DREAMS MADE REALITY

As this month was originally going to see the inaugural flight of the private aerospace company Sierra Nevada's spaceplane, 'Dreamchaser' - I was reminded of some of the real space models I have in miniature. Dreamchasers flight has been postponed due to a multitude of reasons, but will hopefully take place next year. Meanwhile, Matchbox released a lovely model of the original crew version of the craft, in diecast form.

Sierra Nevada have since modified the vehicle and re-badged it as a cargo utility craft, which will hopefully be used to re-supply the ISS, depending on whether it is ready before the station is decommissioned in 2030.

A much more successful vehicle is the SpaceX Starship, which was again released by Matchbox as part of the Skybusters line. Looking like a cross between a missile and something from a Georges Melies film, the Starship is a sleek and simple model, with a shaped stand.

Michael Gorn's wonderful book 'Spacecraft' is a marvellous technical reference on 100 iconic spacecraft, from the early space age to present day. Included in its pages are several models in my collection, such as the Hot Wheels Action Pack  'Galileo' Space Probe.

Launched in 1989 from the space shuttle Atlantis, the probe was directed into orbit around Jupiter. During its mission, it deployed a descent module into the jovian atmosphere and witnessed the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy into the gas giant. It also detected the presence of probable sub-surface oceans on Europa. Galileo - NASA Science

The model was produced in 1999 as part of a three set series in conjunction with JPL and featured the Galileo Orbiter itself, the descent probe with aeroshell and parachute and a small deep space antenna.

The Galileo Probe is a very accurate model, even to the point of depicting the unfurled High Gain Antenna. The gold foil covered antenna failed to completely deploy on arrival at Jupiter, due to a mechanical malfunction, impairing the crafts ability to record and transmit data. However, all other aspects of the mission were declared extremely successful and the craft continued to orbit the giant planet until it was directed into the upper atmosphere to burn up, rather than risk collision with the satellite Europa.

Michael Gorn's book also includes some fascinating data about the early Mars rovers, such as the Mars Exploration Rover, which formed part of the hugely successful Spirit/Opportunity mission and the Curiosity Rover.

Hot Wheels released a Curiosity Rover in 2012 as part of the mainline series and later rebadged it as a Perseverance model, cosmetically identical, but with rusty red wheels.

The Curiosity Rover was a car sized vehicle and one of the largest remotely operated vehicles, ever to be sent to another world. Perseverance was a heavily upgraded and modified version of the same basic chassis, both rovers are currently still active on Mars. The photograph below shows the size comparison between Curiosity, the MER and the diminutive Sojourner.

The second of the JPL/Hot Wheels sets was the JPL Mars Sojourner Set, which featured the Pathfinder probe and the Sojourner Rover.

The Sojourner model itself is very simple, but almost as large as the later Curiosity model. It comes with a plastic Pathfinder Probe and Lander and a tiny version of itself, attached to one of the landers leaves.

Inside the aeroshell of the main Pathfinder Probe, is a tiny lander model. The mission was expected to only last around a week, but the rover continued to operate for over three months, before the colder than anticipated Martian nights took their toll on the probes batteries. The Pathfinder featured heavily in the 2015 fim, 'The Martian' - where an astronaut stranded on Mars, uses the defunct probe as a means to    re-establish contact with Earth.

The rover and the lander sent back stunning martian panoramas and shots of sunrise on Mars.

The final of the trio of Hot Wheels Action Packs was the JPL 'Return to Mars' set, designed to show the Mars Surveyor 98 Mission. Unfortunately the real mission was ultimately a failure as all the craft involved in the mission were either lost of destroyed.

The Mars Climate Orbiter was intended to orbit the planet and then the Mars Polar Lander would release two separate, basket ball sized aeroshells, containing a small probe. The Polar Lander was intended to reach the Martian South Pole, but all elements of the mission ended in disaster, due to various malfunctions.

The two small aeroshells each contained a tiny Deep Space MicroProbe, which was included in the set as a small gold capsule.

All the Hot Wheels Action Pack toys were very kindly donated by our good friend Terranova!