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Race to the Moon!

by Bob Fortune, LUNAR #660

(GIF, 29KB)
Copyright 1995 Peter Alway, adapted from "Rockets of the World" by Peter Alway.
$35.00 + S&H from http://members.aol.com/satrnpress/saturn.htm

Greetings LUNARians,

1999 marks the anniversary of mankinds first steps on the moon! On July 21, 1969 Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins decided to take the long way home and stopped off at the moon for a couple of days. Neil and Buzz hopped into their 1969 Grumman Roadster, the one with the moon roof, and dropped in on Mare Tranquilis to enjoy the view and see some of the sights. Neil stopped and drawled to the world that it was one small step for a man but what you didn't see off camera was Buzz shooing him off the ladder so he could come down and play too.

A couple more people followed in their footsteps, drove spiffy little convertibles around, played golf, and mugged for the camera but no one has been back in 30 or so years. It's a tad bittersweet but that is often how life goes, we change perspectives, develop new interests or friends or jobs, and move on. "Been there, done that" pretty much sums up lunar exploration for the last 3 decades unless you count finding a couple of ice cubes exciting.*

[*I'm kidding! Finding ice on the moon indicates the presence of water which makes eventual colonization possible and practical!]

However, we have a chance to acknowledge these fine astronauts and their achievements during this coming summer. LUNAR is going to pull out all the stops and have a big shebang "Race to the Moon" commemorative launch for all to participate in, which is the reason for this article.

[Ed: LUNAR's Apollo 11 commemorative launch is currently scheduled for July 17, 1999. See the LUNAR Calendar for details.]

To put on a really good show I have envisioned a cavalcade of rockets if you will, a showcase of all the launch vehicles that got us to the moon. The Saturn V is the pinnacle of this great achievement but we really shouldn't forget the wacky rockets on which we learned. Though they may have been Harley's with training wheels these rockets were extraordinary in their abilities.

A wonderful launch would be comprised of

  1. A-1 Sputnik which launched the satellite Sputnik, Russia's gauntlet tosser

  2. Juno 1, which was the Americans gauntlet picker-upper

  3. Little Joe 1, the Mercury capsule and escape mechanism test bed

  4. Vostok 1 which launched Yuri Gargarin

  5. Mercury-Redstone lofting Alan Shepard

  6. Mercury-Atlas carrying John Glenn

  7. Gemini-Titan boosting Gus Grissom and John Young

  8. Titan IIIC, Gemini MOL

  9. Little Joe II, the Apollo capsule and escape mechanism test bed

  10. Saturn 1B, carrying Apollo 7 astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham

  11. Saturn V, Apollo 11 which lofted Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins

I believe all these kits have been available at one time or another either from Estes or Centuri. Many might be languishing on your bookshelves, in a box in the garage, or (gasp) bagged and sealed as part of your retirement fund. I urge all likeminded Lunatics to dredge their closets and hideyholes to find their prizes, dust them off, and get them flyable in preparation for the coming launch. What would be really fun would be to get some type of inventory of what is actually in the "LUNAR" fleet. I have seen a couple of Mercury-Atlas (one beautiful rendition by Geoff Canham, LUNAR #493), a semi-scale Saturn V (built and flown by Bob Herzberg), a Titan III if I recall correctly, and a Mercury-Redstone at the previous launches. I'll bet dollars to donuts we have the bulk of NASA's and most of the former Soviet Union's fleet of rockets amongst our illustrious membership. If you have one or more of these rockets please email me so I can keep track of who has what and what we need to build so that this might be a complete representation of the Golden Years of the Space Race.

I am happy to say that Estes (Damon (Nomad spelled backwards)- Centuri-North Coast) has also decided to rekindle rocketeers dream of the moon with their rerelease of a Saturn V rocket. From what I have read of prerelease reports the kit is a good one. It is a combination of Estes and Centuri parts from their combined releases of the kit. With this kits release it is possible to put up one big Saturn V show for all willing to watch. The Saturn V is the culmination of most rocketeers collection of rockets, most of us have only seen a couple fly and they are always a big draw.

If we can get as many club members to buy, build and fly a Saturn V as possible the memory of such a launch will undoubtedly go down as one of the clubs finest moments. Imagine if you will 10 or 15 Saturn V's standing tall with the entire club behind them as a group photo! Picture all the members lined up on the grassy knoll with a huge moon painted on muslin on the fence as a backdrop and all the "Race to the Moon" rockets in the foreground. I don't think such a picture currently exists for our club or any other. As a simple and fun contest how about a sport scale for all vehicles from the 60's space race? Saturn V drag races with 3 or 4 simultaneous launches? Sat V spot landing? The mind reels as if in a CA fog. Let's kick some of the other NAR chapters (NIRA comes to mind) collective derrieres!

The following is culled from a review of the new Estes kit by a rocketeer named Jim Stuckman:

"First Impressions:

10/31/98 - Tonight I had a large package waiting for me when I got home - a beta-version of the soon to be released Saturn V! The kit is packed in a NCR style box with a cool graphic of the Saturn V. The specs on the label are:

43.25" Long
3.938" Diameter
10.2 oz weight
Motor D12-3
Est. Max Alt - 100'

Upon opening the box, it quickly becomes apparent that this is no beginners kit! There are 15 pages of instructions. The fins are of 2-piece vacu-form construction. The quality of the vacu-form parts on this kit were OUTSTANDING! There is also a bag of plastic parts - capsule, nozzles, details, etc. The main BT is white , one piece and very light."

How about that for whetting the old appetite? A couple of building sessions at the LUNAR meetings and a Q and A partyline via the new listserver will also make for an easier time time building this fine model. I have also heard rumblings of someone making decals in lieu of the difficult paint scheme on this rocket which will make getting that "perfect finish" that much more fun.

The kit is supposed to be available December 15 but from what I have heard this release date is optimistic. Retail price is $69.99 with prices on the internet ranging from $48 to $70. Estes plans to release only 2,500 kits at this time so act fast! I am purchasing my kit and spare from a company called Belleville Wholesale and expect delivery sometime after the first of the year. In support of your local hobby shop you might instead choose to purchase in your hometown.

Well, I'm writing this paragraph a couple of weeks later and I found a kit for my son at Sheldon's Hobbies in San Jose. Belleville Wholesale won't have any till February so I paid full retail at Sheldon's fine emporium. It was meant to be a Christmas present for my seven year old son who wanted "the rocket that went to the moon" (doesn't that just make a rocket-dad proud?) from Santa this year and paying full price is really not so bad. From what I have heard, Estes produced 1,000 kits initially and have an additional 2,500 coming available after January so if you don't get one now, don't sweat it. They are currently in short supply due to the limited release of only 1,000 kits.

If you want further info or are interested in bouncing some ideas around please feel free to contact me at (408) 926-6428. My email address is

bob@fortunenet.com

Also please contact me if you are interested in making a group buy at a great rate from Belleville Wholesale.

Resources:

For a complete review of the Estes Saturn V by Jim Stuckman, go here:

http://members.xoom.com/EMRR/reviews/est_saturn_v.html

For tips and tricks on building your own, go here:

http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/rockets/saturn_v.faq.html

For tips on dealing with the body wraps, go here:

http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/rockets/saturn_1b.html

To buy a kit from Belleville Wholesale, call (618) 234-5989
$56 plus S+H

Internet sources to purchase kit:
HobbyLinc $48 plus S+H
http://www.iainc.net/~hlinc/

Discount Rocketry $59 plus CA tax and S+H
http://www.discountrocketry.com

Countdown Hobbies $69 plus S+H with $7 rebate http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/countdown_hobbies/

Copyright © 1999 by LUNAR, All rights reserved.

Information date: Feb. 3, 1999 lk