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[fsgregs]

Chris:

I will try to get to the museum in the next two months or so, but it is about 50 miles from where I live and is in the center of Washington, DC. This area has the 3rd worst traffic in the United States, and driving into the city is a nightmare.

The museum does have a full scale Voyager model, but it is hanging from the ceiling in a darker room. I've seen it several times. This is a photo of it that the museum has on their website. The space background is a painting on the ceiling that forms a backdrop for the model:



It's a poor photo ... but ...

I'll see what I can do this summer. I don't teach during summer break so maybe I can find the time to swing by the Museum ... just for you

Frank

[ElChristou]

Franck, this would be fabulous, but only if you think you can do some shots; for example, the case of Voyager seems tricky because if it's hanging from the ceiling you won't be able to do better than this photo...

So as you know the site, don't lose your time if you know you won't be able to do some close-ups...

[ElChristou]

So far here is the model, both side of the dish are still very draft but...

[ANDREA]

Now it's stunning, but what will be after completion?
Very impressive, indeed!
My congratulations, Chris.
Bye

Andrea

[buggs_moran]

Very nice Chris! Can't wait. I love it over Jupiter, nice shot!

[DonAVP]

Chris:

I will try to get to the museum in the next two months or so, but it is about 50 miles from where I live and is in the center of Washington, DC. This area has the 3rd worst traffic in the United States, and driving into the city is a nightmare.

The museum does have a full scale Voyager model, but it is hanging from the ceiling in a darker room. I've seen it several times. This is a photo of it that the museum has on their website. The space background is a painting on the ceiling that forms a backdrop for the model: . . .

. . . Frank

Frank:

I once had the opportunity to visit Cape Kennedy and see more that the average public. What happoned is I got with a program that they did with teachers in the state. I am not a teacher but worked of one of the subcontractors at the cape in another state at the time. Long story short you might post an email to the Smithsonian. Tell them about this thread and that your class would like to see if they could somehow get a closer look at the spacecraft to answer the question. You never know unless you ask. They may have an answer or photos or something, then again they may not but may want to know also. It is a legitimate question, also you may get some good closeup images of the space crafts for ElChristou.

Don

[jll]

Really awesome

I'm curious to see "the message" into space.

Have you found some clues about the sun sensor you were looking for ?

JLL

[fsgregs]

Chris:

What can I say .... it is stunning!!!!!

DonAVP:

The Smithsonian may indeed have some closeup photos of both Pioneer and Voyager. I will email them and ask them on our behalf.

The Pioneer spacecraft is hanging in a big gallery high up in the middle of the museum and would not be accessible any closer. Voyager, however, hangs only about 5' above everyone's head in a small gallery. It is possible to take closeups of it with a digital camera, at least from most angles. I'll try to do that in the next month or so.

Frank

[ElChristou]

Really awesome

I'm curious to see "the message" into space.

Have you found some clues about the sun sensor you were looking for ?

You can see the plaque on this shot (just up to the begining of the boom), but the message is on the internal side.

Nope, I'm still short of docs for the thrusters and others instruments on the dish sides... I will wait a bit to see if Franck can take some close ups, meanwhile I'm begining Voyager... (guys, blue prints and closeups are always welcome!!)

[buggs_moran]

I contacted the head of the Pioneer project, maybe he can be of some help.

Whaow... if you can do that it would be fabulous... Just ask for... ALL the docs available!!

Well Chris, they came through. I have the first two parts (of four) of the recently digitized PC-202 document. Heavy duty Pioneer data. I will include links to them in a PM to you in a few minutes. I just need to upload them.

(LOTS OF DIAGRAMS)

Dr. John Cooper at NASA told me that the documents are eventually going to end up here http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/sc-query.html, which I guess will be a repository for spacecraft data. Didn't know if you knew about this site or not.

[ElChristou]

...Well Chris, they came through. I have the first two parts (of four) of the recently digitized PC-202 document. Heavy duty Pioneer data. I will include links to them in a PM to you in a few minutes. I just need to upload them.

(LOTS OF DIAGRAMS)

Dr. John Cooper at NASA told me that the documents are eventually going to end up here http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/sc-query.html, which I guess will be a repository for spacecraft data. Didn't know if you knew about this site or not...

Excellent Buggs!! Will I have to redo the model? can't wait to see those docs!!

[fsgregs]

Chris:

I too have good news. I will be going into Washington next week (Thursday) to take your Pioneer and Voyager photos at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I'll post them or send them via email when I return.

Please check out their website collections link and tell me if they have any other spacecraft on display that you want closeups of.

Frank

[buggs_moran]

No, but you might get some more detail. Check your PM

[ElChristou]

Tx to both.

Franck, I PM you.

[fsgregs]

Chris et al:



OK, I have gone to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and have taken 139 photos of spacecraft. The spacecraft are all real and were either the actual craft or a full-scale mockup. Collectively, they total 43 MB. However, they are obviously divided up into different craft. All photos are taken from whatever angles I could manage. I had only a modest digital camera with a modest flash, and it did not have a telephoto lens, but the photos turned out reasonably well. You can always edit them to resize them or boost their brightness, etc. All photos are in jpg format.

I have 27 photos of Voyager (mockup)
14 photos of Pioneer 10 (mockup)
2 photos of Mercury Friendship 7 (actual craft)
2 photos of Gemini 4 (actual craft)
15 photos of Viking Mars Lander (mockup)
4 photos of Spirit and Opportunity (mockup)
20 photos of a full-scale lunar module (LEM) (mockup)
7 photos of Lunar Surveyor (mockup)
11 photos of Apollo-Soyuz (mockup)
8 photos of the Hubble Space Telescope (without solar panels) - full scale mockup
3 photos of Rutan's Spaceship One (actual ship)
3 photos of Mariner 2 (mockup)
6 photos of GEOS (full scale mockup)
4 photos of a Saturn V rocket (scale model)
10 photos of Skylab (full scale mockup)
1 photo of a lunar buggy (full scale mockup)

One of the Pioneer photos also includes full scale mockups of Sputnik 1 and Explorer 1 (they are hanging nearby).

I don't have an FTP site to post these to, but I am willing to email zip files of whatever you want to any of you who want them. I have to zip things up separately, since my email account has a 10 MB limit, but I don't mind.

Please do not request the photos unless you intend to use them for model development.

Enjoy!

Frank

P.S. I will also post this on the other thread involving Voyager.

[selden]

You might want to consider uploading them to the CML.

[ElChristou]

Well done Franck!

Of course I take right now the Voyager and Pioneer's ones!

Selden's idea is not bad... you could create a Pict folder in your ML directory... what do you think?

[buggs_moran]

Or create a free flickr account. Of course you would only be able to upload 20 MB per month, but you could start with Pioneer and Voyager for Chris.

[fsgregs]

If I can get Joe or Harry or someone at Motherlode to allow me to upload photos to a separate folder inside my creator's directory, that would work out fine. I will email them today to ask them how I can do that. It will be a bit easier to have everything ready to download as a zip file, than posting individual photos on a photo sharing account. That will save you all from having to download one photo at a time.

Chris:

I will email Pioneer.zip to you now, followed by Voyager.zip tomorrow.



Frank

[Chuft-Captain]

If I can get Joe or Harry or someone at Motherlode to allow me to upload photos to a separate folder inside my creator's directory, that would work out fine. I will email them today to ask them how I can do that. It will be a bit easier to have everything ready to download as a zip file, than posting individual photos on a photo sharing account. That will save you all from having to download one photo at a time.

Chris:

I will email Pioneer.zip to you now, followed by Voyager.zip tomorrow.



Frank

Frank,

If you DO manage to get somewhere to put these on the ML, my suggestion is that you package them as separate zips (in certain categories or one file per craft) rather than (or as well as) all in the one file, so that individuals with dial-up only can download only the ones they are interested in without having to download the whole 43MB's.

Thank's for braving the traffic Frank!