16
votes
Accepted
What barge route did the Saturn S-II take from California to Florida?
The S-II stages (and actually also the S-IV and S-IVB stages before the Guppy aircraft) were transported by a converted Navy landing ship named the Point Barrow:
(from: Stages to Saturn, chapter 10)
...
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16
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What's inside NASA N911 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA 747)?
Answer: not much. Here is a photo I took looking aft inside of the 747.
Here is another just below the hard points. Ignore the silly people. ;)
- 10.1k
14
votes
What's inside NASA N911 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA 747)?
Given the limited fuel range of N911, I would wonder why the fuel tank wasn't expanded
From the Shuttle Ferry Flight blog:
...the SCA has a very limited range when ferrying the Orbiter. That ...
- 123k
13
votes
Accepted
How was the Space Shuttle boat tail transported back to the west coast?
There were two tailcones. For a long time there was only one, but when Endeavour was built with a drag chute, it required a mod to accommodate that since the drag chute box was at the base of the ...
- 171k
7
votes
What's inside NASA N911 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA 747)?
As for your bonus question: NASA operates four Navy surplus F/A-18s as chase/observation planes for test flights. They're unarmed and demilitarized; if for some reason the SCA needed an armed escort, ...
- 164k
7
votes
Could air be collected by a tether system from orbit?
I'm going to say "no".
I thought of a lot of objections but realized I was overlooking a fundamental one, namely:
What's the most important difference between a kilogram of oxynitrogen in the ...
- 171k
6
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Could air be collected by a tether system from orbit?
There are some real hurdles here. They include:
Drag. Some portion of the "hose" will experience drag which will have to be compensated for by some sort of propulsion.
Angular momentum. Regardless ...
- 10.1k
6
votes
How can I send a small object to space?
The "easiest" way I can think of to accomplish this is to make friends with an astronaut scheduled to fly aboard the ISS. I believe they aren't allowed to fly souvenirs for profit, but I imagine you ...
- 164k
5
votes
Accepted
How are fragile rocket stages, built to withstand vertical stress, transported horizontally?
It is true that some of the rockets, especially the initial Atlas family of launchers, are to be pressurized even during storage or they will collapse under their own weight.
Basically, these are ...
- 1,560
5
votes
What would be the best recipe for a breathable atmosphere in a base on the Moon?
Once you have a substantial refining operation on the moon you probably will go with an oxygen/argon atmosphere. Argon is suitably inert and will be obtained when you melt lunar rock. (It's from the ...
- 11.2k
5
votes
Why are these Falcon 9 1st stage bodies (apparently) wrapped in black plastic for transport?
The fabric sleeve used (not plastic) is deliberately black to increase internal temperature and with it pressure which helps maintain the stage's shape during transport (or rather, prevents it from ...
- 13.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Determine envelopes for the payloads?
For STS payload induced enviroments, grab yourself a copy of the Space Shuttle User's Handbook and you will find plenty of data starting on page 31 of the pdf.
Vibration, noise, thermal, pressure (...
- 171k
4
votes
Why are these Falcon 9 1st stage bodies (apparently) wrapped in black plastic for transport?
They have been wrapping the boosters in transport (and second stages, though those are smaller and thus rarely noticed by passerbys) all along.
The question, is this a booster being transported for ...
- 78.6k
3
votes
Why are these Falcon 9 1st stage bodies (apparently) wrapped in black plastic for transport?
Let's apply Occam's Razor:
The plastic is there to protect the stage against the elements (rain, sand, dirt blowing around). Black plastic is easy and cheap to make (see bin liners).
The number of ...
- 123k
3
votes
Accepted
Seeking Shuttle Orbiter Ferry Flight log
This information can be found in a document produced by the Historic American Engineering Record as part of their effort to document the Space Transportation System. The pdf document is located here (...
- 171k
3
votes
How do SpaceX intend to transport their starship/super heavy?
Falcon 9 is 3.7 metres in diameter, whereas Starship and the super heavy booster will be 9 metres in diameter.
First, I'd like to point out that since Starship and Super Heavy can only be transported ...
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3
votes
Accepted
energy needed to accelerate in space
How much fuel would it take? And how large should be a booster / rocket ?
That depends on the engine and propellant. Tsiolovksy rocket equation is
$$\Delta V = \ln\frac{m_i}{m_f}I_{sp}g$$
where
$\...
- 2,270
2
votes
energy needed to accelerate in space
Kinetic energy is $\frac {1}{2}mV^2$ so you're looking at $55$ GigaJoules of energy. That's enough to power ~86 U.S. homes for a year according to this U.S. EIA FAQ
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2
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Orbiting bolo technology viability?
Yes, Boeing did the HASTOL study and it seems viable with current technology and economy, there is even Wikipedia article about it.
Besides of lifting cargo from hypersonic aircraft to orbit, the ...
- 121
2
votes
Accepted
Gradulated Accelerated Transfer
There's two ways to view your proposal;
If you can do impulse burns but not constant acceleration burns, like your mention of multi-stage accelerations suggests, then what you describe is a series of ...
- 76.1k
2
votes
What's inside NASA N911 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA 747)?
According to the NASA page on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, pig iron and pea gravel were loaded inside to balance the aircraft:
"You see, the nearly 2 tons (1710 pounds) of pig iron up-front in the ...
- 47.3k
1
vote
Transportation on the Mars I Air
High rotor blade speed is a limiting factor on earth. Blade tips go supersonic. Even raindrops erode blade tips (let alone Mars grit !) The speed of sound will be lower on Mars (due to temperature) so ...
- 13.9k
1
vote
Accepted
What support equipment is necessary to maintain a falcon 9 booster during transport after recovery?
The big gray box attached to the end of the trailer is the power pack for the trailer. It powers the hydraulic jacks that raise/lower and rotate each axle. Depending on the trailer design, it could ...
- 123k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible