THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE BIRTHDAY CAKE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPECTRUM STEVE!

Task Force 3 is on its way with a hold full of cloudbased cakes!

Have a good 'un!

SpaceX's 10 Year Anniversary

2012 | 10 Years in Review

March 14, 2012

Ten years ago today, SpaceX was founded with the goal of helping make the human race a multi-planetary species. We remain firmly committed to this goal and will do everything within our power to help make this happen.

Below we have collected some of our most memorable moments from the last ten years. As we look back, we would like to thank NASA, our customers, supporters, and those who believe in what we are working so hard to accomplish. We appreciate your continued support and look forward to an exciting future.

Elon Musk founds SpaceX in 2002 and opens our first manufacturing facility in El Segundo – at the center of Southern California'saerospace industry.

In 2006, NASA awards SpaceX a contract under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to develop the capability to carry cargo to and from the International Space Station as represented by the image shown here.

SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket becomes the 1st liquid fueled rocket developed by a private company to reach Earth orbit. This picture shows the nozzle of Falcon 1's upper stage engine just as it achieved orbit, nine and a half minutes after launch.

In 2008, NASA selects SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to take over the job of transporting cargo to and from the Space Station from the retiring space shuttle. While initial flights will focus on cargo, Falcon 9 and Dragon were designed from the beginning to transport crew; every cargo flight to the Space Station gets us one step closer to this goal.

Falcon 1 delivers its first commercial payload to Earth orbit – the RazakSAT satellite for Malaysia. In this image, you see the two halves of the faring that covered the satellite during launch fall back to Earth after separating.

In 2010, SpaceX launches the first flight of Falcon 9, one of the most advanced rockets in the world. The first launch achieved a nearly perfect insertion of the second stage and Dragon spacecraft qualification unit into the targeted 250 km (155 mi) circular orbit.

Also in 2010, the second flight of Falcon 9 orbits the first operational Dragon spacecraft under the NASA COTS program, and SpaceX becomes the first private company to recover a spacecraft from Earth orbit — a feat previously only accomplished by a few nations. The last 10 years have been an incredible experience and the next 10 promise to be just as exciting. Stay tuned for more updates on our first upcoming mission to Station, Falcon Heavy and our progress in preparing Dragon to transport crew.

This message was sent from SpaceX to moonzero1.moonzero@blogger.com. It was sent from: SpaceX, 1 Rocket Road, Hawthorne, CA 90250. If you would like to modify or update your subscription, please do so via the "Manage Your Subscription " link below. For more information on SpaceX, please visit www.spacex.com

Bloggered!

Taking my cue from Toad's and Richard's insights into the murky machinations of Blogger, I've this week tried to do two things as site owner:

1. COMMENTS CHECK-IN: I've removed the anti-spam check-in. If I get tons of spam again I may have to re-instate it sorry. Lets see how it goes. Has this helped?

2. MAKING COMMENTS: As per Richard's suggestion, I've changed the comments box to the embedded version. Let me know if this is any better please. Ta.

3. COMMENTS NOTIFICATIONS: Wote has inserted an 'Follow The blog By Email' box in the left-hand side-bar. If this doesn't work for you I'm able to arrange for up to 8 readers to recieve comments notifications. Let me know if this is a service you require.

Please let me know if you have any further problems woth the blog or as a result of these 'improvements'. For some reason I personally cannot send Comments with my WOODSY Batman avatar! I'm bloggered if I know why!

Making Tracks - SPV Part 2

First off, a slight addendum to the previous SPV article, the image which describes the SPVs unique climbing ability is not in the 1969 TV21 annual, although the Battle Breakdown article is and does show the SPV along with the Spectrum Helicopter and World Army Hovertank, comaparing them to real world vehicles such as the Chapparal Missile Launcher, which at the time of publication of the annual, would have been quite modern! The actual image appears - as you can see from the apologetically blurry photo above, in the Captain Scarlet annual itself, which I discovered again after clambering around the loft last night.

Rosenthal SPV and SPC with Timpo vintage figures

Mikes Rosenthal SPV box and model (below)

 So, on with the show! Theres much ground to cover, so I felt it would be best to start with some of the more well known incarnations of the toy in a brief nostalgia fest! First up we have the JR21 Rosenthal SPV and Spectrum Saloon Car complete with Timpo figures, from Terrys collection. This is followed by Mike B's toy set in a custom diorama.

 

 Next we have a Takara (left) and Konami (foreground) from Terry. These are more recent 2001 releases.

Konami and Takara

Konami

 Mike B's Konami miniature set in a Century 21 style diorama! Below is the larger Takara model in Carlton licenced packaging.

Takara

Corgi

Bandai Friction

Finally we have Mikes Corgi (not Dinky!) model and Terrys glorious friction driven Bandai toy. Things of rare beauty, i think you'll agree!

Played by Bobby Charlton

Casdon Soccer was one of my favourite games at some football-mad point during the Sixties. Endorsed by England 1966 WC legend [now Sir] Bobby Charlton no less, who saw fit to grace the cover, it was a heavy plastic board on which you twisted knobs to make the players turn. Each player sat in a hollow and came with a nifty cog, in which the ball came to rest [no doubt patented]. I have since found several of these complete and boxed at Car Boots and Charity Shops. This example was from such a shop in Rotherham. Casdon were often at the height of plastic toy design and I seem to remember they carried a black and white chequered British Design Council logo more often that not. Was this unusual? Where/are sport games popular with other blog readers?

In the Pipe, Five by Five

Feel the Task Force Luke!

In Pursuit of the SPV

Captain Scarlets 'Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle' is easily one of the most recognisable vehicle designs in the Anderson fold, not least for its distinctive blue finish, lack of windows and far too many wheels. It was testament to Derek Meddings brilliance that the design challenged many preconceptions about road vehicles - why does a vehicle need windows when the road can be viewed electronically ?  Why does the driver need to face forward ? and why should it be restricted to four wheels - or just wheels alone ?

Dinky version (left) Vivid Images die cast (right)

 Meddings original sketch appears in his book '21st Century Visions' and shows a vehicle which we instantly recognise, hardly changed from drawing board to screen, a chunky, well armoured vehicle with massive tyres and a set of tracks at the rear. Just as Thunderbird 2's forward facing wings challenged convention and confused me as a child as I insisted on putting them on my Rosenthal toy backward, the rear facing drive position and tracks at the back raised questions. The 1969 TV21 annual has an article called 'Battle Breakdown' which looks at the SPV in comparision with other vehicles and suggested that the tracks were for a 'unique climbing position' which sat the SPV on its tail to climb steep gradients! Almost every child of the sixties probably had a Dinky version of the SPV and a lot of the luckier ones would have had the large Rosenthal version. Its a wonderfully robust design for a toy, but how well do we know the SPV toy range ? With help from Captain Scarlet officianado and expert Terry, we will be looking at some of the toys other appearances, besides the carpets of British bedrooms in the sixties. Here are just a few of the more recognisable and recent incarnations..

Kelloggs 1960s Cereal Premium

Vivid Image Die Cast

Robert Harrops Diorama

Pizza Hut Cup Top Premium

Chara Wheels / Hot Wheels

Full Circle Ceji

As we've seen before, sometimes the blog gets quoted online, particularly on Ebay. Last week I got that Deja Vu feeling again when I read the description for the CEJI JETSPACE SPACE STATION [top _cats2006]. Serendipitously it was my Ebay perma- search for 'Golden Astronaut' which flagged it up. Now this amazing toy is not one I'd had or even heard of until 2009. Reading the listing I remembered the 'swan necked' spaceships from the blog and the when I read the reference to 'a standard Golden Astronaut towers over them in comparison' I decided to check the blog. Lo and behold it was all there, Wotan's words had been quoted verbatim from his original 2009 post Under Pressure about the related Jetspace Vehicles and Accessories Set. Cyber-flattery for sure.

Now the Ebay listing does contain 'new' and interesting wording about the backdrop to the Jetspace toys, which reminded me, of all things, of our very own Project SWORD. At risk of creating a past-future plagiarist worm-hole, I'll quote the listing to show you what I mean: "SET IN THE YEAR 1032 MAN HAS TO SEEK OUT DIFFERENT WAYS TO COLLECT MINERALS, SO HE STRIKES OUT INTO SPACE...".

Picture: top_cats2006 Ebay