Does anybody know if Logsdon recent book (After Apollo) ever mention Big Gemini even in passing ? does anybody know where I could download a pdf variant ?
Quote from: Archibald on 04/20/2015 06:28 pmDoes anybody know if Logsdon recent book (After Apollo) ever mention Big Gemini even in passing ? does anybody know where I could download a pdf variant ? It does mention Big Gemini several times.Feel free to order it via Amazon.
Quote from: Blackstar on 04/20/2015 07:01 pmQuote from: Archibald on 04/20/2015 06:28 pmDoes anybody know if Logsdon recent book (After Apollo) ever mention Big Gemini even in passing ? does anybody know where I could download a pdf variant ? It does mention Big Gemini several times.Feel free to order it via Amazon.It's only available in hard back at the moment Randy
1969 August 21 - McDonnell Douglas Corporation, under contract to MSC, submitted an eight-volume final report on a "Big G" study. -
I meant, I was ready to pay for a pdf - a e-book. I've linked two documents related to Big Gemini. The main body of work remain the eight volume study currently not available on the web. According to astronautix http://web.archive.org/web/20070217102417/http://astronautix.com/craft/bigemini.htmQuote1969 August 21 - McDonnell Douglas Corporation, under contract to MSC, submitted an eight-volume final report on a "Big G" study. -
Although the Logsdon book mentions Big G a number of times, it does not focus on it in any way. By 1970 and particularly by 1972, Big G appears to have been an afterthought and most of the discussion was around some kind of winged vehicle, either the really big one that they got, or a much smaller one that was preferred by some people at OMB and the White House. I don't know what specific concepts they were considering, but it sounds like they were talking about a vehicle that would carry about six people and use an existing rocket.One of the issues I have with Big G--but it's really an issue I have with this 1969-1971 time period--is that we don't know how seriously it was considered. Keeping the Apollo CSM in production seems like it would have been the cheapest alternative, but it seems like NASA was so set on a shuttle that Big G and the Apollo mod may have been presented to NASA and NASA simply set them on a shelf and never seriously considered them at all.
...It was all straight forward and laid out how it SHOULD be done...
Quote from: RanulfC on 04/21/2015 05:54 pm...It was all straight forward and laid out how it SHOULD be done...Randy, I'd like to offer a note that applies to both your analysis of what NASA was thinking at the time (which I find relatively sound) and also, to an extent, what I've seen many people (myself included, I would imagine) state here, on a number of topics:The word "SHOULD" is the most dangerous word in the English language. It is almost always a device to try and impose your own opinion onto a situation, regardless of the merits of your opinion vs. the merits of any other opinion. It is never, ever a valid logical argument.Just sayin'...
RanulfC, you don't have to use quotation marks unless you're quoting somebody.
Quote from: Blackstar on 04/21/2015 06:51 pmRanulfC, you don't have to use quotation marks unless you're quoting somebody.Yes I've fallen back into that habit and will try and remedy it. Sorry.(Doesn't count if I'm quoting myself I suppose )Randy
Quote from: RanulfC on 04/21/2015 07:04 pmQuote from: Blackstar on 04/21/2015 06:51 pmRanulfC, you don't have to use quotation marks unless you're quoting somebody.Yes I've fallen back into that habit and will try and remedy it. Sorry.(Doesn't count if I'm quoting myself I suppose )RandyAlso, remember: 13-year-old girls are allowed an unlimited number of exclamation marks in whatever they write, but each adult is allocated only one per year.