Kennedy Space Center, November 1970
I have a small group of photos from 1970 featuring the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I've never been there, but it would definitely be on my list of "things to do" should I ever get down that way. In what appears to be an old gardening shed you could find the space capsule from Gemini 9. This mission was famous for the attempted docking with an Agena Target Vehicle lovingly known as the "Angry Alligator", so-called because the payload faring had failed to separate, making the docking impossible.
Here we can see a tour group inside the massive vehicle assembly building, with part of a mighty Saturn V rocket framed by the window. With the slides date-stamped "November", I assume that this is the spacecraft for Apollo 14, which would launch in January of 1971. Not many people remember that Apollo 14 experienced technical malfunctions that almost resulted in an aborted mission - this right after the famous near-disaster of Apollo 13, of course.
It's hard to get a sense of scale in photos like this, but three human beings would soon be sitting in that command module at the top (the "Kitty Hawk"). Why they named the command module after a catbird I'll never know.
Our intrepid tour group is just exiting the Mission Control Center, where each person is given a complimentary moon rock ("Mine looks like Nixon!") and a jar of Tang™. I'd like to imagine Gene Kranz was hanging around in there, with his famous crew cut and shirtsleeves. Mr. Kranz is still with us as of this writing, at the age of 87!
Here's one of the famous crawler transporters, capable of moving a fully-assembled Saturn V rocket from the assembly building to the launch pad. It gets 35 mpg, and has a cup holder and three cigarette lighters. NASA had two of these amazing vehicles, which became "...the largest self-powered land vehicles in the world".
There's nothing like a yard full of a variety of missiles! I wish I could tell you all about each one but... my knowledge of such things is skin-deep at best. The one closest to us (to the right) might be a Mercury-Redstone. To its right (almost behind it) is what I believe is a Delta rocket. If anybody out there can ID any of the others, please chime in!
Don't base your PhD research on my info, but I believe that the silvery rocket might be a Mercury-Atlas rocket, the kind that enabled John Glenn to become the first American in orbit. I have NO idea what that mean-looking red fella is. I call it "Mister Speedy", and that should be good enough for you.
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to the Kennedy Space Center!
22 comments:
Those last two pics remind me of a cross between the U.S. Space Park at the 1964 NYWF, and the Proud Bird Restaurant at Los Angeles International Airport. I hope they let people climb up on "Mr. Speedy," as a photo-op. I also hope that Mr. Tom Morrow was hanging around, inside Mission Control.
Walt's 1955 "Man In Space" documentaries (which are really more Ward Kimball's work) are available on DVD's and on YouTube.
They're fascinating to watch, because we did eventually get there, but with very different technology than what the early rocket men like Werhner Von Braun and Willy Ley visualized.
"Tomorrowland" was a segment of the first "Disneyland" television show, and Walt seems to have given Ward a free hand, pretty much. Walt was very involved in the park's development and in making feature films at the time, but he was always a forward thinker. So he turned these films over to someone he could trust with the project.
Three cheers for forward thinkers!
OK, these are super fun!!! I was at KSC in April of 2018 for the launch of the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and managed to catch a bonus DOD launch a few days before. Of course, the obligatory tour and such were a necessity for my space-nerdiness as well.
After seeing plenty of historic spacecraft there (and elsewhere), all I can think about the gentleman in the first photo is "hey, buddy, hands off the merchandise!" It looks like there is some plastic covering parts of it, but otherwise it's free and in the open and looks like folks could just walk up and touch it! How cool is that, step right up and touch something that went to space and back!!! Of course, anymore they are all well wrapped up or far enough out of reach that a "close encounter" like that is impossible anymore.
I didn't take the VAB tour, but that was mostly because there wasn't much of anything happening in it at the time. These folks got an opportunity to see a moon rocket being built right in front of them. Color me jealous! There *is* one of the three remaining un-flown Saturn V rockets on display at KSC and it's incredible to walk underneath it and consider that 365 foot monster took off from the Earth and carried folks to the moon.
The Mission Control Center building in the photo is the one that was used for the early Mercury flights for Alan Shepard, John Glenn and company. At the time of these photos, Mission Control was (and still is) in Houston, TX. The building was recently (meaning within the last decade) torn down as it was becoming a liability between it's overall condition and generous volumes of asbestos insulation. The sign with the "meatball" logo was preserved and is on display in the Astronaut Hall of Fame portion of the visitor's center.
The missiles in the penultimate photo, from left to right:
- ??, but it looks familiar
- red, lying down is a cruise missile of some sort that I can't I.D.
- Atlas (seen in more detail in the last photo). This version was as an ICBM complete with (dummy) nuclear warhead on the top.
- Polaris ICBM (they conveniently labeled it too! :) )
- Another Atlas, lying on it's side
- Likely a Nike cruise missile (there's one that looks the same here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Nike in the photo, second on in from the right)
- Something hiding behind the palm tree that I can't make out
- Jupiter ICBM
- Thor Able
- nose cone from something??
- unknown cruise missile
In the last photo you get a better look at the 'first' Atlas from the photo above, complete with the snazzy red paint. I'm not sure I've ever seen a photo of an Atlas with that particular paint job. Maybe just dressing it up for the guests.
Thanks for the great photos today, Major!
-AlbinoDragon
Here we go, and it wasn't hard to find. Ward Kimball was a really amazing man in his own right, as an animator and cartoonist, director, and even as the leader of a very popular trad jazz band that sold a lot of records, the Firehouse Five Plus Two (all the members of the band were Disney animators).
My favorite Disneyite, for sure!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFXza9RH7-E
To augment AlbinoDragon’s comment, the penultimate photo shows from left to right:
UGM-27A Polaris A1 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) (white and black vertical display)
SM-62 Snark intercontinental cruise missile (international orange horizontal display)
LGM-30 Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) (white horizontal display)
Maybe a “boilerplate” version of a Gemini capsule used for pad fitting or test launches (black and white capsule-looking thing on the ground)
SM-65E or F Atlas ICBM (silver and international orange vertical display)
UGM-27C Polaris A3 SLBM (black and white vertical display)
SM-65F Atlas ICBM on a transporter (silver horizontal display)
AB-4C decorative arched bridge (blue horizontal display) (I may have made that one up)
MGM-31A Pershing I mobile ballistic missile (black and white vertical display)
Maybe an XGAM-87 / XGAM-48 Skybolt air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) (black and white vertical display behind the palm trees)
SM-78 / PGM-19 Jupiter intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) (black and white vertical display in foreground)
Thor Able launch vehicle, based on the SM-75 / PGM-17 Thor IRBM (the commercial version of Thor-based launch vehicles were renamed Delta in 1960, so the Major’s ID of an early Delta is essentially correct) (white vertical display)
Big Shot payload shroud (white capsule-looking thing on the ground)
MGM-18 Lacrosse short range tactical ballistic missile (olive drab and black vertical display)
XSM-64 Navaho intercontinental cruise missile (international orange and white vertical display)
Maybe an MGR-3 Little John artillery rocket (camouflage blob of a little horizontal display)
In the last photo, the international orange foreground artifact is a Q-2 / BQM-34A Firebee target drone.
When it was still called the Air Force Museum (now known as the National Museum of the United States Air Force) at Wright-Patterson AFB, Oh, they had a piece of a heat shield from a re-entry vehicle on display with a sign encouraging visitors to touch it so they could actually touch something that had been in space. I’m not sure if it’s still there.
Swell set today, Major. Thanks!
Wow! I could go on and on about this one! But, I'll just hit the highlights in whar would have been a huge post:
*I went to Kennedy in the early 90s. (My "home facility" is Johnson in Clearlake/ Houston)
*Mr. Speedy is a target drone.
*I met Mr. Krantz, along with Buzz Aldren, Neil Armstrong, Alan Bean, Walt Cunningham, and many more when I helped build model Apollo 7s for the 40th Anniversary of that flight. We got to go to the banquet for our troubles. And a huge "goody bag" and signed Saturn 1B model. Probably the best day EVER.
*I have a copy of The Firehouse Five Plus Two Crash a Party signed by Ward Kimball to George Pal. Ward was a huge sci-fi fan (and UFO believer) who was friends with Pal.
*I like rockets.
We went to Kennedy on the same Florida road trip where I had my first visit to Walt Disney World. It was a great day! There was a space shuttle launch the next day, which we watched from the side of the road. At the space center, they had this photo op set up with a space suit on a set that looked like the surface of the moon, so you could stick your face through the helmet and have your picture taken on the moon. I wish I still had the picture of me, because it ended up having major redeye and I looked like an alien possessing some poor hapless hu-man astronaut. The only other detail I remember clearly is that the gift shop was called “The Gift Gantry.”
I visited the Space Center when I went to the opening of EPCOT. It was a nice day trip and since my dad (very strangely) was a bit fascinated by it all I felt compelled to see what it was all about. This was in the Space Shuttle days so everything (that I remember anyway) surrounded that particular mission. It was cool to see the GIANT mover-thing that brought the Shuttle over from the hanger to the launch site, with these giant tracks that led to the rocket. We weren't allowed over there, and I was very interested to see it as it mimicked the elevator ride to the Rocket Jets! That's about all I remember that day. It was an interesting place but I was more interested in the links to Disneyland and less about the actual flights of space craft. As a bratty 20 year old I thought all of the exhibits could have been "WED-i-fied". After coming from the wonders of EPCOT Center I guess everything else (including REAL things like the Space Center) was very underwhelming. I would probably get more out of it now after 40 years! As a side note, Happy Birthday Disneyland! Two of my DL buddies, Janet and Bill also had July 17th birthdays and I was quite envious of that- so I will think about them today too. Janet is an OC mom (whose hubby worked for WED and was a big-wig to open Paris), and Bill is running one of the biggest PR firms in the universe.
I’m in a rush this AM, but I can’t wait to read the comments this post will generate.
Thanks Major, I’ll come back tonight,
JG
Major-
Clearly not as exciting as a rocket - but there are a few automobiles on view. A 1967 or 1968 Camaro, perhaps in Marina Blue. Then, two, 1971 Ford Pinto's [the first model year] - in Medium Bronze-? and Bright Red. The Bronze one is equipped with a trailer hitch-! Are you kidding me-??!! The last red vehicle is, who knows. (Only the Pinto on the far left returned from orbit...)
I've been to the Kennedy Space Center twice, in 1977 and I believe again in 1984. Definitely an exciting place to see. Thanks to both AlbionoDragon and Chuck for all the ID's-!
Thanks, Major. And yes, Happy Birthday to Disneyland.
TokyoMagic!, those definitely remind me of Space Park at the World’s Fair. I went to lunch at the Proud Bird many years ago, but it’s all kind of a blur, sadly. I remember it was in danger of closing, I wonder if it’s still there?
Pilsner Panther, those “Man In Space” documentaries are some of my favorite Disney shows - informative and entertaining, with some really amazing period artwork. I bought the “tin box” Man In Space set when it came out, but as you said, you can now see those shows on YouTube. And yes, Ward Kimball really was a Renaissance man!
AlbinoDragon, it’s hard to tell, but the space capsule might be entirely covered with a close-fitting plexi (or acrylic?) cover. Like vinyl slipcovers for grandma’s sofa! However, I do have other photos where you can see people clearly touching the bare metal - the powers that be didn’t think (at the time) of what millions of hands could do to such a historic object. They were built to be tough, but nothing is THAT tough. Cool that you’ve been to Kennedy Space Center, that would definitely be one of my goals if I ever go to Florida.And yeah, imagine seeing an actual Apollo spacecraft being built, one that would head into space in a matter of months. What a time. Thank you for your rocket IDs, I appreciate it! I agree, the touches of red on that Atlas rocket look pretty cool. Maybe that was the “sport” model - it cost a little more, but you got some nice extras.
Pilsner Panther, Todd James Pierce wrote a good biography of Ward Kimball, if you haven’t already read it. It’s worth buying! I met Ward at an animation gallery when I was still a teenager; I was thrilled, but too shy at the time to really talk to him like an intelligent person.
Chuck, JEEZ! I didn’t even see that many vehicles! Tell me you had to do some research and that you didn’t just know these off the top of your head? You even knew what the arched bridge is! ;-) Either way, if you DID do research, I always feel guilty making you do homework. Though I will assume you did it because you love the stuff? THANKS so much! I’d love to know if they have a piece of heat shield to touch still… maybe all of that touching “ablated” it down to nothing.
Stu29573, very neat that you met Gene Krantz, what a guy, he became the face of Mission Control to me after watching so many documentaries about Apollo missions. And meeting all of those other heroes, wow! I would have asked Neil Armstrong what it was like to walk on the moon, I’ll bet he’d never been asked that before. Do you still have your signed Saturn 1B model? You sent me a photo of your George Pal-signed album, so cool!
Melissa, wow, I always wished I could see a Shuttle launch, I can only imagine what that was like. When I was a kid, a company (I think it was Rocketdyne) would do tests of rocket engines periodically, and even though I was miles away, you could feel the power of the rumble. It was amazing. When the Shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base, it would pass overhead, and we’d experience two loud sonic booms. That was thrilling too! Your photo with redeye can be easily fixed in Photoshop these days, too bad you can’t find it!
Like JG, I'm in a rush this morning, but should be back by the afternoon to check in and respond to the other comments! Thanks everybody.
I instantly thought of two things when I read today’s post title:
1. My husband and I went there in May 1983 and watched a communication satellite get blasted into space. Can still feel the earth rumble. We loved it!
2. Stu (Stu29573—not my cousin Stu) and his really cool Moonliner model that he built.
Thanks, Major!
Loved the pics and informative comments. I was a complete space-nut kid and closely followed the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions along with the exploration satellite missions. So much fun looking back at them now that I'm a senior living in the distant future. :)
Back in the 50s and 60s, it seemed like everyone in SoCal had some attachment to the space effort. Aerospace companies dotted the landscape such as North American, Lockheed, Douglas and so many others. Seemed like everyone's father was an engineer at one of them. My Dad worked on the S-IVB third stage with Douglas-Huntington Beach. For me as a kid with a transistor radio, I heard just about all the Mercury flights...and many Gemini. In the 90s, I had a chance to visit KSC and took the tour to the Flight Control Center and various launch pads...in particular the bunker associated with the Mercury launches. It was much simpler than nowadays...much like the fellow touching Gemini 9.
Arriving at the Flight Center, we walked into the gallery overlooking the the monitors and tracking map. I was standing in the very building where, 30 years earlier, the radio transmissions were made. What a thrill it was! Then as we were leaving the building and going down the outside stairway shown in the picture, the guide asked the last person in the group to be sure to turn off the lights and close the door. That put me squarely back into the 'here and now'.
The plastic covering on the nose of Gemini covers what contained the landing chutes. And the cars referenced parked along the side of the Flight Center are Ford Mavericks...not Pintos.
It's hard to recreate the magic we experienced back then involving the space race.
The only rocket launch I've seen was a chance situation while visiting WDW, where one evening a Shuttle went up. Even 90 miles away, it was a spectacular sight. Great post. KS
This is from a little out in left field, but Kitty Hawk, as you say, is a catbird. There's an old saying "sitting in the Catbird's seat". It meant sitting in a place of prominence or great advantage. In the way back west, it meant sitting in the best seat in the show, or opera house. Like in the Birdcage Theater down the road in Tombstone.
Could be. Maybe.
First let me thank everyone who identifies all these vehicles. This adds a lot to the post. I’ve never been to KSC, so this is a lot of fun.
Agreeing with KS, Mavericks, not Pintos.
Grant’s comment summarizes most of what I would say. My Dad, his brother and I were fascinated with the space program. More than once I was allowed to miss the bus to watch a launch on TV, then Dad would drive me to school late.
A few times we could see what we thought were missile (satellites?) launches from maybe Vandenburg, but they were hundreds of miles down range SW and climbing, so they looked like a bigger than average contrail, and silent. I’ve never seen a launch in person.
Thanks Major, very much.
JG
Thank you KS & JG-
Would you believe I was 'thinking' Maverick', and typed Pinto instead-?
(It's just possible, but...)
Nanook, it’s nice to have some more Earthly vehicles to ID! I’ll take the Camaro. I love the trailer hitch on the Pinto. I met up with my friend Mr. X today and we toasted Disneyland’s birthday!
Lou and Sue, very neat that you saw a rocket taking off! I’ve always wished I had that experience. For a while it was rumored that they would do Shuttle launches from Edwards Air Force Base, but that never happened. Or was it Vandenberg?
Grant, yeah, that was really quite a time for a kid who was interested in such things. I used to love the cutaway diagrams of lunar modules and space capsules, especially.
KS, yes, the aerospace industry was really booming in SoCal, I have an old issue of “MIdwinter” magazine from the L.A. Times (I can’t find it at the moment, but I think it’s from the late 1950s) and it is amazing how many companies had gigantic facilities all over the Southland. Not far from me is a shopping center called “The Plant” that used to be an aircraft construction plant. Now it’s a Home Depot. I remember loving it when National Geographic or LIFE would have articles about astronauts or Moon missions, or pretty much ANYTHING related to the subject. Funny that the guide trusted the last person to turn off the lights and close the door! I agree, it is probably impossible to relay the excitement that many of us felt during those heady days, with our first steps taken into space!
DrGoat, what are you doing out in left field? ;-) I am familiar with the saying “sitting in the catbird seat”, though I admit that I often thought “What the heck’s a catbird?”.
JG, even today I would love to take a tour of JPL, and really wanted to take my niece and nephew during one of their visits to our neck of the woods when they came down for Spring Break. I figured, “Where else are they going to see something like this?”. But it was tricky to get a time for the tour. Instead we went to the California Science Center where they now have the Space Shuttle Endeavor on display, you can walk all around it and even under it. It’s pretty spectacular, even just sitting on the ground.
Nanook, I believe you!
Major, if it makes you feel better, it was a combination of “hey, that’s a…,” “that looks a lot like a …(better look it up to be sure),” and “what the heck is that?” It doesn’t hurt that I’ve visited the museum twice back when these were all still displayed outside (1979 & 2002).
I also had an assist on one of the IDs. I’m visiting my parents, and my dad and I spent about ten minutes at the breakfast table staring at that familiar-looking cruise missile on the left and coming up with wrong possibilities (the Matador and Mace came to mind) before my dad finally said “wait - is that a Snark?” and then a quick check confirmed it.
The proposed West Coast launches you are remembering were for polar orbit flights out of Vandenberg. They even converted SLC-6 for Shuttle launches and brought Enterprise out for fit testing. What shut down the program was the Challenger accident. The combination of the extra weight of the redesigned solid rocket boosters and the greater thrust requirements to overcome the Earth’s rotation to put a spacecraft into a polar orbit meant that the usable payload weight wasn’t great enough to make polar Shuttle launches cost effective.
I got a tour of SLC-6 when I was an AFROTC cadet. My field training (think “basic training” but with a focus on leadership training and evaluation) in 1991 was held at Vandenberg, and they took us out to see it one day. We also got an overflight in a Huey during our helicopter orientation ride. As an AF space program enthusiast, it was pretty sweet.
Chuck, thanks for the Vandenburg confirmation. My uncle Hal (thank you for your research into his service) said those launches we saw from the farm came from there, but I had no way of knowing or checking. Much appreciated.
Major, we drove by JPL today, at a great distance (visiting Descanso Gardens). A friend worked there (JPL), but he is well-retired I’m sure by now. Do they require security clearance like Edwards AFB? Edwards was my big contact with the Space Program. I got to stand in the pit constructed to hold “Glamorous Glynis” while attaching her (with Chuck Yeager inside) to the big plane. It’s just a hole in the ground, not even a plaque.
I love this post and all the comments. Thanks everyone. Nanook, even Homer nods. Hal had a Maverick of that model.
JG
Major...if you are referring to "The Plant" in the San Fernando Valley, that was the site of the old GM assembly plant which closed in '92. Imagine years ago walking the floor of the plant as a visitor watching men put cars together. I did way back in '63. KS
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