NASA Apollo Program "Zero Defects" Apolloneer Award manufactured by General Electric (GE) between 1965 and 1969 with "Mississippi Test Support Department"

https://www.savacoolandsons.com/item-80742.html

the M2 F1 in 1963 proof of concept that the wingless lifting-body aircraft was viable as a emergency life shuttle from large aircraft (the big Navy dirigibles, big bombers, and possibly from spacecraft if they added heatshields)

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/on-this-day-in-space-aug-16-1963-wingless-m2-f1-completes-1st-glide-flight

Since I recall posting this before, I went to look in the archives... and I find that this is the ONE (tail numbers) in the 2013 post about NASA using a Pontiac Catalina

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/06/most-far-out-thing-ive-seen-in-while.html

I don't know why NASA needs a new wind tunnel... I don't think NASA has a future in air or spacecraft... at present NASA already seems obsolete. Private industry seems to be the only spacecraft in operation

https://x.com/NASA/status/2083289440542208058 this link says the NASA quoted reason for a new multi-million-dollar wind tunnel is "to play a role in developing experimental planes and future Moon and Mars missions"  

 Hmmm,... not much atmo on the moon or mars, so, what's the point of aerodynamic tested craft? 

And we sure as hell ain't going to send anyone to Mars in the next century or two, if ever... it's a one way trip, at best,  based on the crew needing more food and water than we can currently send with them

the farthest wheel from Earth is getting busted up by 14 years of rocky terrain on Mars, on the 760 pound Curiosity rover (gravity is 62% less on Mars)

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/mars-rovers/curiosity-mars-rover-inspects-cracked-wheel-space-photo-of-the-day-for-july-24-2026

what are these rims? David is working at the Pete, and they are restoring a lunar rover trainer and need to know what rims were used

https://www.facebook.com/groups/toronado/permalink/10164020552624318

photo from 1983 shows the space shuttle piggybacking a Boeing 747 with the Concorde taking off in the background

 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1576828114446707&set=a.510407961088733

In 1958, the American Oil Company (AMOCO) released a pictorial map of space outlining some of the most bedeviling space-related puzzles of the age

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-do-we-know-about-space

ABC news over dramatized it SO much they deserve an acting award for sounding like they have discovered the cure for the common cold, poverty, and heart disease - at the same time. A plane did a belly landing, like they've been doing for the past century

So, NASA for some reason still flys planes. No idea why they are wasting fuel. Probably looking for a job, as they aren't in the satellite launching business anymore, they were 10 times more expensive than a company that had to start from scratch and wasn't furnished with a tax payer paid for Cape Canaveral, and Space Center Houston.

They have a bit of a landing gear problem, Maybe they should simply resign from wasting tax payer dollars on stupid shit, and not try to get funding for a mission to mars

https://amp.abcnews.com/WNT/video/investigation-underway-after-nasa-jets-fiery-hard-landing-129615794?fromLive=true

In 1973, an aerospace engineer at NASA was bicycling to work when he noticed how the aerodynamic wakes of passing flat face COE semi trucks. Flat nose COEs were used because of the stupid overall length laws

A tractor-trailer doing 55 mph shoved aside 18 tons of air every single mile. Half the engine's power wasn't moving freight—it's just pushing air out of the way. That's fuel burning for nothing.

NASA engineers grabbed a beat-up Ford van from the motor pool and turned it into a test rig. They built a square aluminum box around it and started rounding off edges, sealing the bottom, measuring everything. Just rounding the front edges cut drag by 52%. Sealing up the underside saved another 7%.

Then they got serious. They leased a cab-over and went to work. Rounded the corners on the cab, barely lost any space inside, dropped drag by 40%. Rounded everything they could, lost 3% of interior room, cut drag by 54%. But the big win was closing up that gap between the tractor and trailer. That alone saved 20 to 25% on fuel. An owner-operator running 100,000 miles a year? That's 7,000 gallons staying in the tank.

https://www.facebook.com/ATHSHeadquarters/posts/pfbid02gxvYN9gKDZ77jxQvE2FgwtVygPDRzSYaXghyfmQJLyk5EFFdtzqFfMXYtT6qczHvl

https://www.thedrive.com/news/how-a-nasa-engineer-discovered-a-world-of-semi-truck-aerodynamics-by-accident

So, yeah, aerodynamics, but why the hell was NASA wasting tax payer dollars on trucking? Was it because they'd put man on the moon and didn't have a damn clue what to do next to keep the budget numbers for the next fiscal budget year? I'm pretty sure NASA didn't accomplish a damn thing for a decade, until they got the shuttle flying, just to put satellites into space. Not that that was much changed from the rocket era, which had already perfected accomplished satellite placement. And now? Space X is 90% cheaper at doing the same job. 

James Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died. He was 97.

 

A stunning new video lets viewers ride along on last-week's record-breaking test flight of Virgin Galactic's suborbital spaceliner SpaceShipTwo.

https://www.space.com/24322-virgin-galactic-spaceshiptwo-amazing-flight-video.html

2024 manufacturer of Coolest Thing Made in Iowa, is Vermeer!

The Pella-based heavy machinery maker has teamed with Seattle-based Interlune to develop a machine designed to ingest 100 metric tons dirt per hour with the mission of harvesting helium-3, a rare isotope vital to applications like quantum computing and nuclear fusion on the moon.

https://www.space.com/astronomy/moon/moon-mining-machine-interlune-unveils-helium-3-harvester-prototype-photo

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2025/05/19/iowa-company-vermeer-produces-excavator-designed-for-moons-surface-helium-3/83679287007/

Ethel Lee.... simply remarkable! She owned a Cafe in South L.A. and she said it was always her destiny to send a man to the moon... so when she found out about NASA/Rockwell was hiring in Downey, she got a job with them! Next year, is her 99th birthday!

She was motivated by President John F. Kennedy's vision for space exploration and applied for a job at Rockwell International without a formal engineering background.

Over the course of her extraordinary career, Ethel L. Lee was instrumental in building NASA's first six space shuttles: Colombia, the Challenger, the Discovery, the Atlantis, the Endeavor, and the Enterprise

She was instrumental in building NASA's first six space shuttles, reading schematics, working with engineers, and troubleshooting at different aerospace sites. She spent 32 years at Rockwell

And now Ethel is being honored. "NASA Life of Ethel Lee" is currently on display at the Columbia Memorial Space Center. It's a Women's History Month exhibit that honors her aerospace career

https://abc7-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/abc7.com/amp/post/special-honor-nasa-legend-aerospace-trailblazer-ethel-lee-known-space-shuttle/16024293/

https://hall.spacewalkoffame.org/workers/ethel-l-lee

did you know that if the California Coastal Commission hadn't objected, the NASA space shuttles would have launched from California?

 The shuttle launched 135 times from Florida

For some reason, there was never been a manned space flight launched from Vandenberg until Falcon 9, unless I missed something. 

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/photos-from-the-vault/article297956698.html

one stupid looking aircraft

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2024/10/what-job-that-guy-had.html

Making the fuel JP-7, for the SR-71 Blackbird, caused a nationwide shortage of bug spray

‘Shell Oil developed JP-7 in 1955. Company vice president Jimmy Doolittle arranged for Shell to develop the fuel for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and United States Air Force’s (USAF) secret Lockheed U-2 spy plane, which needed a low-volatility fuel that would not evaporate at high altitude. Manufacturing several hundred thousand gallons of the new fuel required the petroleum byproducts Shell normally used to make its Flit insecticide, causing a nationwide shortage of that product!

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/producing-jp-7-the-fuel-that-powered-the-sr-71-blackbird-caused-a-nationwide-shortage-of-bug-spray-heres-why/amp/

I didn't know Doolittle was a VP at Shell after the military

Doolittle would resign his regular commission in 1930 and be commissioned as a Major in the Air Reserve Corps. 

Starting his long career in the civilian aerospace industry, being named manager of the Aviation Department of Shell Oil Company, in which capacity he conducted numerous aviation tests, and lead the charge for Shell to produce the first production 100 octane aviation gasoline.

In 1931, he won the first Bendix Trophy race from Burbank, California, to Cleveland, in 1932, he set the world's high-speed record for land planes at 296 miles per hour in the Shell Speed Dash. 

Later, he took the Thompson Trophy race in Cleveland in the notorious Gee Bee R-1 racer. Having won, the "big three" air racing trophies, the Schneider, Bendix, and Thompson, Doolittle retired from air racing.

He returned to active duty in the U.S. Army Air Corps on July 1, 1940, with the rank of Major. His first task was to work with major automotive manufacturers to covert their factories from automobile to aircraft production to support the lend-lease policy before the US had officially entered into World War II.

The attack on Pearl Harbor resulted in Doolittle being promoted to lieutenant colonel, assigned to Army Air Forces Headquarters to plan the first retaliatory air raid on the Japanese homeland, which he volunteered to lead himself.

His largest command came in 1944 when he was promoted to lieutenant general and put in charge of the Eighth Air Force in England. This also made him the highest-ranking active reserve officer in modern times.

After WW2, President Harry S. Truman charged him with leading a presidential commission that created zoning requirements for airports zones and the development of large airports to improve transportation and military infrastructure

https://www.thegentlemanracer.com/2022/01/jimmy-doolittle-real-life-rocketeer.html

I bet you don't remember ever seeing this NASA van!

India has joined 3 other countries in achieving a lunar landing and plans to use a robot rover to examine the lunar south pole for ice

the Vikram Lander touched down in search of frozen water on the Chandrayaan-3 mission. 

 The successful landing means India joins the countries to reach the Moon after the former Soviet Union, the US and China

Russia attempted a south pole landing, after 50 years of not trying for solar system interaction, but crashed their equipment, earlier this month. It was a surprise in light of the continuously successful international space station missions. 

India’s lander carried a solar-powered rover, Pragyaan, which will explore the south pole and send data back to Earth over the next fortnight as it searches for ice.

If this proves possible to extract, it could be converted into drinking water or oxygen for astronauts, or broken down to provide rocket fuel.

India, which has firmly established itself in the latest space race, previously discovered water molecules and an atmosphere on the Moon in 2008.

One aspect of the event is a problem though, there has been no communication yet between orbiter and lander. 

Indications that there might be a problem with the landing began once Vikram reached an altitude of 1.3 mile from the lunar surface. At this point, the lander began to deviate from its intended trajectory, which was followed by a loss of communications just as mission controllers expected to receive touchdown confirmation.

However, even if contact cannot be restored with the lander, the mission is hardly a write-off. The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is still operational and will remain in orbit around the Moon for the next seven years. Carrying on in the tradition of its predecessor, it will study the lunar surface using its suite of eight scientific instruments and the data will inform future ISRO missions.

From 1958 to 2019, 109 moon missions were launched out of which 61 were successful and 48 were not. This indicates about 60% success rate for lunar missions launched by countries around the world.

https://www.universetoday.com/143369/india-has-located-the-vikram-lander-but-its-still-not-communicating-with-home/

https://www.boomlive.in/chandrayaan-2-and-the-vikram-lander-what-went-wrong-and-what-is-next

NASA and Lockheed Martin are nearly finished with their supersonic test plane...

The space agency believes that the engine will allow the aircraft to fly without any sonic booms,  to prove the feasibility of supersonic flights over cities, a requirement for getting commercial airlines supersonic flights over the USA, probably other countries as well, to drastically reduce travel time for those who can afford it

As part of the upcoming test, the plane will fly over several populated areas and specialists from the agency will gather information on how people react to sound.

People are expected to hear a soft popping sound, comparable in volume to the sound of a car door closing. The space agency will pass on the data it collects to international and US regulators in the hope of gaining approval for supersonic commercial flights over land.

https://gagadget.com/en/247713-nasas-x-59-supersonic-passenger-aircraft-will-make-its-maiden-flight-before-the-end-of-2023/

https://gagadget.com/en/276619-nasa-and-lockheed-martin-show-the-x-59-quesst-supersonic-aircraft-preparing-for-its-first-test-flight/

https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/gadget-in-extremis/gadget-in-extremis-nasas-quiet-x-59-supersonic-aircraft-2023-07/

Bill Wylam was working at NASA as a senior electrical engineer for the space program in the late 50s, while in his spare time he was the drawing airplanes for Model Airplane News

In 1943 or 1944, the fortieth anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight was the main theme of the U.S. War Bond Drive in New York City. 

General Henry H. Arnold was the keynote speaker and Orville Wright was the honored guest. At the banquet, George C. Johnson, the president of Model Airplane News, presented a framed panel to Orville Wright. It contained Wylam's original drawing of the Wright Flyer. 

Wright was impressed and remarked that it was the first time that he saw a correct representation of the original Wright Flyer. 

During the wars years of the ’40s he had his home searched and files taken by the F.B.I. twice inquiring how he was getting his sources.

Before NASA, Wylam worked for GM Electro Motive, Sperry Univac, and while at NASA, 

he worked on the Apollo and Saturn Space Program as well as the Space Shuttle Program

He made twelve books on airplanes, has over 1200 copyrights, and seventeen industrial patents

Bill Wylam was the driving force in creating market acceptance for the maintenance free battery — VRLA's battery when it persuaded General Motors to manufacture them and put them in their cars.

https://www.modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/files/WylamWilliamBillAustin.pdf

https://www.batteriesinternational.com/2016/09/22/sadly-no-longer-with-us/

http://www.flyingacesclub.com/KAPA/ISSUE48-part1.pdf