Monojet Bijet

The way it was...(1/5) The way it was...(2/5)

In 1946, NACA (NASA) wanted to see how much wind a human could tolerate. Specifically, they sought "to obtain direct evidence of the forces involved when the human head is suddenly thrust into a rapidly moving air stream." This became important when ejection seats started to standardize. Blasting someone out of a canopy into the jet stream warranted a little looking into.

Thread: The weird story of how a carefully covered up German air raid in WW2 contributed to the development of modern chemotherapy drugs. As the tide of WW2 turned in late 1943, the allies suspected that increasingly desperate Germans would turn to chemical weapons. In preparation, they secretly parked a boat load of mustard gas at the captured Italian port of Bari.

Beginning in 1967, the Soviet Union placed a series of radar-equipped ocean reconnaissance satellites (RORSATs) in orbit. In order to return useful data, they had to fly quite low...so low that using solar panels would have caused drag that decayed their orbits very quickly. To save weight, lower drag, and increase usable lifespan, Soviet engineers opted for BES-5 nuclear reactors fueled by uranium-235. They provided 2KW of power per satellite.

It's not from the 70s.
Or the 60s.
Or even the 1950s.

Feast your eyes on the Northrop YB-49 Flying Wing...circa 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟳. The YB-49 began life as the YB-35: A piston powered heavy bomber prototype. They were designed as a contingent in the event that England fell to the Nazis. They were to carry crew of 9 over 8,000 miles with up to 50,000lbs of bombs.

In the early hours of September 3, 1916, bombs joined the rain falling from the sky above London Colney and South Mimms, England. Obscured by might, the crew of Zeppelin Schütte-Lanz SL 11 dropped their high explosive payload. Shortly after, they were picked up by searchlight above Hornsey and targeted by an ineffective barrage. They slipped into the clouds undamaged.

Spacelab was a modular laboratory flown in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle. 1-connecting tunnel between orbiter and Spacelab.
2-payload space hinges
3-footstalks
4-experimental unit
5-hyperbaric modules
6-external platform
7-infrared telescope
8-magnetic field probe
9-payload space
10-back side of front part of orbiter

January 28th marks the death of one of the most badass American women ever, Astronaut Judith Resnik. By age 17, Resnik was one of only 16 American women to ever earn a perfect SAT score. Then she auditioned into Julliard, got in, and TURNED THEM DOWN to study math at Carnegie Mellon. She would graduate with a degree in electrical engineering, later earning a PhD from U of MD.

About 3.5 years ago, @NewHorizons2015 ripped past Pluto and sent back dramatic images. It transformed our pixelated view into a richly colorful, high resolution mosaic. @NewHorizons2015 The data @NewHorizons2015 sent back from Pluto was jaw-dropping stuff. There's no overstating it.

I love “mundane” moments from the Apollo program. Here, Alan Bean removes a dome used to cover a cask holding the mini nuclear generator (RTG) they strapped to the side of the lunar module. The cask was designed to withstand a vehicle explosion or re-entry. (Here’s a view of the cask from training with Astronaut Edgar Mitchell.)

Footage from last week's @virgingalactic test flight showed one hell of a ride. @virgingalactic Pitching up.

The RAF first flew the Vulcan bomber in 1952. It still looks like science fiction. This somehow actually real photo is from 1953.

Back in 2013 Curiosity caught a solar eclipse courtesy of Mars' potato-shaped moon, Phobos. Phobos is small compared to our moon.

Phobos Mean Radius: 7 miles
Our Moon's Mean Radius: 1,079 miles

One of the first mass produced war planes was the Etrich Taube. Designed in 1909, the Taube was the F-16 of the first decades of the 20th century. The Taube's unique wing shape was inspired by the seeds of the Alsomitra macrocarpa, which fly far from their parent trees.

The FICON project of the 1950s explored using bombers as FIghter CONveyors (FICON) to extend the range of both. Here, an ETB-29A caries 2x Republic EF-84D Thunderjet fighters. The idea was pioneered by German aircraft designer Richard Vogt who "came" to the US after WW2. The first scaled tests were performed between a C-47 and Q-14 with a rudimentary coupling mechanism.

In March 1945, the 9th Armored Division found themselves racing faster than expected across Germany. As they approached the Rhine, they couldn't believe their luck: The retreating Nazi forces hadn’t blown the last bridge over the Rhine yet. Suspecting the bridge was wired but not yet triggered, 22-year-old Commander Karl Timmerman (promoted just the evening before) was ordered to take his company across the bridge.

"What if the bridge blows up in my face?" he asked.

The Battalion Commander did not respond.

For a brief window in the mid-50s the US Navy didn’t have a carrier-operable supersonic jet. The fix? The F2Y Sea Dart Seaplane Fighter.

Things did not go well for the Sea Dart. Not at all. The Sea Dart was designed to take off and land on a pair of thin skis. Initial tests left pilots in about as much pain as you are imagining, staring at this photo.

The AC-47 Spooky was the first of the USAF gunships to serve in Vietnam. Known informally as "Puff, The Magic Dragon," the version of the AC-47 pictured carries 3× 7.62mm General Electric GAU-2/M134 miniguns. Each minigun could put out 2,000 rounds per minute. With two firing at once, this Spooky is shooting 66 bullets each second.

People don't fully appreciate how dirty airport runways were in the 1970s. Low bypass engines (the Pratt & Whitney JT3D, in particular) put out much smokier exhaust than today's higher bypass engines.

Ship view. Deck view.