Re: wandering around Washington

From: w9gb (onw9mapsgb_at_no.arrl.spam.net)
Date: 11/18/04 

Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 04:03:31 GMT

"MattWriter" <mattwriter@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041117211740.06040.00000416@mb-m19.aol.com...
> << many of the labels and signs are poorly done. >><BR><BR>
>
> I've sent in a couple of complaints that the Explorer 1 on display not not
> match the colors of either the flight article (bare steel with white
> striping)
> or the model used at the von Braun press conference, where the upper
> section
> was copper-colored. That raises the interesting question of what the
> history
> of that particular article is. Walt Downhower, the payload engineer, told
> me
> they had several models with different colors to check out the
> reflectivity,
> internal temperature, etc., and there no doubt was at least one black and
> white
> one, but the NASM should change their plaque to explain that this is not
> what
> the satellite looked like.
>
> Matt Bille
> (MattWriter@AOL.com)
> OPINIONS IN ALL POSTS ARE SOLELY THOSE OF THE AUTHOR

Interesting, the Van Allen hall exhibit at The University of Iowa (Iowa
City, IA) had one of the Explorer 1 models (don't know which one). Much of
the machining and hand wiring for parts of the follow-on Explorers (plus
Injun 1 and Hawkeye 1) was done in the basement of Van Allen Hall. I have a
photo of Jim Van Allen at the NASM with one of the models, circa 1989.

gb

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT: Pilots in Space
    ... when the US launched Explorer I on 31 Jan 58. ... Sputnik II, a month ... Soviet space ... visited Prof Van Allen in his office at the U. of Iowa. ...
    (rec.aviation.piloting)
  • OT: Pilots in Space
    ... in space science or space exploration, ... when the US launched Explorer I on 31 Jan 58. ... Sputnik II, a month ... visited Prof Van Allen in his office at the U. of Iowa. ...
    (rec.aviation.piloting)