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Author
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Topic: Airborne Lightweight Optical Tracking System
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onesmallstep
Member Posts: 1434
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
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posted 05-19-2013 07:35 PM
   
I just saw a remarkable photo on the NASA History Facebook page of the Apollo 10 stack after launch. It almost looks as if the Saturn V was flying in formation with the aircraft that took its picture. A question: what type(s) of aircraft carried the Airborne Lightweight Optical Tracking System (ALOTS), and when did it start to be used and until when? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 51668
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 05-19-2013 07:36 PM
As mentioned in this related thread, the Airborne Lightweight Optical Tracking System was mounted on a C-135 aircraft. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 1276
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 05-21-2013 07:39 AM
Just a bit more background to ALOTS.The system was manufactured by Norhtrop and used a 20-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope mounted in a pod. The pod itself was fixed to the left side of a KC-135. |
Glint
Member Posts: 1123
From: New Windsor, Maryland USA
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 05-21-2013 12:18 PM
Interesting. As far as I am aware only Celestron Pacific was routinely producing telescopes with those characteristics back in the 1960s. Did each ALOTS come equipped with one of these 20-inch "blue & white" tube assembly beauties? |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1859
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 05-21-2013 02:30 PM
No, they were purpose built and were actually for looking at Soviet RVs. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 1276
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 05-21-2013 05:45 PM
Celestron's advertisements from the period state that they final figured the optical system, but does not boast that they actually supplied the optical components. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3868
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 12-19-2023 08:08 PM
Photo S69-39958 is an ALOTS image of the Apollo 11 first stage separation. Alternate photo numbers are 107-KSC-69PC-416, 69-HC-784 and 69-H-1171. |
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