# mars twitterstorians spacesolarpower spaceshuttle loftid space history comets esa spacestation apollo moon nasa histstm spacetwitter sputnik comics

No Shortage of Dreams — "Dyna-Soar's Martian Cousin (1960)"
https://t.co/GdxVl9tqel
A Philip Bono classic shown to be unworkable by Mariner IV in 1965 — though I'm pretty sure it was impractical even in 1960. Still, gotta love it!

7 49
2023-03-17

No Shortage of Dreams — "Dyna-Soar's Martian Cousin (1960)"
https://t.co/GdxVl9tqel
Another wonderfully weird concept from Philip Bono.

4 38
2023-01-30

No Shortage of Dreams — "Star-Raker (1978)"
https://t.co/VRXek0usW7
It's a Space Shuttle made of balloons! (Some filled with hydrogen.)

23 184
2022-12-28

No Shortage of Dreams — "Gumdrops on Mars (1966)" — https://t.co/MzBcE6AcNd
How the results from the Mariner IV Mars flyby mission triggered a Mars lander design revolution.

9 45
2022-12-21

In recognition of the successful LOFTID test today I give you once again ROOST, which might be the largest inflatable heatshield vehicle ever proposed.
https://t.co/ZHI42KT18o

47 257
2022-11-11

No Shortage of Dreams — "Gumdrops on Mars (1966)"
https://t.co/MzBcE6AcNd
Mariner IV was a crucial mission to Mars. In July 1965 it gave us our first real data on the atmosphere, forcing advance planners to look at new Mars lander concepts.

7 23
2022-10-23

No Shortage of Dreams — "Catching Some Comet Dust: Giotto II (1985)"
https://t.co/QKgAAG1hMS
Still trying to work out why they didn't invoke aerogel as a capture medium. Was the expected particle impact velocity too great?

2 2
2022-09-26

No Shortage of Dreams — "One Space Shuttle, Two Cargo Volumes: Martin Marietta's Aft Cargo Carrier (1982)"
https://t.co/hgdqn1noZO
A clever plan for launching big fat cargoes into LEO — and possibly putting the Shuttle ET to work in orbit, too.

6 18
2022-09-25

No Shortage of Dreams — "NASA's Planetary Joint Action Group Piloted Mars Flyby Study (1966)" https://t.co/XE4bDdbEmB
A major NASA piloted Mars exploration effort in the 1960s — the only one that truly alarmed Congress — yet almost forgotten.

6 20
2022-09-20

No Shortage of Dreams — "A Year In Earth Orbit Using Apollo Technology: Command and Service Module for Longevity (1966)" https://t.co/nGpkjXAwKU 1966 was a really busy year for advance planners.

2 9
2022-08-30

No Shortage of Dreams — "SEI Swan Song: International Lunar Resources Exploration Concept (1993)" https://t.co/3Gzr0jY0Ln

One of my favorite lunar plans.

5 19
2022-08-28

No Shortage of Dreams — "Reusable One-stage Orbital Space Truck (1962)" https://t.co/8POwhog2SC
One of my Patreon patrons suggested I modify the "painting key" illustration labels to make them more readable, so of course I did. Enjoy!

8 27
2022-08-27

No Shortage of Dreams — "Reusable One-stage Orbital Space Truck (ROOST) (1962)" https://t.co/ZHI42KT18o All done and gobs of fun. On to the next one.

9 21
2022-08-24

No Shortage of Dreams — "Think Big: A 1970 Flight Schedule for NASA's 1969 Integrated Program Plan" https://t.co/UZ4OoNuHGL

13 42
2022-08-21

No Shortage of Dreams — "Reviving and Reusing Skylab in the Shuttle Era: NASA Marshall's November 1977 Pitch to NASA Headquarters" https://t.co/WMiPMfIeBZ

14 55
2022-07-30

No Shortage of Dreams — "Revival: A Piloted Mars Flyby in the 1990s (1985)" https://t.co/Wmamjl3Ea1 A plan to begin the piloted exploration of Mars using technology expected to be developed for the Space Station.

7 30
2022-07-24

No Shortage of Dreams — "The First Voyager (1967)" https://t.co/tunwx2N9AB Today is the 53rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing & 46th anniversary of the Viking 1 Mars landing. Viking (right) was a cut-price version of Voyager (left).

3 11
2022-07-21

No Shortage of Dreams — "Think Big: A 1970 Flight Plan for NASA's 1969 Integrated Program Plan" https://t.co/UZ4OoNuHGL

4 15
2022-07-20

As Gemini Was to an Apollo Lunar Landing by 1970, So Apollo Would Be to a Lunar Base by 1980 — https://t.co/ZkCQQqVVEw No Shortage of Dreams.

6 24
2020-11-17

I've started in on one of my favorite chapters: the story of Sergei Korolev and the launch of Sputnik. There's a great anecdote about Korolev buffing a smudge from a replica of the satellite, saying "this is going to be in a museum!"

1 11
2018-07-31