SATELLITES AWAY!

I noticed this old auction lot a while back. Lots to drool over here including the Beatles guitar, presumably by Selcol.

What really caught my eye was the X-shaped plastic multi-coloured satellite in the middle of the shot. It looks like its got a metal stud at the top.

Anyone recognise this toy?

KEV'S NEW LUNAR ORBITER

I got very lucky on Ebay. A lot of random and battered toys contained this! I had to fake the probes but I already had the badge to complete it. My second lunar orbiter in a short space of time, but carded and the other colour to my first one.

Over the moon,

Kevin

UK

NASA'S LUNAR ORBITER ANIMATION

There's lots of our fave Space vehicles in this NASA clip from 1966 on You Tube.

An animated Lunar Orbiter, real Lifting Bodies and the launch of Saturn V!

14 minutes of space-race action!

the nasa lunar orbiter; the film, the toy and the models

This is interesting.

A You Tube film by NASA dated 1966.

Its about our Triang SpaceX friend the Lunar Orbiter. A fascinating space vessel.

The toy itself looks wonderful. I certainly never had one but you may have. 

I can't think of any other toy based on the Lunar Orbiter or even a kit for that matter.

Modelling luminary Matt Irvine described in his book how he painted his Spacex toy.

The Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project [LOIRP] had some wonderful small models made for their subscribers in 2013. They'd have made great Christmas gifts! This LOIRP image could have come straight out of the Tri-ang SpaceX factory!

The Lunar Orbiter is infectious. There are tons of drawings, paintings, gum cards and stamps featuring it.

 I once had a go at a small model myself as well as pictured on my friend Paul Vreede's excellent Triang Spacex website.

and I wrote a short story about the lunar orbiter and Batman no less: the Shadow on the Moon!

You can make your own pro card model of the Orbiter too!  Check this out at  jleslie48

if you want to know the whole story behind the one and only Lunar Orbiter toy then read the various relevant pages on Paul Vreede's definitive Triang Spacex Toys.

Have you a Lunar Orbiter?

LUNAR ORBITER 3D PRINTED MODEL

Ever since I saw the 007 movie Skyfall and its amazing 3D printed model Aston Martin DB5, I've wondered what a 3D printed project SWORD or Spacex model might look like.

Well, I think we have that one nailed. During one of my random trawls of the net I found this ubercool 3D printed model of our Spacex friend, the Lunar Orbiter no less!

Andrew Filo/ LOIRP

From reading the article it appears to be a gift for donors to the Lunar Orbiter photography archive last month [LOIRP]. There is also a model with an excellent custom lunar base. I wanted to contact them about the models and the photograph but couldn't find a working contact email address.

 

 

I really like the simplicity of this model and I'm excited by the possibilities of 3D printing. Has anyone any experience of it?

LUNAR ORBITER: MORE ART

Always on the look out for potential sources for SWORD and SpaceX art, here's a beautiful illustration from an unknown childrens' book 1969. The Lunar Orbiter isn't that similar to the SpaceX card art shown below, but overall it's a lovely montage of space vehicles. It's interesting that the capsule is called a Ferry Vehicle. The space station has been clearly pilfered from Bob McCall's iconic 2001 Space Odyssey poster art although the departing spaceship is not the same as the original space clipper. Anyone know which kids' book this came from?