History of Manned Spaceflight, The Essential Books.

There are a huge number of books out there covering space exploration, but in my opinion, very few that manage to combine definitive coverage with an exciting read. So, here is my shortlist for books you should read if you want to enjoy finding out more about the history of manned space exploration.

I’ve included Amazon links, (I get nothing from these). Continue reading “History of Manned Spaceflight, The Essential Books.”

More work on the 1958 Lockheed shuttle design

I was struggling a bit with a colour scheme for the main rocket – how to do something period, that fits with the orange and black shuttle?

Here’s how it’s coming along.

hull-1 Continue reading “More work on the 1958 Lockheed shuttle design”

The Energia rocket family – Vulkan

The Energia rocket was part of a family, apart from Buran and Polyus, no other versions flew. Energia-M was a cut down version, which got as far as a weight model – the colours and shape of my mesh are based on this.

But the original plan was to include a MUCH heavier rocket, the VULKAN.

This would have had eight of the boosters, and a second core stage that was basically an Energia-M.

vulkan-family-2x

I am working on this at the moment, though information is limited. The parachute packs on the boosters came after the Vulkan was cut down to become Energia, but I have done a version which includes these packs on the boosters. Seems VERY likely to me as the engines were designed to be reusable.

The boosters later underwent separate development, and evolved into the highly successful “Zenit”.

vulkan-family-0x

Continue reading “The Energia rocket family – Vulkan”