couch was used by John H. Glenn, Jr., the first American to orbit the Earth, for "g" training in the centrifuge at the Naval Air Development Center in Johnsville, Pennsylvania, from 1959 to 1962.
To create the couch, a plaster cast was made of the astronaut's body in a sitting position, then that form was used to make the couch out of fiberglass.
- AIRS_050825_146.JPG: Saturn V Instrument Unit:
The Saturn V rocket, which sent astronauts to the Moon, used inertial guidance, a self-contained system that guided the rocket's trajectory. The rocket booster had a guidance system separate from those on the command and lunar modules. It was contained in an instrument unit like this one, a ring located between the rocket's third stage and the command and lunar modules. The ring contained the basic guidance system components -- a stable platform, accelerometers, a digital computer, and control electronics -- as well as radar, telemetry, and other units.
The instrument unit's stable platform was based on the one used in the German V-2 rocket of World War II. The Bendix Corporation produced the platform, while IBM designed and built the unit's digital computer.
- AIRS_050825_151.JPG: Mercury Capsule "Big Joe":
On September 9, 1959, NASA launched this unmanned Mercury spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a suborbital flight that lasted 13 minutes. It was the second Mercury launch and the first using an Atlas booster. The flight helped NASA evaluate the booster, the new ablative heat shield (designed to burn away during reentry to dissipate heat), the capsule's flight dynamics and aerodynamic shape, and spacecraft recovery systems and procedures.
The heavily instrumented "Big Joe" was the most massive American spacecraft launched up to that time. Its interim design was different from the manned version, but its success paved the way for the beginning of manned Mercury launches in 1961.
- AIRS_050825_161.JPG: Someone getting photographed with their gnome in front of the space shuttle. Don't ask.
- AIRS_050825_168.JPG: Gemini Heat Shield Ablated:
The ablative substance of the Gemini heat shield is a paste-like silicone elastomer material, which hardens after being poured into a honeycomb form. It is not known whether this heat shield was used on a Gemini spacecraft for reentry or only scorched in a ground test, perhaps by a rocket engine. The circular marks show where samples were removed afterward for testing, and the resulting holes filled with wooden blocks. In 1970, heat shield manufacturer McDonnell-Douglas gave both of these shields to the Smithsonian on behalf of NASA.
- AIRS_050825_189.JPG: Gemini TTV-1 Paraglider Capsule:
At the start of the Gemini program in 1961, NASA considered having the two-astronaut Gemini capsule land on a runway after its return from space, rather than parachute into the ocean. This controlled descent and landing was to be accomplished by deploying an inflatable paraglider wing. However, NASA later decided to stick with the proven technology of parachutes and water landings.
This full-scale, piloted Test Tow Vehicle (TTV) was built to train Gemini astronaut for flight. It served as the first of two TTVs used to perfect maneuvering, control, and landing techniques. A helicopter released the TTV, with its wing deployed, over the dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, where it landed.
- AIRS_050825_197.JPG: Apollo 11 Flotation Bags:
When an Apollo command module landed in the ocean, it could settle into one of two stable positions: nose up or nose down. Landing nose down left its recovery antennas underwater and increased the possibility that the spacecraft might flood. To turn the command module upright, three inflatable bags were installed in a forward compartment. In the event of a nose-down landing, astronauts could right the spacecraft by inflating the bags using two air compressors located in the aft (blunt) end of the spacecraft.
The three flotation bags attached to the command module trainer at the actual bags used on Apollo 11 at the end of its historic lunar landing mission on July 24, 1969. The astronauts deployed them after the command module settled nose down, enabling the spacecraft to right itself about six and one half minutes after splashdown.
Apollo 11 Flotation Collar:
On July 24, 1969, at the end of its historic Moon landing mission, the Apollo 11 command module Columbia splashed down in the Pacific, about 24 kilometers (15 miles) from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet. Navy swimmers jumped from a recovery helicopter into the water near the command module to stabilize it. They attached and inflated around it a custom-made flotation collar. To the flotation collar they fastened a large, seven-person raft. The three astronauts emerged from the spacecraft, climbed into the raft, and donned special Biological Isolation Garments in preparation for their transfer to a quarantine facility on the Hornet.
The flotation collar attached to this command module trainer is the actual unit deployed during the recovery of Apollo 11.
The craft itself is the Apollo Boilerplate Command Module (described elsewhere).
- AIRS_050825_226.JPG: Under the space shuttle
- AIRS_050825_238.JPG: Manned Maneuvering Unit [to the left above the shuttle nose]:
The manned maneuvering unit (MMU) is a propulsion backpack that gave astronauts mobility for extravehicular activities outside the Space Shuttle. It enabled them to maneuver within the payload bay or fly some distance away without needing safety tethers anchored to the vehicle. The MMU, developed by NASA and Martin Marietta, had 24 small gaseous nitrogen thrusters and was operated with hand controllers on the arms of the unit.
On February 7, 1984, Bruce McCandless tested this unit, MMU #3, by making the first-ever untethered spacewalk -- actually a "space ride" -- as he flow some 90 meters (300 feet) from the Shuttle. It also flew as the backup unit for the Solar Max satellite retrieval and as the prime unit for the Palapa communications satellite retrieval. Bruce McCandless, Robert Stewart, James van Hoften, and Joseph Allen flew MMU #3 a total of 6 hours and 29 minutes during these three 1984 missions. The MMU was not used again.
- AIRS_050825_250.JPG: Little John Missile and Launcher:
A short-range, surface-to-surface U.S. Army missile, the Little John was much lighter and more mobile that its larger predecessor, the Honest John. Both missile and launcher were portable enough to be carried aboard helicopters and other aircraft.
The Little John was developed by the Army's Rocket and Guided Missile Agency laboratory at Huntsville, Alabama. The missile could be fitted with either a conventional or nuclear warhead. The Army evaluated the system in 1958 at Fort Knox, Kentucky, but because of some shortcomings, the Little John did not become operational until late 1961. It remained in service only briefly.
- AIRS_050825_263.JPG: Pegasus XL Launch Vehicle:
Named after the winged horse of Greek mythology, the Pegasus XL is a later version of the first U.S. air-launched orbital launch vehicle. A modified Lockheed L-1011 or another airplane carries the three-stage vehicle to its launch altitude of 12,000 meters (39,000 feet). Pegasus is then released; it glides to a safe distance, where its rocket engine ignites and accelerates it to orbital velocity. It can place a small 450-kilogram (1,000-pound) class satellite into Earth orbit.
Developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation, Pegasus was first used in 1990. Since then, it has successfully launched dozens of satellites. The vehicle displayed here includes the wing of a Pegasus flown into space and recovered in 2000, as well as the first-stage rocket motor used in ground testing the XL version in 1994. This Pegasus is named "Maggie" after the daughter of Orbital's co-founder and chairman.
- AIRS_050825_273.JPG: AGM-86B Cruise Missile:
This is a flight test version of the AGM-86B, the second-generation U.S. Air Force air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) deployed on B-52 bombers. Designed to attack ground targets, the missile can carry a nuclear warhead, had a turbofan jet engine, flies at subsonic speeds, and uses an inertial navigation system with terrain contour-matching radar. This permits it to fly close to the ground, making it difficult for enemy radar to detect.
Over 1,700 AGM-86Bs were produced in 1980-86; none has ever been used in combat. After production ended, some were converted to AGM-86Cs with conventional warheads and a navigation system assisted by Global Positioning System satellites. These newer ALCMs have been used extensively from the Gulf War to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
- AIRS_050825_287.JPG: Corporal Missile:
The Corporal (also designated SSM-A-17) was the first U.S. operational guided missile. The liquid-fuel Corporal was equipped with either a conventional or an atomic warhead. It was guided in part by a beam-riding guidance system and gyro-controlled graphite jet exhaust vanes.
Development began in 1944 by the California Institute of Technology's Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory. The first successful Corporal was fired in 1947; however, because of slow development, it did not become operational until 1954. The Corporal was furnished to the U.S. and British armies, and two Corporal battalions were also stationed in Italy. The missile went out of service in 1966.
- AIRS_050825_295.JPG: Fritz X Guided Bomb
- AIRS_050825_313.JPG: Nike-Ajax Missile:
The Nike-Ajax was the first U.S. operational surface-to-air missile. It included a powerful solid-fuel booster and a second (sustainer) stage, which used a liquid-fuel engine. Nike missile batteries were stationed at many U.S. cities and were America's primary defensive weapon throughout the early Cold War.
Nike-Ajax development began in 1945, and the missile became operational in 1953. Production ceased in 1958 with the transition to the newer, more powerful, all solid-fuel Nike-Hercules missile.
- AIRS_050825_332.JPG: Regulus I Cruise Missile
- AIRS_050825_340.JPG: AGM-86A Cruise Missile
- AIRS_050825_353.JPG: Hs 298 V2 Missile:
Dr. Herbert Wagner's missile group at Henschel Aircraft designed the small, experimental Hs 298 air-to-air missile. A Schmidding solid rocket propelled the missile for about 25 seconds, and the pilot in the launch aircraft guided it using a joystick and transmitter.
The initial Hs 298 V1 design, first tested in 1944, had a different wing, square fins, a warhead on top, and a generator propeller below. Henschel built more than 300 V1s and over 100 V2s, but the project was cancelled in early 1945 in favor of the Ruhrstahl X-4, which performed better. The Smithsonian obtained this missile from the U.S. Navy in 1948.
- AIRS_050825_362.JPG: Blohm und Voss Bv 246B Hagelkorn:
An experimental German air-to-surface glide bomb of World War II, the Hagelkorn (Hailstone) used guidance systems developed for other missiles and guided bombs. It was designed to be released by an aircraft, such as a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, Heinkel He 111, or Junkers Ju 188, then glide to its target (it had no propulsion system) up to 210 kilometers (130 miles) away.
A gyroscopic autopilot provided stability. Some versions were to be guided by a radio beam transmitted from the carrier aircraft or by a radar homing device in the missile's nose. The long, narrow wings provided a very shallow 1:25 gliding angle. Due to many technical problems, no Hagelkorns were ever used in combat.
- AIRS_050825_395.JPG: Bat Missile:
The Bat was one of the most sophisticated U.S. missiles of World War II. A glide bomb, it was carried by Navy PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bombers or other aircraft and was designed to destroy ships and off-shore targets.
The Bat carried a 454-kilogram (1,000-pound) warhead and was released from its carrier aircraft within a 24-32 kilometer (15-20 mile) range of its target. A controllable tail elevator, drive by autopilot servo motors, steered the missile. A radar-homing system guided it to its target. Bat missiles destroyed several Japanese ships off Borneo in May 1945. Their operational life ceased at the war's end.
- AIRS_050825_404.JPG: HS 117 Schmetterling Missile
- AIRS_050825_408.JPG: Hs 293 A-1 Missile:
Germany developed the Hs 293 air-launched missile in World War II for use against ships or ground targets. It was basically a glide bomb assisted by a liquid-fuel rocket that fired for 10 seconds. The Hs 293 was carried under the wings or in the bomb bay of an He 111, He 177, Fw 200, or Do 217 aircraft. Its warhead was a modified SC 500 bomb containing Trialene 105 high explosive. A bombardier guided the missile by means of a joy stick and radio control.
Beginning in mid-1943, He 293s sank several Allied ships, mostly in the Mediterranean theater. Although Germany developed many experimental versions, only the Hs 293 A-1 was produced in quantity.
- AIRS_050825_415.JPG: Rheintochter R I Missile:
The Rheintochter (Rhine Maiden) R I was an experimental German two-stage antiaircraft missile tested in the last years of World War II. Built by the Rheinmetall-Borsig company for the Luftwaffe, it was one of the largest solid-fuel rockets of the war. The R I was to be supplanted by the R III, a liquid-fuel missile with two side-mounted solid-fuel boosters that enabled it to reach a higher altitude. However, only six R IIIs were ever launched, as opposed to 82 R I missiles.
The Smithsonian acquired this Rheintochter R I from the U.S. Navy in 1969. It was displayed in the National Air and Space Museum from 1976 to the early 1980s. In 2002 it was restored to its original condition and paint scheme for exhibit at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
- AIRS_050825_428.JPG: Gargoyle Missile:
The Gargoyle radio-controlled, air-to-surface missile was designed for the U.S. Navy during World War II for use against ships. Launched from carrier-based planes, it carried a 450-kilogram (1,000-pound) warhead. It was powered by a standard Aerojet solid-fuel 8AS1000E JATO (Jet-Assisted-Take-Off) rocket that fired for eight seconds.
The rocket was initially tested from March to July 1945 and was therefore too late to be used in the war. However, testing continued, especially of its autopilot and other components, until the project's cancellation in 1947.
- AIRS_050825_477.JPG: Gordon IIC Missile:
The Gorgon IIC ship-to-surface missile was one of a family of missiles developed during World War II by the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics. It was powered by a pulsejet, much like the one used on Germany's V-1 missile. However, like other Gorgons, the IIC was developed late in the war and never became operational.
The Gorgon IIC was converted into a control test vehicle and used to test missile head-homing and radar-homing systems and techniques. Altogether, about 100 were built and tested, starting in September 1946. This may be the only one left.
- AIRS_050825_489.JPG: Gorgon IV Target Drone:
Although it never became operational, the Gorgon IV is considered the first successful U.S. ramjet missile. The subsonic, air-launched Gorgon IV was developed beginning in 1946 as an air-to-surface missile. This one and several others were modified for use as target drones by the Glenn L. Martin Company, contractor for the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics. The drones were launched from standard bomb racks mounted on P-61 aircraft.
Twelve test slights of Gorgon IVs -- half of them camouflaged as drones -- were made at the Naval Air Missile Test Center, Point Mugu, California. The tests went well, and by late 1948 the Navy began fitting the USS Norton Sound for trial launches of the missile from the ship's deck. However, the project was canceled in December 1949.
- AIRS_050825_523.JPG: Loki-Dart Sounding Rocket:
The Loki-Dart was the sounding rocket version of the Loki surface-to-air spin-stabilized missile, which the U.S. Army briefly used as a barrage weapon in 1949. The Loki was small. light, powerful for its size, and inexpensive. Because of these attributes, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the State University of Iowa adapted it for upper atmospheric sounding and meteorological work. This variant of the rocket includes a Super Loki first stage and standard Dart payload.
The Loki-Dart was designed to measure temperature and wind velocity up to an altitude of 65 kilometers (40 miles), although the Super Loki-Dart could travel farther. The Loki burned out at 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) or more and then dropped off, while the Dart inert payload section continued on a ballistic trajectory up to peak altitude and conducted its measurements.
- AIRS_050825_527.JPG: Left to right:
(1) Loki-Dart Sounding Rocket:
(2) F-23 Ramjet Research Vehicle,
(3) Far Side Sounding Rocket, and
(4) Nike-Cajun Sounding Rocket.
Descriptions:
Loki-Dart Sounding Rocket:
The Loki-Dart was the sounding rocket version of the Loki surface-to-air spin-stabilized missile, which the U.S. Army briefly used as a barrage weapon in 1949. The Loki was small. light, powerful for its size, and inexpensive. Because of these attributes, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the State University of Iowa adapted it for upper atmospheric sounding and meteorological work. This variant of the rocket includes a Super Loki first stage and standard Dart payload.
The Loki-Dart was designed to measure temperature and wind velocity up to an altitude of 65 kilometers (40 miles), although the Super Loki-Dart could travel farther. The Loki burned out at 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) or more and then dropped off, while the Dart inert payload section continued on a ballistic trajectory up to peak altitude and conducted its measurements.
F-23 Ramjet Research Vehicle:
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) used the F-23 to test ramjet engines under actual flight conditions in 1950-54 at NACA's Wallops Island, Virginia, research facility. Each ramjet pod produced a thrust of 4,150 newtons (1,000 pounds) using acetylene and rammed-in air. The missile reached supersonic speeds at altitudes up to 48,600 meters (159,000 feet). The F-23 also made important contributions in testing various ramjet fuels.
Far Side Sounding Rocket:
Project Far Side was a series of six low-cost, four-stage sounding rockets built and used in 1957. Each was launched from a carrier balloon 60 meters (200 feet) in diameter. When the balloon reached its maximum altitude of about 30,500 meters (100,000 feet), the rocket fired and launched upward through the balloon. Each Far Side rocket carried a payload of scientific instruments weighing up to 2.3 kilograms (5 pounds) for measuring cosmic rays, electromagnetic radiation, interplanetary gases, and other phenomena. Far Side rockets may have flown as high as 6,440 meters (4,000 miles).
Nike-Cajun Sounding Rocket:
The Nike-Cajun was one of the most widely used sounding rockets ,vehicles that launch scientific research experiments into the upper atmosphere. The two-stage rocket used a Nike-Ajax missile booster as its first stage and a Cajun rocket as its second stage. It could carry a payload up to about 160 kilometers (100 miles).
Scientists launched instruments on Nike-Cajuns to analyze the composition o the upper atmosphere and to study radiation, weather, and solar phenomena. The instruments relayed their data by radio and parachuted to recovery. Nike-Cajuns were used from 1956 until 1976 and especially during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58.
- AIRS_050825_544.JPG: Lark Missile:
The Lark was an early U.S. Navy surface-to-air, liquid-fuel missile, usually launched from ships by a solid-fuel booster. Design began in 1944, but the missile was not developed in time for use in World War II. It did served as a test vehicle from 1946 to 1952 and provided U.S. military personnel with valuable experience in the handling and deployment of missiles. The Lark was the first U.S. surface-to-air missile to intercept a moving target. This missile is fitted with an unusual double-booster arrangement with boxlike fins. Each booster produced 49,300 newtons (11,000 pounds) of thrust for two seconds.
- AIRS_050825_560.JPG: RIM-8J Talos Missile
- AIRS_050825_593.JPG: Katydid Drone:
The Katydid was a pulsejet-powered, reusable radio-controlled U.S. Navy target drone of the post-World War II era. It was named Katydid, an insect of the grasshopper family, probably because this animal has narrow wings and produces a loud, pulsating sound like a pulsejet. The Katydid's pulsejet was adapted from that of the German V-1 missile of World War II. The Katydid was designed for antiaircraft and air-to-air gunnery practice and could fly about 400 kilometers (250 miles) per hour.
- AIRS_050825_616.JPG: Homing Overlay Experiment Test Vehicle:
Lockheed built this unflown antiballistic missile (ABM) test vehicle for the U.S. Army's Homing Overlay Equipment (HOE). Earlier U.S. ABMs were designed to destroy an enemy missile by detonating a nuclear or conventional warhead. The HOE vehicle destroyed it by physical impact, a concept known as "hit-to-kill". After the vehicle separated from its booster, its guidance system identified and locked on to the incoming missile and directed the vehicle to strike the missile.
On the final HOE test in 1984, a vehicle intercepted a dummy warhead at an altitude of over 160 kilometers (100 miles) -- the first successful demonstration of hit-to-kill technology in space. The United States now has much smaller hit-to-kill vehicles, such as those on the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 ABM, used inn Operation Iraqi Freedom, and on the Ground-Based Interceptor ABM, deployed beginning in 2004.
- AIRS_050825_621.JPG: Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Payload:
In 2000, Space Shuttle Endeavor carried into orbit the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) payload, a novel hardware system used to produce a highly detailed three-dimensional map of more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface. The mast canister and outboard structure and antennas displayed here were crucial components of that payload.
SRTM featured a main antenna in the Shuttle payload bay, a folding mast 60 meters (197 feet) long, and another antenna at the end of the mast. This dual antenna system -- the largest rigid structure then flown in space -- produced 3-D mapping through interferometry, a technique for combining data obtained separately by the two antennas. SRTM was a joint undertaking of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Defense Department's National Imagery and Mapping Agency. The military will use the highest resolution data for terrain navigation for airplanes and cruise missiles. Lower resolution data will be made available to civilian scientists and others.
- AIRS_050825_634.JPG: Antisatellite Missile
- AIRS_050825_645.JPG: TM-61C Matador Cruise Missile
The TM-61C was the second version of the surface-to-surface U.S. Air Force Matador cruise missile. It carried a nuclear warhead and flew at subsonic speeds at an altitude of up to 13 kilometers (8 miles). The TM-61C was boosted during its launch by a solid-fuel rocket engine (not displayed here), which fired for less than three seconds and was then jettisoned. A jet engine then powered it the rest of the way to the target. Ground-based microwave emitters assisted the missile in finding its target. However, these limited the missile's range to that of line-of-sight transmissions and could be jammed.
The TM-61C was deployed at various sites in Europe and Asia from 1957 to 1962 and was replaced by the more advanced Mace cruise missile.
- AIRS_050825_669.JPG: Styx Missile
- AIRS_050825_691.JPG: Agena-B Upper Stage:
The Agena-B upper stage was used during the 1960s as an orbital injection vehicle for Midas and other satellites and as an intermediate stage booster for Ranger and early Mariner space probes. It was fitted on Thor or Atlas-D launch vehicles, when then became known as Thor-Agena and Atlas-Agena.
Most notably, the Agena-B also served from 1960 to 1963 as the Corona photoreconnaissance satellite, which flew under the cover name Discoverer. The Agena-B used a restartable and gimballed liquid-fuel rocket engine made by the Bell Aerospace Company. On one side, through the window toward the front, you can see one of the Agena's Earth-sky infrared scanners. This cylindrical optical device kept the vehicle on the right flight path in relation to the horizon.
(In front)
Atlas-Agena Launch Console:
This is part of the suite of consoles used to launch Atlas missiles from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, in the 1970s and '80s. The Atlas was a liquid-fuel, intercontinental ballistic missile designed as a weapon but also used to launch Mercury astronauts into space. Atlas missiles also launched unmanned military and commercial payloads. The Air Force tested Atlas missiles at Vandenberg, launching them on trajectories over the Pacific Ocean.
- AIRS_050825_712.JPG: UNIVAC 1232 Computer:
This computer was used from about 1967 through 1990 by the U.S. Air Force's Satellite Control Facility in Sunnyvale, California, in the heart of "Silicon Valley." At this facility, now called Onizuka Air Station, more than a dozen other Sperry 1230-series computers operated in "real time" around the clock as part of a system that controlled and operated satellites for the Air Force, NASA, other government agencies, and commercial firms. The 1232 also supported Space Shuttle missions.
Manufactured by Sperry Univac's St. Paul, Minnesota, division, the 1232 was a military version of the UNIVAC 490 general purpose commercial computer. It used discrete transistors, was optimized for real-time use, had a 30-bit word length, and initially was supplied with 32,000 words of memory -- about 123 kilobytes.
- AIRS_050825_718.JPG: CDC 3800 Computer:
This CDC 3800 was used at the Consolidated Space Test Center in Sunnyvale, California, to operate reconnaissance and other Air Force satellites from the 1960s through the early 1990s. For many years, the very existence of this center was kept secret. But as the Cold War wound down, the center was publicly acknowledged and given the name Onizuka Air Force Base.
The CDC 3800 was a large mainframe computer optimized for handling problems that required a lot of numeric processing. Control Data Corporation of Minneapolis-St. Paul introduced the 3800 in the early 1960s. The 48-bit computer used discrete transistors for logic, had a memory of 128 kilobytes, and had a 48-bit word length. A full system cost about $1.9 million.
- AIRS_050825_741.JPG: MIDAS Series III Infrared Sensor
- AIRS_050825_755.JPG: AGM-76A Falcon Missile:
This is a rare air-to-ground version of the Falcon missile, which usually was used as an air-to-air weapon. The missile has tufts of string attached to show how air flowed over it during aerodynamic tests.
The AGM-76 was designed during the 1960s for use on the North American F-108 fighter. But when the aircraft was cancelled, the AGM-76 was transferred to the Lockheed F-12. However, this aircraft too was cancelled, thereby ending development of the AGM-76.
- AIRS_050825_794.JPG: Caltech Infrared Telescope:
Astronomers and students at the California Institute of Technology built this reflecting telescope in the early 1960s to survey the sky for infrared radiation sources. Its 1.6-meter (62-inch) parabolic mirror was made using a technique called spin casting. Epoxy Resin was poured onto a rapidly rotating disk and spun into a perfectly parabolic shape. After the resin hardened, an aluminum coating was applied to provide a reflective surface.
The telescope could survey about 75 percent of the sky in a year, and it had an electromechanical system to filter out background radiation. Data were collected on strip charts. Astronomers inspected the charts to locate infrared sources, then they keyed that data onto paper tape for computer processing. After its installment at Mount Wilson Observatory, the telescope was used to compete the first 2.2-micron all-sky survey.
- AIRS_050825_824.JPG: Vega Solar System Probe Bus and Landing Apparatus
- AIRS_050825_832.JPG: IUE Control and Display System.
This is the shell of a control and display unit for the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite, which operated from 1978 to 1996. The unit was the first of five engineering control consoles designed and built by the Bendix Corporation for NASA and the European Space Agency.
The center section is a typical instrument console with two monitors, a keyboard, and a joystick. Facades simulating a microcomputer and disk drive are attached at the right. The unit was refurbished in 1982 for display in the National Air and Space Museum's Stars gallery. Instrument facades, a keyboard, a teleprinter, and a working CRT were added to simulate a working IUE console.
- AIRS_050825_844.JPG: Ritchey Mirror Grinding Machine:
George Willis Ritchey built this mirror grinding machine at the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin in the late 1890s. It was used to grind a 60-inch mirror for a telescope initially intended for Yerkes. The grinding machine was moved to Pasadena in 1904 to complete work on the mirror. In the 1920s, the machine ended up at the California Institute of Technology. Caltech sold it to the University of California's Lick Observatory in 1949. Astronomers there extensively modified it and used it to make many mirrors over the next four decades. Lick Observatory donated it to the Smithsonian in 1993.
- AIRS_050825_847.JPG: Mars Pathfinder Lander and Sojourner Rover:
Mars Pathfinder was the first spacecraft to land on the red planet since the two Viking landers in 1976. It was launched on December 4, 1996, and reached Mars on July 4, 1997. The spacecraft entered the planet's thin atmosphere, was slowed by a parachute and then rockets, and landed by bouncing on inflated airbags. Its protective aeroshell then unfolded to provide three flat platforms, one of which held the Sojourner rover. Sojourner traveled down a ramp, studied the Martian surface, took images, and examined surface composition with an x-ray spectrometer.
The lander and airbags displayed here are full-scale engineering prototypes. The rover is a full-scale, nonfunctional model built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for exhibit at the Museum.
- AIRS_050825_869.JPG: Ritchey Mirror Grinding Machine (top view)
- AIRS_050825_903.JPG: Redstone Missile:
The first U.S. large-scale, liquid-fuel missile to become operational, the Redstone was one of the most historically important developments in U.S. rocket technology. The Jupiter-C, a Redstone modified with greater thrust and upper stages, placed Explorer I, the first U.S. artificial satellite, into orbit in 1958. In 1961, a further modified Mercury-Redstone rocket launched the first American into space, Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
The Redstone made its first successful flight in 1953 and became operational in 1958. As a missile, it had a range of 320-400 kilometers (200-250 miles) and could carry a conventional or nuclear warhead. The all-solid-fuel Pershing missile replaced the Redstone in 1964. The rocket displayed here is a partial cutaway.
- AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
- Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.)
I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com
and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
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- Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].
