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Apollo 11 Factoids: The Moon Has a Smell & What If the LM Return Had Failed?

One of the most interesting things I remember about what we learned from the Apollo program is that the moon has a smell. Upon removing their helmets after the moon walk, Neil Armstrong remarked, 'We were aware of a new scent in the air of the cabin that clearly came from all the lunar material that had accumulated on and in our clothes.' Buzz Aldrin described it as 'the smell in the air after a firecracker has gone off.'

Did you ever wonder what would have transpired if the lunar module (LM) rockets had failed to fire for a return to the orbiting Command Module (CM)? Read "In the Event of Moon Disaster" that was prepared for President Nixon to broadcast to the world if the unthinkable happened. Of course NASA had all potential scenarios covered in their Abort Planning document, complimented by extensive scenario training. Some fools wanted to shut off communications with the LM to prevent a record of Armstrong and Aldrin panicking which, of course, would never have happen with the two seasoned professional military aviators.

Solo Racing Drones Have Need for AI Speed Training

"Drone racing's ultimate vision of quadcopters weaving nimbly through obstacle courses has attracted far less excitement and investment than self-driving cars aimed at reshaping ground transportation. But the U.S. military and defense industry are betting on autonomous drone racing as the next frontier for developing AI so that it can handle high-speed navigation within tight spaces without human intervention. The autonomous drone challenge requires split-second decision-making with six degrees of freedom instead of a car's mere two degrees of road freedom. One research team developing the AI necessary for controlling autonomous racing drones is the Robotics and Perception Group at the University ..."

How NASA Recruited Snoopy and Drafted Barbie

The title of this IEEE article is misleading in that NASA did not "draft" Barbie - only Snoopy (and Charlie Brown, BTW). "Snoopy" was the official name of the Apollo 10 lunar module (LM) and "Charlie Brown" was the name of the moon-orbiting command module (CM). There was a Gemini astronaut GI Joe at the time, too. Actually, it was the Apollo 10 astronauts who chose the Peanuts characters as mascots because of the popularity of the comic strip and Charles Schulz's giving Snoopy the alter ego of an astronaut (and, of course, a WWI flying ace). Here is the Kennedy Space Center account of the history of NASA's adoption of Snoopy. This Saturday, July 20th, marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

8 Technologies We Owe to the Apollo Program

A part of Design News' "Space Week 2019" feature is this "8 Technologies We Owe to the Apollo Space Program." Not mentioned in the list of NASA innovations are freeze-dried food, space blankets (those foil-looking things), miniaturized quartz crystal timekeeping, joystick controllers, and smoke detectors. NASA popularized but did not invent Velcro, Tang, or Teflon. Says the author, "The innovations of the Apollo program didn't stop at the Moon. Many technologies were created, or innovated into what they are today, thanks to the space program."

Neil Armstrong - Aircraft Modeler at Purdue

"One Small Step with Model Aviation," produced by the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA), is a memorial to the launch of Apollo 11 on this day, July 16, 1969. This short video features of Neil Armstrong's early life as an avid aeromodeler before and during his time as an aeronautical engineering student at Purdue University. He is shown here in the dormitory holding a slide rule outfitted with wings, which was the Purdue Aeromodelers' club logo. It can be seen printed on their T-shirts. Neil was an AMA member (as I have been since the early 1970s, AMA#92498). The video includes narration of some of his friends from the era. Here is my Estes Saturn V rocket model in the Apollo 11 configuration ...

Apparition in the July Model Aviation "Viewfinder" Photo

While reading the July 2019 issue of the AMA's Model Aviation magazine, I did a double take when looking at the photograph in the "Viewfinder" feature on page 147. There appears to be a ghostly human apparition in the sun glare behind the father-daughter flying team. Click on the above thumbnail and see if you know what's going on. The truth is out there ;-)

Future Drone Power Could Be Hydraulic

"'Everyone is facing the same problem with weight in creating these types of vehicles,' said Lizhi Shang, a postdoctoral research assistant who works on the technology with Andrea Vacca, a professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue. 'Drones require heavy batteries or lots of electrical components, which leaves little room for the actual payload.' Shang said many current systems also are expensive, unstable, unreliable and not environmentally friendly. Shang and the research team at Purdue University came up with a method to use fluid power technology for VTOL AAV. The Purdue team members said their technology is an inexpensive, recyclable hydraulic propulsion ..."

Signed, Comet F−86D Sabre Jet Kit

This is not just another vintage Comet Model Hobbycraft, Inc., F−86D Sabre Jet from 1952. What makes this kit unique is that it has the signature of well-known (at the time) Comet draftsman Gerald J. Blumenthal on the box cover. John Zawiski was the designer. The f-86D Saber has a wingspan of 13-1/4" and a length of 15-1/16". The model was meant to be flown either as a free flight glider or attached to a tether line where the pilot drags it around in a circle. A few of these have sold recently on eBay for around $20-$30, so they can still be found. This particular kit, provided by Mr. Steven Krick, is going to be offered as a donation to the AMA's National Model Aviation Museum in Muncie, Indiana, because of the signature ...

Flying-V Plane Marks Spectacular New Look in Air Travel

"Seating airline passengers in the wings? Think about it. A V-shaped plane designed to carry passengers, cargo, and fuel tanks in its wings is being seeded as a good idea for the future. Bloomberg said it plain and simple: Planes may receive a drastic facelift. What drives the appetite to play with new designs: a practical interest in reducing carbon emissions and improving efficiencies. It is no secret that climate change researchers recognize the role that airplanes play in emissions. Architectural Digest reported that the Rhodium Group released a study showing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions surged in 2018 by 3.4 percent ..."

3,000 MPH Plane Will Fly New York to London in 90 Minutes

"Plans have been unveiled for a 3,000mph plane that will fly passengers from New York to London in just 90 minutes. Aerospace firm Hermeus has won funding to develop supersonic commercial planes that will fly more than five times the speed of sound within 10 years. Hermeus has funding to develop a supersonic plane that will fly passengers from New York to London in just 90 minutes The company was set up by alumni from Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos-backed aerospace company Blue Origin - which is planning to fly passengers to the moon. Hermeus says its planes would travel at speeds of more than 3,000mph with a range of 4,600 miles ..."

Restored Mission Control Comes Alive 50 Years After Apollo

"Gone is the haze of cigarette, cigar and pipe smoke. Gone are the coffee, soda and pizza stains. With only a few exceptions, NASA's Apollo-era Mission Control has been restored to the way it looked 50 years ago when two men landed on the moon. It gets the stamp of approval from retired flight director Gene Kranz, a man for whom failure - or even a minor oversight - is never an option. Seated at the console where he ruled over Apollo 11, Apollo 13 and so many other astronaut missions, Kranz pointed out that a phone was missing behind him. And he said the air vents used to be black from all the smoke, not sparkly clean like they are now. Those couple of details aside, Kranz could close, then open his eyes, and transport himself back to July 20, 1969, and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's momentous moon landing ..."

Landing System Made to Enter Spoofing Zone

"Just what the airplane passenger who is always skittish does not want to hear: Radio navigation on planes for landing purposes is not secure; signals can be hacked. In a video demonstration of the attack by researchers, 'Wireless Attacks on Aircraft Landing Systems,' spoofing starts automatically as soon the aircraft enters 'the spoofing zone. The attacker signal is in real-time generated accounting for the maneuvers of the aircraft.' What does the spoof actually do, to trick the pilot? Dan Goodin in Ars Technica said the researchers can spoof airport signals in a way that causes a pilot's navigation instruments to falsely indicate ..."

Parris-Dunn "Little Bobby" Helicopter Kite Kit

This Parris-Dunn "Little Bobby" Helicopter Kite kit may well be the only one left in existence. Many thanks to Mr. Steven Krick for providing the kit to me for documenting. I will contact the AMA's National Model Aviation Museum in Muncie, Indiana, to find out if they want it for their collection of model aviation historical items. A fairly extensive search on the WWW turned up exactly zero other examples of this kit, or any mention of it for that matter. Parris-Dunn was primarily a wind-powered electricity generator company located in Clarinda, Iowa, formed in the 1930s. In the days before commercial electric power was delivered to rural areas, farms and homes were run on DC power provided by banks of lead-acid storage batteries, so the generators were very popular as a means of recharging them. Many early radio sets ...

Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional

For a limited time (get it - time?), you can buy a 50th Anniversary gold Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional watch for a mere $9,650. "The OMEGA Speedmaster Professional Chronograph has a unique place in the history of space exploration as the only piece of equipment used in all of NASA's piloted space missions from Gemini to the current International Space Station program. When Buzz Aldrin stepped on the lunar surface in 1969, he was wearing a Speedmaster Professional, the chronograph that has been known as the Moonwatch ever since. Today, the timepiece is driven by virtually the same hand-wound movement trusted by NASA's astronauts on the Moon." Less expensive options are available for about half the cost. Beware of knock-offs being sold. Buy directly from Speedmaster.

Jetco Superflite "Jet 50" Jetex-Powered FF Kit

This "Jet 50" kit was part of Jetco's Superflite series. It was designed to be powered by the venerable Jetex 50 rocket motor. It is one of the models I had as a kid in Mayo, Maryland, back in the late 1960s. It was a lot like building and flying the Estes Falcon rocket-powered glider. The big difference was that the "Jet 50" flew at a leisurely pace as the Jetex 50 motor burned for about 20-30 seconds with a gentle "hiss," whereas the Falcon blasted off with more of a "ssst" sound for about half a second whilst the craft ascended to a couple hundred feet high. Each had its advantages. The "Jet 50" could be trimmed to fly in a tight circle in the back yard of our half-acre lot, but the Falcon required bicycling over to Klinken's Field where there was a big open field of many acres.

Dornier Do 335 V-4 Scale Model

Steven Krick, builder of the previously featured Dornier Do−335 A−6 plastic scale model, has a thing for the Dornier Do−335 in many of its variants. This version is the Dornier Do−335 V−4. The level of detail is amazing, even including simulated weathering effects. Here is the text Steve included along with his photos: "This build represents the Do 335 V−4, the grosse Flach, or extended wing, long range reconnaissance version. The Werk Nr is 230004, and the Stammkennzeichen is CP + UD. The first flight was on July 9, 1944, and there are no photos of the aircraft in any of my five reference books. Several authors speculate that the reason for this is the fact that this aircraft flew very in the later part of 1944, and no photos have survived (most of the other Do 335's flew in late 1943, early 1944) ..."

Langley Aerodrome Created to Explore Urban Air Mobility

"One of the keys to unlocking the future of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is exploring how different technologies and configurations of aircraft will perform in the urban environment. To start gathering as much data as possible, NASA engineers are moving forward with their newest modular unmanned aerial system, the Langley Aerodrome #8. 'The project is called Advanced Urban Air Mobility Test Beds,' said Dave North, Unmanned Aerial Systems Section Lead. 'This is a new effort in aeronautics to look at urban flight, both unmanned flight like package delivery vehicles, all the way up to manned vehicles that may carry six or eight people at a time ..."

5-Seater Electric Air Taxi Lifts off in Munich

"Known as the Lilium Jet, the prototype aircraft is powered by 36 electric jet engines. The main wings house 24 engines, while a smaller wing bank at the front of the plane is home to the remaining 12. Maximum power output of 2,000 horsepower is available for take-off and landing, but Lilium claims less than 10 per cent of this will be required for cruising flight. The air-taxi has no tail, no rudder, no propellers, no gearbox and just one moving part in each engine. Founded in Munich in 2015, Lilium has attracted more than $100M in venture capital ..."

Electric Air Racing Looking to Take Flight

Note: I don't see the inverted gull wing plane mentioned. "Today, the best-known air race event is probably the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, where small single-engine aircraft fly through a slalom course featuring sharp turns at high speed against the clock. However, the Formula One Air Racing series in fact predates this event, and was first proposed in 1936 with its first event in 1947. The biggest air race event in the world, the US National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nevada, attracts some 150,000 spectators annually. In contrast to the Red Bull championship, Formula One events are full multi-entrant races, where eight aircraft compete virtually wingtip to wingtip around a 5.13km oval course at an altitude of about 10m ..."

Next Up

AMA National Model Aviation Museum Donations

This notice just appeared on the AMA's National Model Aviation Museum website: "New Addition: Helicopter Kite Kirt Blattenberger (AMA 92498) and Steven Krick recently donated two older kits to the museum, including this Parris-Dunn Little Bobby Helicopter Kite kit." The second kit, not yet featured on the AMA website, is the

P-40E Tiger Shark

1st All-Japan Helicopter Meet

It's hard to imagine the first All-Japan RC Model Helicopter Championship Contest - nearly 40 years ago. This report from the April 1973 edition of American Aircraft Modeler has man-on-the-scene Larry Hoffman's account of the events. There were only 22 contestants flying that day, and all but one flew the Hueycobra made and sold by Kalt, of Tokyo. There were no heading hold gyros or programmable transmitters with pitch and throttle curves - just good old-fashion pilot skill and lots of body language. I certainly don't long for those days - I can barely fly an R/C chopper with all the modern electronic assistance - but the fortitude of the helicopter pioneers is worthy of note and praise.

News Stories

India's Chandrayaan 2 Spacecraft Entered Lunar Orbit

"India's Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft entered lunar orbit on Tuesday, executing one of the trickiest maneuvers on its historic mission to the Moon. After four weeks in space, the craft completed its Lunar Orbit Insertion as planned, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement. The insertion 'was completed successfully today at 0902 hrs IST (0332 GMT) as planned, using the onboard propulsion system. The duration of manoeuver was 1738 seconds,' the national space agency said. India is seeking to become just the fourth nation after Russia, the United States and China to land a spacecraft on the Moon ..."

Airplane of the Year

"This September, at the National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nevada, a couple dozen magnificently restored airplanes will gather once again to be evaluated by judges and admired by fans. Those who attend will be able to stroll among some pretty special aircraft, hear the owners and restorers tell their stories, and watch the presentation of trophies by aviation heroes. They'll also get the chance to vote for their favorite airplanes. By all means, get to Reno if you can. But if you can't, we invite you to read the stories of these remarkable airplanes and vote for the one that strikes a chord with you. Whichever one receives the most votes will win the People's Choice trophy at Reno and be named 'Air & Space Magazine Airplane of the Year.' The winner ..."

1960s Sport of Hang Gliding Still Hangs On

"'We first flew in dreams, but the dream of flight has become real,' the narrator says. The image on the giant screen is mesmerizing: Above massive volcanic islands reaching up from the ocean floats a tiny triangular form. This is the first shot of the hang gliding scene from To Fly!, the iconic IMAX film made for the opening of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in 1976. It has been playing for more than 40 years, and for many, it's their first encounter with hang gliding. In the scene, pilot Bob Wills hangs below the wing, shifting his body to exert control over the impossibly simple craft. He soars between mountain peaks, then climbs, stalls, dives, and swoops high above the water. When the film was made, hang gliding was emerging ..."

A Career Built on Flying Models

"The Job: Gritter's first job with Aurora Flight Sciences was building a small-scale model to prove the concept of the XV-24 Lightning Strike, winner of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency competition for a super high-performance, short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft. He also performs aerobatic routines at airshows in full-scale airplanes. How did flying radio-controlled airplanes prepare you for your job? Being around model airplanes exposed me to all the technology - the components, the electronics. That was hugely beneficial in school because the senior capstone ..."

To the Moon by 2024

"The vice president did his best to sound stirring. The podium, the flag, the ringing cadences - all were meant to convey that this moment in the spring of 2019 was a significant one, a turning point in the history of space exploration. 'It is the stated policy of this administration and the United States of America to return American astronauts to the moon within the next...five...years.' Hardly had Mike Pence concluded his March 26 speech to the National Space Council in Huntsville, Alabama, when the doubts and second-guessing began. Even at NASA headquarters, where Administrator Jim Bridenstine took questions from his troops at a televised town hall a few days later, the applause was tepid, and the questions had mostly to do with money and political commitment ..."