posted 09-30-2003 02:11 AM            

I also very much appreciated the new look which started with the new editor Mr. Simpson.

posted 11-12-2003 02:28 PM               

Best regards!

posted 12-12-2003 07:24 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Philip:
Decemer's Spaceflight is a superb issue with amazing photos of an Apollo Vacuum Chamber test held in June 1968 with Engle, Kerwin and Brand.

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posted 12-14-2003 04:55 AM               

My only concern is one which crops up from time to time. That is the preferred shipping medium. Since switching to plastic I seem to have amassed an increasing number of dinged and dog eared copies.

Regards,

posted 12-17-2003 02:39 PM               

I can surely say that Spaceflight magazine got better and better every year and I really like the new "look and feel" of it!

posted 01-06-2004 01:52 PM            

The subtitle on the front is a little misleading, as Armstrong doesn't talk about his moonwalk at all in the article. Instead, he discusses his place in 100 years of manned powered flight - including his Gemini 8 mission, and ending with a vivid description of leaving Earth orbit and heading to the Moon on Apollo 11. If you heard that Armstrong is not very poetic and inspiring when describing the Apollo 11 mission, prepare to be surprised!

The article covers a wonderful talk he gave in Bakersfield, California a few months ago. In it, you'll see just how much he respects and admires the pioneering aviators who came before him. A photo of Armstrong taken at the event appeared on the 'Sightings' page for a while, and appears again in the magazine.

Hope you enjoy reading it - and I am as ever always interested in what people think of these articles.

Thanks,

posted 01-12-2004 05:18 PM               

And congratualations to Rex Hall MBE!

posted 02-27-2004 11:51 AM               

The picture of the first N-1 launch looks like a grab from a video, is the footage available to download anywhere?

posted 02-27-2004 11:56 AM               

quote:

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Don't know if Dwayne Day is on this forum but I also appreciated his article on "US Air Force Ferret Satellites of the Cold War"... where did he get those super Agena launch photos?

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I did not read this forum, but Richard Jackson told me about your comments.

The photographs came from a colleague of mine who has amassed a collection of Thor vehicle photos. These are all official USAF photos, long thought lost. In fact, because the photos were so interesting and revealing (all those different launch shrouds), I decided to write an article around them.

Fortunately, I also had quite a bit of additional information to add, such as the conflict between the NSA and the CIA over control of signals intelligence satellites in the early 1960s. That is new information.

I actually have in the works a follow-up article on ferret satellites which also includes some new photographs that have either been ignored or not published before. For instance, I have some photos of an airbrushed Titan launch vehicle. Somebody clumsily tried to cover over the payload shroud. This was negated by the fact that the vehicle contractor released the original photo. I also have an artist conception of a satellite derived from the subsatellite ferrets that was long ignored.

I generally try to stay away from what I consider more marginal research techniques like studying orbital inclinations or photographs. There was a time (pre 1995) when these ephemera were the only means to decipher some classified military programs. But now such a great deal of information has been declassified that a historian should tap into the rich documentary and oral history resources on these programs. There is no need to spend much time looking at obscure orbital data when you can go straight to documentary sources.

Unfortunately, for some programs, like the ferrets, there is really little info out there. (I should add, however, that I have long believed that there are many more resources on some of these programs than previous authors have found. It simply requires somebody to go through archives looking for this material.)

In my follow-up article, I do have some new information culled from a book of memoirs of satellite reconnaissance pioneers and also a few document declassifications. The info concerns some ferret satellite programs in the 1960s. For instance, the intelligence community started a crash development program in 1966 to build a satellite to detect Soviet anti-ballistic missile radars.

posted 02-27-2004 12:08 PM               

We had additional illustrations that we could not run in the article. Most of them are CIA line drawings of the launch pads under construction. We may try to run them in the future.

As for the comment about sources--I have found that it is very important in research to build up a network and share information with that network. You have to keep that network energized by providing information to your colleagues. Then, when some other researcher finds something of interest to you, they will share it. Some of the material in the article is a result of somebody I know finding the info and passing it on to me.

But I have long believed that excellent methods lead to excellent sources. In other words, if you look hard and use a methodical approach, you will find good information. You also have to be careful and skeptical about sources, looking for corroboration.

For instance, Sayre Stevens, who I interviewed for part 2, told me that he thought that his 1964 report on the Soviet lunar program (he thought there was no evidence of it) was suppressed because a senior CIA official did not want to embarrass NASA Administrator James Webb. This was a great story ("Intelligence information suppressed for political reasons!"). But I had to be sure.

I called that senior official and asked him about this. He did not remember the specific incident, but he provided more context. He said that considering the importance of the subject and how it could have affected national policy, he probably wanted to be very sure that the information was correct. It would be bad to make a conclusion about the Soviet lunar program without good evidence. So I had to back down from my initial assumption and provide more nuance.

posted 03-12-2004 10:58 AM               

Although I have not read much of it, the one thing that struck me is the quality of the photos. Spaceflight has often had a problem with color photos coming out faded or dull. But the photos in this issue are great. Vivid color.

posted 03-21-2004 12:11 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by ALAIN:
Dwayne, congrats on another great article in the April issue on "Corona Reconnaissance Satellite Programme in Early 1960s"!

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As I noted in a previous post, this article was not intended to be an act of scholarship. I had a lot of good photos and wanted to wrap an article around them.

I have acquired some nice photos from a couple of sources. One is a researcher who has gained access to a massive amount of historical rocket photos. He has let me use his material. In addition, I went through the photo collection at the National Archives and scanned a lot of material. (They have a lot of nice photo transparencies as well, but you cannot scan them and have to get them copied at around $25 apiece. That's not cheap.)

I should also add that the photos of the engineers at the party came from Jim Plummer. He very generously allowed us to use them in our CORONA book. I think they're great because they show the people behind the machines.

quote:

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Ever thought about putting articles together in a book on the subject?

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I have thought about trying to do a more encyclopedic book about satellite reconnaissance, with a chapter on each major program: Samos E-1 and E-2, Samos E-5, ARGON, LANYARD, a couple of chapters on CORONA, etc. That would have to go toward a more specialty press, like Apogee.

The problem is that I have lots of good ideas and only a finite amount of time. As I posted earlier, I currently have several articles lined up in Spaceflight (Discoverer 14, First Lunar Outpost, and reconsat propulsion stages). I've also got something scheduled for the Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence and something else scheduled for Quest. And I have about a dozen more sitting on my hard drive, both for Spaceflight and academic publication. Recently I have begun publishing articles about civilian space on-line at www.thespacereview.com.

My philosophy has long been that it's better to publish earlier and get information out into circulation than to wait years before producing a book. There's a value to letting people see the material so that they can discuss it. And I can use the published articles to get people to talk.. But I should probably devote more time to the books.

posted 04-04-2004 03:23 AM               

Recently the articles by Dwayne Day have been very good.

We will soon have an issue of Space Chronicle coming out with major articles on the Soviet space programme presented at various Soviet symposiums. Also the first issue of our new education magazine Voyager will appear in the summer. A busy time.

I am so please that more people are joining the BIS and helping to support us to promote the place of space travel.

Looking forward to meeting you soon.

posted 04-07-2004 01:27 AM               

Thank you for all the good comments about the magazine.The next issue is out and will no doubt drop on to your doormats very soon.

In addition we are producing a Space Chronicle issue on Soviet space activities with articles by Phil Clark and Bart Hendricks on Luna space craft and Russian / Soviet weather satellites. It will be mailed to those who subscribe to it at the end of April.

We also in the early summer will be producing an educational magazine called Voyager. Dave Shayler who is editing it with his brother is interviewing Mark Shuttleworth this morning for it.

It is a very busy time for the staff.

Please visit the BIS website for more information.

Have a good Easter break everyone. Hope you all get your fill of Easter Eggs.

posted 04-13-2004 05:52 PM               

Got my Spaceflight May mag recently. I too was glad to read all the space news, the return to flight for STS-114 and STS-121, regarding the loss of foam to the External Tanks, another very good feature was about Hubble Options reviewed. Plus, the overheating problems curtails EVA -- this article I found very interesting.