NASA – Dynamic Subspace

Intrepid Air and Space Museum, Manhattan, New York, March 2019

Intrepid Museum, WWII Aircraft Carrier turned Air and Space Museum, Manhattan, New York, Front of Ship

In March 2019, I met up with my buddy Alan Lovegreen to visit the Intrepid Museum, a WWII-era air craft carrier that had been repurposed as an air and space museum moored on the west side of Manhattan.

Alan and I had been hired the same year to work at City Tech in the English Department. While he was there, we worked together to inaugurate the City Tech Science Fiction Collection. Soon after that, he moved back to California for a new job. He was back in NYC to give a talk, so we picked a cool place to meet up.

Some exhibits overlap those at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and its Steven P. Udvar-Hazy Center that I wrote about last week, such as the latter also having a Concorde airliner. Also notable is that the Space Shuttle Enterprise, which had been at the Udvar-Hazy Center, is now at the Intrepid Museum. Space Shuttle Discovery is now at the Udvar-Hazy Center. But, some similar looking aircraft are actually experimental or specialized versions, such as the Intrepid’s Lockheed A-12 compared with the Udvar-Hazy Center’s SR-71 Blackbird. There’s also some other unique displays involving LEGO: a 1:40 scale model of the Intrepid and a 50,000 brick mosaic image of the Space Shuttle Enterprise flying over New York City atop a Boeing 747.

We couldn’t have picked a better day to go. It was a cool and clear day, so we spent most of our time on the outside exhibits on the flight deck and hanger deck, but we also went under the water line to explore the submarine USS Growler tied up at the same pier (I’ll post pictures of the Growler tomorrow).

Flight Deck

Conning Tower

Bell 309 KingCobra

Bell UH-1A Iroquois “Huey”

McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II

McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21

Northrop T-38 Talon

Grumman F-11 Blue Angels

Lockheed A-12

Grumman F-14D Super Tomcat

Grumman F-9 Cougar

Intrepid Museum, WWII Aircraft Carrier turned Air and Space Museum, Manhattan, New York, Gumman F-9 Cougar

Israel Aircraft Industries Kfir/F-21A

General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

Intrepid Museum, WWII Aircraft Carrier turned Air and Space Museum, Manhattan, New York, F-16

Anti-Aircraft Batteries

Hanger Deck and Interior

North American FJ-3

Martin-Baker Mark V Ejection Seat

Grumman Avenger Ball Turret

Mercury Capsule

Ship Interior

Space Shuttle Enterprise and Exhibit Area

Intrepid Museum, WWII Aircraft Carrier turned Air and Space Museum, Manhattan, New York, Space Shuttle Enterprise

Intrepid Museum, WWII Aircraft Carrier turned Air and Space Museum, Manhattan, New York, Space Shuttle Enterprise's Star Trek Connections Exhibit

Intrepid Museum, WWII Aircraft Carrier turned Air and Space Museum, Manhattan, New York, Space Shuttle Wind Tunnel Model

Intrepid Museum, WWII Aircraft Carrier turned Air and Space Museum, Manhattan, New York, Space Shuttle Enterprise LEGO Mosaic

The LEGO mosaic that capped off the Enterprise exhibit area was a cooperative construction project let by Ed Diment, who created the scale model of the USS Intrepid (below). The mosaic above depicts the Space Shuttle Enterprise’s flight over NYC before its arrival at JFK and eventual move to the Intrepid. It was constructed out of 50,000 LEGO bricks by hundreds of children and adults between July 26-28, 2013.

LEGO Build of the USS Intrepid

Built by Ed Diment, this recreation of the USS Intrepid with LEGO bricks is a 1:40 scale model. It is 22 feet long, 4 feet wide, and over 4 1/2 feet tall. It weighs 550 pounds and contains 250,000 pieces!

Concorde Airliner on Pier

Carrier Aft

Intrepid Museum, WWII Aircraft Carrier turned Air and Space Museum, Manhattan, New York, USS Intrepid Aft

November 29, 2023

Photos of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, August 2008

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, Spirit of St. Louis N-X-211

Yesterday, I shared photos of Y’s and my trip to the Stephen Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM). Today, I have some photos of our stop at the NASM on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

I think of museums of technology, like the NASM, as a kind of technical communication medium. Of course, the work of the displays, diagrams, multimedia, and explanatory text are different kinds of technical communication created to facilitate learning, contextualization, and curiosity. But, the museum as a whole–the system of the museum and its totality, its holism–is a giant technical communication medium, too.

Most of the exhibits seemed similar to the last time that I had visited Washington in the late 1980s, but one notable change is the restoration of the shooting model of Star Trek’s USS-1701 Enterprise, which used to hang in the air but it now at eye-level and encased in plastic (last photos below).

After our visit, the NASM did a big renovation of the museum on the National Mall and the Udvar-Hazy Center (i.e., the replacement of Space Shuttle Enterprise with Discovery).

Above and below, you can see Charles Lindbergh’s Atlantic-crossing Spirit of St. Louis. More pictures of the historic air and spacecraft on display follow.

Spirit of St. Louis

Hughes H-1 Racer

Supermarine Spitfire HF. Mk. VIIc

North American P-51D Mustang

Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6/R3

Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a Schwalbe (Swallow)

Mitsubishi A6M5 Reisen (Zero Fighter) Model 52 ZEKE

North American X-15

Douglas D-558-2

Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

Grumman X-29 full-scale model

SpaceShipOne and Bell X-1

SpaceShipOne

Bell X-1

John Glenn’s Spacesuit

Space Capsule Interior

Apollo 11 Command Module

Apollo Command Module Console

Lunar Module LM-2

Apollo-Soyuz Rendezvous Recreation

V-2 Rocket, Skylab, and V-1 Rocket

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, Skylab Interior

Viking Mars Lander

SAGE Core Memory Unit 11, IBM AN/FSQ-7

Boeing X-45A Unmanned Vehicle

Star Trek Shooting Model of the USS-1701 Enterprise

November 21, 2023

Photos of the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, August 2008

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Entrance

In August 2008, Y and I visited Washington, DC. One of our stops was the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum, which holds some amazing aerospace artifacts including the B-29 Enola Gay, an SR-71 Blackbird, and Space Shuttle Enterprise. There are also many military aircraft, space related artifacts, robots (and rovers), computers, toys, and even a Hugo Award. Below, I’ve included photos grouped around an artifact or theme, but they are not arranged in a particular order–kind of like meandering around such a huge museum.

Enola Gay B-29

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, B-29 Enola Gay

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

Grumman F-14 Tomcat

Lockheed T-33A-5-LO Shooting Star

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star

Bell XV-15 Tilt Rotor Research Aircraft

Lockheed Martin X-35B STOVL

NASA Space Shuttle Enterprise

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, NASA Space Shuttle Rocket Motor

Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner Rover

Rocketdyne F-1 Rocket Motor

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Rocketdyne F-1 Rocket Engine

Various Rocket Motors and V-2 Turbopump

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Rocket Motor

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Rocket Motor Cutaway

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, V-2 Turbopump

Early Space Capsules

Apollo Spacesuit and Helmets and Gloves

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Apollo Space Suit, Helmets, and Gloves

Robert Goddard Rocket Motor

Bell Rocket Belt

North American F-86 Sabre

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

Vought F4U Corsair

Lockheed P-38 Lightning

Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde

Scaled Composites Model 311 Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer

LZ 129 Hindenburg Airship Artifacts

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, LZ 129 Hindenburg Airship Fabric

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, LZ 129 Hindenburg Airship Girder

Jim Bede BD-5 Kit Plane

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, BD-5

Rutan VariEze Kit Plane

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Rutan VariEze

PDP-11/35

UNIVAC 1232

CDC 3800 Launch Computer Processor

IDEX II Work Station

NASA VR Headset and Payload Computer

Spacesuit Testing Android

Willy Ley’s 1956 Best Feature Writer Hugo Award

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Willy Ley's 1956 Best Feature Writer Hugo

Space Toys

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Mego Star Trek and Kenner Star Wars Action Figures

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Space Patrol Rocket Port Playset with Control Tower

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Captain Video Space Drome Playset and Space Cars

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Toy Rockets

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Toy Pistols

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon Pistols

Leaving the Udvar-Hazy Center

National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Exiting the Center

November 20, 2023

NASA Speaker Professor Jay Reynolds Visited My Writing Classes Today

Thanks to NASA’s Speakers Bureau, Professor Jay Reynolds of Cleveland State University and the Glenn Research Station agreed to visit my two intro writing classes today to talk about America’s return to the Moon, current research on Mars, and investigations of asteroids and protoplanets, which is what Prof. Reynolds is at the present involved in with the DAWN mission to observe Vesta and Ceres.

I asked Prof. Reynolds to speak to my classes about some of the things taking place right now at NASA, particularly in relation to NE Ohio, where the majority of my students are from, and to give some context to the work that NASA does. He did an excellent job of this in his two presentations today for my students. Based on the subjects that he covered, I believe that he filled in many gaps that I either didn’t have the time to cover or those things that didn’t occur to me at the time as my classes worked their way through Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars as part of the “Space Exploration and Your Future” theme of my intro writing classes.

Prof. Reynolds demonstrated his depth of knowledge about NASA and its missions while also engaging broader economic and political interests in response to questions put to him by my students. He displayed a contagious abundance of energy and excitement about his work and the work taking place at NASA that I believe carried over to some of my students in the two classes.

At the beginning of his presentation, he began simply by asking my students what they thought of the unauthorized, yet mission making, Apollo 8 picture of the gibbous Earth next to the lunar surface [find it here] and the Apollo 17 image of the fully illuminated Earth [find it here]. What he stressed with these images was that our missions to the Moon turned into missions about the Earth. Our going out there gave us, meaning humanity, a new perspective on our planet and ourselves as co-inhabitants of what Carl Sagan termed a pale blue dot.

He discussed the Space Shuttle, Saturn V, and Ares I and V launch vehicles [see my Lego versions here] in detail, which elicited many questions between the two classes. Other questions included: How safe are the launch vehicles? Why did we go to the Moon? Does anyone own the Moon? What do you do with Helium-3?

Prof. Reynolds’ presentation ended with a discussion of asteroids and the importance of locating and tracking those objects which cross or may eventually cross the orbit of the Earth. This is related to the work that he does for NASA with the help of undergraduate and graduate students from Cleveland State University in conjunction with the DAWN mission [some related info here].

I am thankful that NASA can make a special event like this possible, and I am especially grateful to Prof. Reynolds for taking the time and energy to drive down to Kent and spend the afternoon with my students. It was a terrific occasion to close out the Fall 2009 semester for my students.

December 3, 2009

Lego Models of NASA’s Project Constellation, Orion and Altair

Legos return to the Moon! I built the following Lego models of NASA’s Constellation Program spacecraft and lunar lander when I would take breaks from my PhD exam reading schedule. The Orion spacecraft includes a detachable solid rocket booster, and it can be mated to the Altair lunar lander craft. Orion carries three minifig astronauts, and the Altair has room for one minifig astronaut. I based my Lego models on some of computer generated mockups previously shown on NASA’s Constellation program website.