Kids space book artwork

One of the posters over on Scott Lowther's blog linked to this website
which has a load of cover artwork from books aimed at children about
space exploration from the years 1883-1974:
http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/
There are a lot of really off-the-wall spacecraft designs in it, like
sending a X-15 to Mars for instance:
http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/rockets.htm
This one is interesting - using backpack helicopter units to explore
Titan: http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/195...paceannual.htm
Which, given its low gravity and thick atmosphere, might actually work.

Pat

Pat, you never told us you were featured on a book cover!!!

http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/gif...etspretend.jpg

Was this taken last year?

:-D

Dave

David Spain wrote:
Pat, you never told us you were featured on a book cover!!!

http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/gif...etspretend.jpg

Unlike a Borg child, my eyeglasses aren't permanently grafted onto my
head so that they hinge off to the right. ;-)
The mystery over at Scott Lowther's blog is what the relationship
between this piece of Martin Corporation artwork:
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=4114
....and this book: http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/rktotm.htm is
Especially what the glowing rings on the wingtips are...they look like
some sort of gas ionization discharge, but in a vacuum?
I think the rings may represent the charge neutralizer for the exhaust
of a ion engine, but would that be glowing?
We've noticed strong resemblances between illustrations in the kid's
books and pieces of various company's space artwork, but who is copying
who is still open to question.
I think the kid's book artists saw the space artwork in magazine ads and
copied them, Scott thinks it may be the other way around.

Pat

Pat Flannery writes:

Especially what the glowing rings on the wingtips are...they look like some
sort of gas ionization discharge, but in a vacuum?
I think the rings may represent the charge neutralizer for the exhaust of a
ion engine, but would that be glowing?

From what I can see, looks to me like you have each pressurized pod occupied
by an astronaut/headsman who has been fed a diet exclusively of liquified
brocolli and beans.

The output of which is fed directly to the down shaft whereby it is combusted
by pure O2 being fed from the ring. The resulting methane sulfide torch burns at
such a high temperature that the O2 is partially ionized and discharges back
through the metal ring like St. Elmo's (of Brocollishire) fire and hence
the blue glow.

The tricky part is getting the right thrust balance between the two 'headsmen'.
This is mitigated somewhat by the fact that the entire upper portion above the
pressure sphere rotates to help balance the trust and to provide centrifugal
ullage to the headsmen.

Seems obvious to me.

We've noticed strong resemblances between illustrations in the kid's books and
pieces of various company's space artwork, but who is copying who is still
open to question.
I think the kid's book artists saw the space artwork in magazine ads and
copied them, Scott thinks it may be the other way around.

YOU COPIED ME!
NO YOU COPIED ME!
STOP COPYING ME OR I'M GOING TO TELL MOM!

:-)

Dave

David Spain wrote:
I think the kid's book artists saw the space artwork in magazine ads and
copied them, Scott thinks it may be the other way around.

YOU COPIED ME!
NO YOU COPIED ME!
STOP COPYING ME OR I'M GOING TO TELL MOM!

I went through that whole website, and the things that gets copied the
most are the von Braun Collier's/Disney Ferry Rockets; those things show
up again and again with only slight variations.
How this all got started was when Scott Lowther posted some Boeing
images of a conical shuttle rocket in orbit on his blog, and others near
a large spacecraft: http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=5320
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=5335
....and David Winfrey posting a link to two similar paintings on the
space art website: http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/advss.htm
http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/sp4tr.htm
Which identified the spacecraft as Willy Ley's "Minerva" design.
I then went through the space art website and found more paintings of
the ferry ships: http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/spafl.htm
and although I thought it might be some sort of SSTO vehicle at first,
I then ran into what exactly it gets launched on, which is a real giant
of a booster...based on the WvB one of course:
http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/1957spacepilots.htm
It's hard to get any size estimates on this thing, but the larger ferry
rockets in the paintings look around 75-100 long, and that would make
the whole works around 400-500 feet high with a diameter at the base of
around 60-75 feet.

Pat