Episodes Tagged with "California"

Apr 23

Space Rocket History #110 – Early Apollo Command Module Design

Posted on April 23, 2015

The Apollo contract specified a shirt-sleeve environment. For this reason, North American was told not to include in its design a hatch that opened by explosives, like Mercury’s. An accidentally blown hatch in space would cause an instant vacuum and ...

The impact facility at North American was used to drop-test the CM

Selection of Little Joe II completed the Apollo family of launch vehicles.

Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, and Walter Schirra in 1963 inspect a full-scale mock up of the Apollo CM

North American Aviation Stormy,

Interior of a partial full-scale mockup of the Apollo command module

major parts of the command module structure

Tagged:Ablator, Ac Spark Plug, Aerojet General, Airesearch Manufacturing, Ames, Apollo, Apollo Spacecraft Project Office, Avco, B 25, B 45, Block I, Brainerd Holmes, California, California Institute Of Technology, Cambridge, Carpenter, Charles Frick, Charles H Feltz, Collins Radio Company, Direct Ascent, Downey, Dryden, Exploration, F 86, F100, Gemini, George Low, Gilruth, Glenn, Harrison Storms, History, Holmes, Honeycomb, Honeywell Regulator Company, Houston, Hugh Dryden, Impact Facility, John Paup, Langley, Lewis Research Center, Little Joe Ii, Lockheed, Lunar, Lunar Module, Lunar Orbit Rendezvous, Man In Space Soonest, Manned Space Flight, Manned Spacecraft Center, Marquardt Corporation, Marshall Space Flight Center, Mcdonnell, Mercury, Mit, Mode, Moon, Msc, Msfc, Nasa, Norman J Ryker, North American Aviation, Northrop, P 51, Phase A, Project Apollo, Radioplane, Robert Seamans, Rocket, Rocketdyne, S Ii, Saturn, Schirra, Seamans, Service Module, Shirt Sleve Environment, Smedal, Space, Stormy, Thiokol, White Sands, X 15, Xb 70

Jan 28

Space Rocket History #146 – Saturn: S-II Stage Part 1: Common Bulkheads, Gores, & Honeycomb Sandwiches

Posted on January 28, 2016

The structural efficiency of the S-II stage, in terms of the weight and pressures taken by its extra-thin walls, was comparable only to the capacity of one of nature’s most refined examples of structural efficiency, the egg.

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1-8s-ii-breakdown-sm

Tagged:2014 T6, Autoclave, California, Common Bulkhead, Cryogenic, Dual Plane, El Toro Marine Base, Gores, History, Honeycomb, Isocyanate, J 2, J Section, Lh2, Liquid Hydrogen, Liquid Oxygen, Lox, Naa, Nasa, Navy, North American Avaiation, Oxider, Phenolic, Rocket, S Ii, Saturn, Saturn V, Seal Beach, Slosh Baffles, Space, Trichloroethylene, Weld

Feb 4

Space Rocket History #147 – Saturn: S-II Stage Part 2: Trials and Tribulations

Posted on February 4, 2016

“The S-II stage was a nightmare the minute it was conceived, and it only got worse from there. During the course of its creation, it would grind up people and careers the way the transcontinental railway devoured laborers. Though the methods and mat...

5-Test firing of a Saturn V second stage rocket S-II

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4-S-II_Inboard_1963

3-The S-II stage during stacking operations of Apollo 6 in the VAB

2-S-2 assembly building in Seal Beach, CA

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1-Saturn_V_second_stage

Tagged:2014 T6, 1929, 1930, 1931, Apollo 1, Apollo 4, Arthur Rudolph, As 501, Bill Bergen, Black Saturdays, California, Cape Kennedy, Colonel Sam Yarchin, Common Bulkhead, Cryogenic, Debus, Eberhard Rees, General Edmund F L Oconnor, General Oconnor, General Samuel C Phillips, George Loss, George Mueller, Gores, Harrison Storms, History, Honeycomb, Huntsville, J 2, Jerome Weisner, Joe Shea, Lee Atwood, Lh2, Liquid Hydrogen, Liquid Oxygen, Lox, Marshall Space Flight Center, Mississippi Test Facility, Msfc, Mtf, Naa, Nasa, Navy, North American Avaiation, Oxider, Paul Vogt, Phillips Report, Presidents Scientific Advisory Committee, Psac, Ralph H Ruud, Robert Gilruth, Robert Greer, Rocket, S Ic, S Ii, S Ii 1, S Ii D, S Ii F, S Ii S, S Ii T, S Ivb, Saturn, Saturn V, Seal Beach, Space, Stormy, Tiger Team, Weld, Wernher Von Braun