Watched the Mercury Seven flights live while going to grade school, remain a fanatic 59 years later. Thanks Amy, for this content, much which is new to me. Love the dress and red lipstick, Mid-Century style, along with the vintage lamp and the couch. We can hang out any time.
Great video Amy!! I enjoy following all your posts. My father was Charles Richard, he directed and designed the Parasev 1-A under Bikle while he was at NASA's Flight Research Center (Vehicle and System Dynamics Branch) as an aeronautical engineer for the X-15, Paraglider and Lifting Body programs. He passed away in 1999. I believe I have some boxes somewhere from him with many notes and photos of the Parasev design, build and flight tests from 1962-64....I'll look for them, and let you know what I find. I do remember him telling me the story of driving down to the LA area getting the fabric wing sewn up at a sail-makers shop during the John Glenn Mercury flight.
Did you ever meet or hear of Herman Rice ? He was a dear friend and was invited to NASA's pioneers of flight dinner each year. He was a glider pilot one of the originals in califs beach scene.
One minor quibble: "atmospheric friction" is not what actually causes much of the heating of reentry. It is the extreme compression of the air just ahead of the reentering body which causes the atmospheric gasses to heat up, much like when you use one of the old tubular air bicycle tire pumps which put out warm compressed air when you use them. You do "work" on the gas to reduce its volume and it gets hot: REALLY hot if the speed is very high. As the capsule slams into the air at extreme speed, it compresses that air, heating it to thousands of degrees. This is the case for a reentering spacecraft, but as you note in the video, using the right shape to create a proper boundary layer (along with an ablative heat shield) can allow the spacecraft to survive that heating and slow to a modest terminal velocity.
@Claudia Juarez Correct, but only partially. Increasing a gas' pressure also increases it's temperature - if you're putting a set amount of energy into a smaller space, the temperature will increase. If you're taking the latent energy in several tons of air and slamming it into a tiny space? That's going to increase temperature, which will then radiate into the spacecraft if shielding techniques aren't used.
I met Wally Schirra in Pasadena back in 2006. I asked him about the "paraglider" recovery system on the Gemini. All he said about it was that "it didn't work" so they used the parachute instead. I still remember building a 1/72 scale model of the Gemini made by Revell and it had landing skids on it and a picture of the rogallo wing on the front of the box.
I built a pair of that same Revell kit when it was first released in the mid 1960s, Had to build one with the landing skis deployed. I was 11 or 12 yrs old.
The Rogallo wing evolved into an efficient Hang Glider. I have over 500 hours total time flying up to 19,000 ft, cross country flights up to 120 miles and flight times of 4 1/2 hours on modern Rogallo wings. Flying like a bird and with soaring birds, using the energy of the atmosphere and gravity to fly for hours without an engine deeply satisfying sport.
My grandfather was in the Navy as part of the recovery team for project Mercury in 1961. Thanks for the insight - we didn’t learn about it until after his death and found his notebook about it. Now I understand why he wrote he ‘wished he wasn’t there’ with all that practice!
Thanks for covering this, Amy! I remember as a youngster I built a model of the Gemini that included the landing skids as optional parts. I think it had the Rogallo parasail as well. If memory serves it was a Revell kit; later versions dropped the optional wing. As a teenager I flew model rockets, both kits and scratchbuilt. My friends and I made some Rogallo wings, we had reasonable success with them.
It seems that Revell was convinced that the Rogallo wing was the likely mode of Gemini recovery, as the initial 1964 issue of their 1/48 scale kit (packaged with a Mercury spacecraft) allowed for configuration after a ground landing. Thanks Amy for another in-depth overview of the golden age of spaceflight.
Can't wait to watch after work, but I wanted to share an anecdote. A long time ago, when I lived in San Diego, there was a great gliderport at Torrey Pines, near UCSD. One of the Mercury astronauts came to visit (Wally, I think) and was offered a ride in a hang glider. He refused because it looked too much like a Rogallo wing and he knew too much about the NASA testing. He claimed it had a tendency to stabilize upside down, regardless of the assurances of the pilot who pointed out is was a much more modern design.
My uncle was part of the Catch a Falling Star unit out of Hawaii back in the 60s and flew in the back of the plane to catch the Corona film canisters. It was top secret and no one in the family knew what he did with the unit until after his death and his son found information about it.
I really like how you have found your (Vintage) space on youtube, making the most detailed space history videos the way few could while still being accessible. Also this style of being formal but with some fun expressions, mannerisms and consistently gorgeous dresses creates a unique and presentation package.
It's videos like these the keep me coming back for more. She covers things of this era that you just don't hear about anywhere else. Nicely done Ms Amy.
"Canadian Jim Chamberlin..." I caught what you did there, Amy! I could even hear a bit of "Oh Canada" in the background. Good on you! Your 'home and native land" has so much to be proud of. This video, one of your best ever.
As a boy in the '60s I flew a variety of control line & free-flight airplanes. For Christmas one year my folks got me a Gilbert (of Erector Set fame) "Wing Thing", which was powered by an .074 Pusher. It had a black plastic frame and orange "sail" and flew like crazy. It was of course inspired by the Rogallo...
Amy, as a commerical pilot I'm obliged to comment. I admire Vintage Space. I love your channel and you're the perfect person for a channel like this. Your passion for aviation is unparalleled to which I relate. The 50's & 60's were such a golden age in aviation; with the technology they had back then the feats they achieved is jaw dropping. The engineering alone... Amazing! I'd love it if you could do more on "The Agena". Little is known about that, other than it almost killed Neil Armstrong during the Gemini program. Love you, love vintage space... See you on your next video! Stay safe, stay curious!
Yeah, I know that it was a stuck RCS thruster. I wonder how many people know that, and that's my point asking Amy to do more on the Agena. For example, in this video when she referenced it I didn't know it was Air Force property; I always assumed it belonged to NASA. Things like that. Was it's function JUST to learn docking procedures or we're there other ancillary missions they had in mind for the Agena. And so on...
As a young engineer just out of Texas A&M University in 1966, I was hired by Philco to provide maintenance and operations support for the (Breadboard) Terminal Landing System which we had just built for the Landing and Recovery Division of the Manned Space Center in Houston. We conducted unmanned test drops of many different gliding parachute descent systems at Ft. Hood, Texas, with the cooperation of the US Army from 1967 through 1969 when the project was cancelled. We had three trailers in a fenced compound on a slight rise in the southern part of Ft. Hood's training grounds. I ran the Data Van with computer-driven displays in console like those in the Mission Operations Control Rooms in the Building 30 Mission Control Center. We also had a Radar Van and a van housing the remote pilot flying the test package. The test package was a 400-pound miniature Mercury/Gemini vehicle with shroud line control spools and a downlinked TV camera viewing the terrain below. It was deployed at 10,000 feet AGL as directed from our console displaying the vehicle position calculated from Radar tracking data. We released and skin-tracked weather balloons to store wind profile data before the tests. We developed procedures to land the package within 25 feet of a selected ground target quite reliably. After a deployable steerable descent system could not be developed, many of the gliding energy management procedures developed at Ft. Hood were incorporated into the Space Shuttle's approach and landing procedures.
Great deep dive. I had not realized how much work went into the Rogallo wing. I thought it was not much more then a study, but NASA actually expended quite a bit of effort to come up with a working system.
I expected this to be the usual 10 minute informational RUclips video, but even passed that mark, I was absolutely glued to the content. Always fascinating to hear about roads not taken during the development of something.
As a Hang Glider Pilot and Rocket Engineer...I liked this video. Flying a Hang glider is IMHO the purest form of flying there is. Floating in a gentle thermal with buzzards and eagles just a few feet away whilst 10,000 ft above mother earth is truly inspiring. Great Video Amy...New Subscriber x
A 40 min video about one of the most interesting developments for the gemini program (i remember one of your old Videos about it and since then i was fascinated by it; i have the feeling, that this Video is going to be a little more detailed as the discreption in "in the shoulder of titans" [which I bought thanks to you suggesting it in one of your Videos;)]) by somebody who is amazing in explaining things but who also has done acctual research about it? You simply can not not enjoy this. Thank you for making these videos!
Amy, we must read your Master's thesis! This is amazing material you've put together. AND your mention of Chamberlain of the Avro Arrow program shows the influence these engineers had on the Apollo program. Controlled landings were exactly what the pilots wanted on the LM, and overrode the automated systems on, I believe, every flight.
@@CockatooDude I found more meaningful ways to get a "high". I found political intrigue more fascinating. At least one movie based on some of my adventures, was made already. And since Russia's next SHLV will be based on my ideas, certain western capitals would still love to see me dead.
@@aristeidislykas7163 Well shit, I did not know I'd meet a revolutionary in the RUclips comments section. Good luck with your endeavours, whatever they may entail.
Can’t help but notice that almost all of these comments are from men commenting on your dress... as another female space enthusiast, I love all of the videos you put out and love learning more about the topic I’m going to college for! Keep it up Amy, you’re awesome!
Wow Amy! learned a lot I didn't know. Every aeronautical engineer who has analyzed the Rogallo wing then and since have stated that it "seriously lacks directional stability and has a propensity to going into an unrecoverable flat spin". A true testament to the stubborn of some people, like the thousands of enthusiasts who throw themselves from tall places in wild abandon while strapped to a device likely to screw them into the ground at an extreme velocity. Love the channel will be back for more.
That boiler plate capsule that was used for the manned drop tests ended up in Britain. It was on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester for years, before being moved to the National Space Centre in Leicester, where it's still on display as far as I know.
Very fine and thorough look at the paraglider, Amy. I was familiar with the plan from having come across the 1964 National Geographic omnibus article "How We Plan to Put Men on the Moon," which shows the paraglider as the method of choice. The visual you show (with the tattoo reference) at 24:31 was also in that article, which followed NG's memorial tribute to John F. Kennedy. As I saw those visuals while thumbing through the article in the mid-1970s, I had a _What-The-Hey_ reaction. I had never heard of anything like this, and I remembered Gemini mission well from my childhood. Now I know the whole story. Thank you!
Thank you for this vastly informative and entertaining video. I grew up during this time and my dad was an aeronautical engineer at ARAP, a small research firm in Princeton, NJ (John Houbolt worked there for a while, too). Part of his work was with the company's wind tunnel in researching re-entry parameters for spacecraft. I cherish those memories of being in the lab shop with him.
Perfect dress for this season. You are so intelligent and so capable in your delivery. I want to add about Bruce Peterson. He was one of my two officers for quality assurance and was the pilot of the HL-10 shown crashing in the TV show "Six Million Dollar Man". He broke so many bones in his test pilot experience but lost his eye due Staphylococcus from the hospital. He always would rest in my test station and saying he was "keeping an eye out on me". A hero of mine, Without his calm mentoring, He always said the reason why we are test pilots is "we take risks on new ideas" and to paraphrase, bring us home safely.
My dad worked on Gemini at MAC and was involved in the Rogallo. He and a few other engineers built one of the first wings and flew it at a small strip near St. Louis, towed behind a car. It was really more of a weight shift hang glider with a low aspect ratio although the term hang glider was not used at that time . The "bat glider", as it was known, was stored in our barn for 20 years before it was thrown out. I have a few color slides but no physical remnants. Oddly enough, there were no metal used in this construction so I guess it could be described as a stealth bat glider.
The man that taught me parachuting, Gene Michael Bland, worked on that system. He also tested parachute systems for NASA. He was an Army veteran that served in Vietnam in the SOG program and was HALO instructor #38. Probably a minor character in this chapter of history but I would be curious if you ever came across his name. also, I like your perspective and approach to telling these nuggets of vintage space also also, you are the most attractive youtuber!
Bravo, Amy! I really enjoyed this...and the longer-form format in general. Looking forward especially to your take on MOL. Keep up the great work, and stay awesome! ✌️❤️🚀
I was 4 years old when the first manned Gemini spaceflight launched. It was an exciting time. There was so much anticipation and hope, and worry, too. I remember the later missions, especially the one where the initial rendezvous vehicle did not properly deploy and they had to change the mission. The splashdowns were also always very exciting to watch. Thanks for the great content.
Amy, I haven't forgotten about the Gemini Rogallo wing. I was in elementary school back in the '60's and I did a presentation about the Gemini capsule and the Rogallo wing. I had a model of the capsule with the wing so the audience could see what I was talking about. It did not go very well, I'm sure I mumbled throughout the presentation and I don't think anyone understood or even cared what I was talking about! Somewhere in my piles of things I still have from my youth is an official NASA pamphlet about the Gemini program. If I manage to locate I'll send you a scan of it if you'd like. Ned
I see Amazing Amy, I hit like then watch because I KNOW its going to be good. Amy, how about an episode on the NASA lifting body aircraft? And the 'Hotrod' Pontiac Catalina tow car?
I grew up with the space program, watching every launch live starting with Gemini 5. I also read everything I could find on space. Sometime after the Apollo 1 fire I checked out a book that was only about three or four years old, but already out of date. It showed how "Gemini will not splash down, but will return on land", and it had a pencil sketch of a Gemini capsule using a paraglider to come back home. By the time I saw this, Project Gemini had already finished, and I knew it had never happened that way, but I was fascinated nonetheless. I asked every adult I knew about it, and no one knew anything, some thinking I was just crazy. So this video gave me much joy to see, to learn about something I first wondered about well over 50 years ago. I think you have a new subscriber. Thank you.
The record setting duration missions of the Gemini program are even more impressive when you consider with Gemini the crew was 2x of Mercury and the capsule had habitable space 1.5x of Mercury
@@bobdionne4625 I don't remember where I read it, but allegedly when Gemini 5 splashed down after 8 days, one of the Navy frogmen that attached the flotation collar on the capsule threw up when they opened the hatches from the smell.
The paraglider was featured in a March or May National Geographic article with pictures in the early 1960’s. I always wondered why it never flew on a Gemini Mission
Amy, I remember reading the Rogallo wing in a National Geographic magazine back in the 60's. I never thought anyone would have seen or heard of this today. Thanks for writing about this and keeping this alive.
Thank you for that informative video. I actually met Francis Rogallo in the late seventies. He was at Kitty Hawk Kites in Kitty Hawk North Carolina watching people enjoy flying his wing. He laughed when I asked for his autograph. I guess not many people think of scientists as heroes but hang glider pilots appreciate him. I didn’t see it but I was told he flew hang gliders occasionally also.
You can imagine my surprise, being a nut-job aerospace engineer on vacation in Scotland, wandering through the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and happened across the TTV-2 in the basement. One of those "holly cow, what's that doing here" moments. Great episode Amy!
I was enamored with the idea of a flying Gemini when I read about it, back in the day! There was another possible return option that I read about too: the "Ball-ute" system. It was accomplished by a half balloon, half parachute re-entry. The Gemini astronauts would have to abandon the spacecraft and each man deploy a balloon to slow down his decent through the atmosphere until deploying his parachute to finish. What can you me about it, was that a serious option too?
When I was in junior high school, I had no idea how fortunate I was that its library had a collection of books which had evidently been published to promote various projects different aerospace companies were trying to sell to NASA and/or the military. I spent many happy hours poring over the technology of alternate histories, seeing "artist's renderings" of Gemini capsules landing under Rogallo wings, the crew of the MOL busily at work on "science", &c.
True, and if she's not been to it, then she ought to pay a visit to the Goodwood Revival meeting which recreates exactly that sort of period, with exhibits, car and motorcycle races including all the period glamour and visitors and music in period. COVID allowing of course.
Love your videos. I watch tons of videos on this subject, but you always cover things I never see on anywhere else. Very interesting, informative, and entertaining. Thank you.
As somebody who loves history and grew up inhaling every book he could find at the public library concerning Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, I really appreciate the content you produce. The rogollo wing some something I remember reading about briefly, seeing a few concept drawings of and was curious to know more. But the books I could find at the time had limited information. Thank you for answering some questions I have had for over 40 years now. :)
I remember seeing an illustration of the Rogallo Wing landing a Gemini capsule in National Geographic when I was a kid. The illustration showed it landing somewhere in the American west.
Honestly you look so good when you have your hair down and you dont have those bang. Also you dont need all the makeup and eye shadow. Your older videos you looked great. You don't need to fix what isn't broken. Plz get rid of those bangs.
Thx Amy for another fantastic space history lesson and Happy World Space Week everyone! I have a fuzzy memory of 1st seeing the Rogallo wing in an old National Geographic - it is so great now knowing the full story. Also thx for showing us the Gemini USAF MOL atop a Titan III. A rare photo I'm sure - just like seeing a photo of the Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle at Vandenberg AFB. Finally, thx for the Canadian shout out to the Avro engineer who came up with the Rogallo concept for Gemini AND Happy Thanksgiving Amy! Oh btw, love seeing that background photo of Snoopy flying back to Charlie Brown.
@@Paul_VanGo I'm saying she isn't wearing the dress for clickbait as there isn't even a picture of her in the thumbnail, let her wear what she wants to wear thanks Paul !
Unfurlment: the process of folding and packing of a deployable element. ‘Jeb and Stu tired and tried but simply could not unfurlment the spacecrafts delta wing’. Synonym: Deploy, unfold, origami, configure Antonym: Pack, fold, install Remember, English is a very flexible language. If you can say it, spell it, define it, use it in a sentance, give synonym and antonym, its a working word. The fact that its not in a formal dictionary... a lot of technical jargon isn't.
Great long form video. I remember illustrations of capsules returning under Rogallo wings in Popular Science and National Geographic articles as the programs were anticipated all over the USA.
If you’d like to see this piece of history yourself, there is one displayed at the National Space Centre in Leicester, UK. I’ve seen it - it’s the first thing you come across in the Lobby.
I remember the Rogallo project as a kid. There even were free flight models of them. But I never realized just how much actual (and risky!) testing had been done. Thanks for the video (and the dress, of course!)
That was awesome! Growing up all I really saw regarding this were drawings and photos and vague references in old magazines and books. This really shed some light on a very cool aspect of the space program that was perhaps ahead of its time in regard to materials and flight control systems but obviously caught the imaginations of so many people.
If I haven't complimented you before, in addition to your impeccable researching skills, you are an excellent story teller. Another great video! I seem to recall from my early childhood, that as late as 1968 or 1969, you could still buy a toy model of the Gemini landing with the Rogallo wing.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Watched the Mercury Seven flights live while going to grade school, remain a fanatic 59 years later. Thanks Amy, for this content, much which is new to me. Love the dress and red lipstick, Mid-Century style, along with the vintage lamp and the couch. We can hang out any time.
Great video Amy!! I enjoy following all your posts. My father was Charles Richard, he directed and designed the Parasev 1-A under Bikle while he was at NASA's Flight Research Center (Vehicle and System Dynamics Branch) as an aeronautical engineer for the X-15, Paraglider and Lifting Body programs. He passed away in 1999. I believe I have some boxes somewhere from him with many notes and photos of the Parasev design, build and flight tests from 1962-64....I'll look for them, and let you know what I find. I do remember him telling me the story of driving down to the LA area getting the fabric wing sewn up at a sail-makers shop during the John Glenn Mercury flight.
Did you ever meet or hear of Herman Rice ? He was a dear friend and was invited to NASA's pioneers of flight dinner each year. He was a glider pilot one of the originals in califs beach scene.
One minor quibble: "atmospheric friction" is not what actually causes much of the heating of reentry. It is the extreme compression of the air just ahead of the reentering body which causes the atmospheric gasses to heat up, much like when you use one of the old tubular air bicycle tire pumps which put out warm compressed air when you use them. You do "work" on the gas to reduce its volume and it gets hot: REALLY hot if the speed is very high. As the capsule slams into the air at extreme speed, it compresses that air, heating it to thousands of degrees. This is the case for a reentering spacecraft, but as you note in the video, using the right shape to create a proper boundary layer (along with an ablative heat shield) can allow the spacecraft to survive that heating and slow to a modest terminal velocity.
exactly right....
@@spacexvanityprojectslimite3315 you shut up. You're wrong.
The hot air becomes super heated plasma , the heat then is radiated from the plasma onto the spacecraft friction is negligble at this stage.
Lots of technical errors
Very poorly written
@Claudia Juarez Correct, but only partially. Increasing a gas' pressure also increases it's temperature - if you're putting a set amount of energy into a smaller space, the temperature will increase. If you're taking the latent energy in several tons of air and slamming it into a tiny space? That's going to increase temperature, which will then radiate into the spacecraft if shielding techniques aren't used.
Really fascinating stories. This could be regarded as a documentary, extremely well narrated.
Most Amy's work has been.
I met Wally Schirra in Pasadena back in 2006. I asked him about the "paraglider" recovery system on the Gemini. All he said about it was that "it didn't work" so they used the parachute instead. I still remember building a 1/72 scale model of the Gemini made by Revell and it had landing skids on it and a picture of the rogallo wing on the front of the box.
I have his autograph, and that same model kit sitting in a box waiting for me to build it.
I built a pair of that same Revell kit when it was first released in the mid 1960s, Had to build one with the landing skis deployed. I was 11 or 12 yrs old.
The Rogallo wing evolved into an efficient Hang Glider. I have over 500 hours total time flying up to 19,000 ft, cross country flights up to 120 miles and flight times of 4 1/2 hours on modern Rogallo wings. Flying like a bird and with soaring birds, using the energy of the atmosphere and gravity to fly for hours without an engine deeply satisfying sport.
Amy’s dresses are beginning to compete with Curious Droid’s shirts. 😀
Hahahahahahaha indeed. Love both of them
LoL
Do we know this isn't on purpose?
I'm curious about the ongoing spider web motifs
She doesnt the 70s blue makeup.
My grandfather was in the Navy as part of the recovery team for project Mercury in 1961. Thanks for the insight - we didn’t learn about it until after his death and found his notebook about it. Now I understand why he wrote he ‘wished he wasn’t there’ with all that practice!
Epic grandad!
I always smile when I get a notification that a new Vintage Space is up.
Here's a notification that you must have missed: it is now called THE Vintage Space.
And do I!!
@@craigcorson3036 Did she ever say why? I'm guessing it's to make it less about "space" and more about "vintage."
@@TommygunNG I think it's because she's Canadian. It's like a law there. 😛
@@craigcorson3036 So that's the case, eh?
As a former hang glider pilot this warms my heart.
You still have the most crisp and clear voice on RUclips.
Thanks for covering this, Amy! I remember as a youngster I built a model of the Gemini that included the landing skids as optional parts. I think it had the Rogallo parasail as well. If memory serves it was a Revell kit; later versions dropped the optional wing.
As a teenager I flew model rockets, both kits and scratchbuilt. My friends and I made some Rogallo wings, we had reasonable success with them.
It seems that Revell was convinced that the Rogallo wing was the likely mode of Gemini recovery, as the initial 1964 issue of their 1/48 scale kit (packaged with a Mercury spacecraft) allowed for configuration after a ground landing. Thanks Amy for another in-depth overview of the golden age of spaceflight.
Thanks for confirming that it _was_ a Revell kit. I made a comment about it but couldn't recall the manufacturor for certain.
It's high quality content like this that makes RUclips my #1 place for watching content. Congratulations Amy on such a well made piece!
I'm glad your channel is doing well. Been watching for a while.
Can't wait to watch after work, but I wanted to share an anecdote. A long time ago, when I lived in San Diego, there was a great gliderport at Torrey Pines, near UCSD. One of the Mercury astronauts came to visit (Wally, I think) and was offered a ride in a hang glider. He refused because it looked too much like a Rogallo wing and he knew too much about the NASA testing. He claimed it had a tendency to stabilize upside down, regardless of the assurances of the pilot who pointed out is was a much more modern design.
I fly paraglider up in NorCal. Our local flying club (started by hang gliders) is called "Wings of Rogallo".
My uncle was part of the Catch a Falling Star unit out of Hawaii back in the 60s and flew in the back of the plane to catch the Corona film canisters. It was top secret and no one in the family knew what he did with the unit until after his death and his son found information about it.
I really like how you have found your (Vintage) space on youtube, making the most detailed space history videos the way few could while still being accessible. Also this style of being formal but with some fun expressions, mannerisms and consistently gorgeous dresses creates a unique and presentation package.
Besides Amy's great image and presentation, the story has been deeply researched. Congratulation again, and keep up this fine work.
It's videos like these the keep me coming back for more. She covers things of this era that you just don't hear about anywhere else. Nicely done Ms Amy.
"Canadian Jim Chamberlin..." I caught what you did there, Amy! I could even hear a bit of "Oh Canada" in the background. Good on you! Your 'home and native land" has so much to be proud of. This video, one of your best ever.
Have you ever watched one of the movies made about the AVRO Arrow?
As a boy in the '60s I flew a variety of control line & free-flight airplanes. For Christmas one year my folks got me a Gilbert (of Erector Set fame) "Wing Thing", which was powered by an .074 Pusher. It had a black plastic frame and orange "sail" and flew like crazy. It was of course inspired by the Rogallo...
Amy, as a commerical pilot I'm obliged to comment. I admire Vintage Space. I love your channel and you're the perfect person for a channel like this. Your passion for aviation is unparalleled to which I relate. The 50's & 60's were such a golden age in aviation; with the technology they had back then the feats they achieved is jaw dropping. The engineering alone... Amazing! I'd love it if you could do more on "The Agena". Little is known about that, other than it almost killed Neil Armstrong during the Gemini program. Love you, love vintage space... See you on your next video! Stay safe, stay curious!
Actually, the Agena on Gemini 8 performed perfectly. It was an RCS thruster that had stuck in the open position that almost got them.
Yeah, I know that it was a stuck RCS thruster. I wonder how many people know that, and that's my point asking Amy to do more on the Agena. For example, in this video when she referenced it I didn't know it was Air Force property; I always assumed it belonged to NASA. Things like that. Was it's function JUST to learn docking procedures or we're there other ancillary missions they had in mind for the Agena. And so on...
As a young engineer just out of Texas A&M University in 1966, I was hired by Philco to provide maintenance and operations support for the (Breadboard) Terminal Landing System which we had just built for the Landing and Recovery Division of the Manned Space Center in Houston. We conducted unmanned test drops of many different gliding parachute descent systems at Ft. Hood, Texas, with the cooperation of the US Army from 1967 through 1969 when the project was cancelled. We had three trailers in a fenced compound on a slight rise in the southern part of Ft. Hood's training grounds. I ran the Data Van with computer-driven displays in console like those in the Mission Operations Control Rooms in the Building 30 Mission Control Center. We also had a Radar Van and a van housing the remote pilot flying the test package. The test package was a 400-pound miniature Mercury/Gemini vehicle with shroud line control spools and a downlinked TV camera viewing the terrain below. It was deployed at 10,000 feet AGL as directed from our console displaying the vehicle position calculated from Radar tracking data. We released and skin-tracked weather balloons to store wind profile data before the tests. We developed procedures to land the package within 25 feet of a selected ground target quite reliably. After a deployable steerable descent system could not be developed, many of the gliding energy management procedures developed at Ft. Hood were incorporated into the Space Shuttle's approach and landing procedures.
Great deep dive. I had not realized how much work went into the Rogallo wing. I thought it was not much more then a study, but NASA actually expended quite a bit of effort to come up with a working system.
I expected this to be the usual 10 minute informational RUclips video, but even passed that mark, I was absolutely glued to the content. Always fascinating to hear about roads not taken during the development of something.
If a fabric wing is ever flown back from space it would have to have that 50's print cobwebs & blue roses!
As a Hang Glider Pilot and Rocket Engineer...I liked this video. Flying a Hang glider is IMHO the purest form of flying there is. Floating in a gentle thermal with buzzards and eagles just a few feet away whilst 10,000 ft above mother earth is truly inspiring.
Great Video Amy...New Subscriber x
A 40 min video about one of the most interesting developments for the gemini program (i remember one of your old Videos about it and since then i was fascinated by it; i have the feeling, that this Video is going to be a little more detailed as the discreption in "in the shoulder of titans" [which I bought thanks to you suggesting it in one of your Videos;)]) by somebody who is amazing in explaining things but who also has done acctual research about it? You simply can not not enjoy this.
Thank you for making these videos!
Amy, we must read your Master's thesis! This is amazing material you've put together. AND your mention of Chamberlain of the Avro Arrow program shows the influence these engineers had on the Apollo program. Controlled landings were exactly what the pilots wanted on the LM, and overrode the automated systems on, I believe, every flight.
As a former hang-glider pilot and a space enthusiast I find this very interesting.
Why former? Did anything happen or did you just get tired of it?
@@CockatooDude I found more meaningful ways to get a "high". I found political intrigue more fascinating. At least one movie based on some of my adventures, was made already. And since Russia's next SHLV will be based on my ideas, certain western capitals would still love to see me dead.
@@aristeidislykas7163 Well shit, I did not know I'd meet a revolutionary in the RUclips comments section. Good luck with your endeavours, whatever they may entail.
@@CockatooDude Thank you, my friend. But be aware! Washington is already scared shitless, of me! ...And not because I am a "revolutionary".
Well produced, great timing in speech. Thanks Vintage Space!
Can’t help but notice that almost all of these comments are from men commenting on your dress... as another female space enthusiast, I love all of the videos you put out and love learning more about the topic I’m going to college for! Keep it up Amy, you’re awesome!
Huh, only about a quarter of the comments I see are that.
Man here- I'm just in for the science and history. Anything else is just creepy.
Wow Amy! learned a lot I didn't know. Every aeronautical engineer who has analyzed the Rogallo wing then and since have stated that it "seriously lacks directional stability and has a propensity to going into an unrecoverable flat spin". A true testament to the stubborn of some people, like the thousands of enthusiasts who throw themselves from tall places in wild abandon while strapped to a device likely to screw them into the ground at an extreme velocity. Love the channel will be back for more.
That boiler plate capsule that was used for the manned drop tests ended up in Britain. It was on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester for years, before being moved to the National Space Centre in Leicester, where it's still on display as far as I know.
Very fine and thorough look at the paraglider, Amy. I was familiar with the plan from having come across the 1964 National Geographic omnibus article "How We Plan to Put Men on the Moon," which shows the paraglider as the method of choice. The visual you show (with the tattoo reference) at 24:31 was also in that article, which followed NG's memorial tribute to John F. Kennedy. As I saw those visuals while thumbing through the article in the mid-1970s, I had a _What-The-Hey_ reaction. I had never heard of anything like this, and I remembered Gemini mission well from my childhood. Now I know the whole story. Thank you!
Sorry to say it again, but I love your dress! Thanks for mentioning the designer in the video description. Have a good day!
The October dresses are something huh? I like 'em too
is it just me, or did she change a lot of thumbnails on her recent videos ?
Thank you for this vastly informative and entertaining video. I grew up during this time and my dad was an aeronautical engineer at ARAP, a small research firm in Princeton, NJ (John Houbolt worked there for a while, too). Part of his work was with the company's wind tunnel in researching re-entry parameters for spacecraft. I cherish those memories of being in the lab shop with him.
I love the footage you put together, but your floor lamp in the background is mesmerizing. Such a cool piece.
Seriously, the lamp is what you're looking at?
(although it is a nice lamp)
@@willsowerbutts Borderline, but true...
Perfect dress for this season. You are so intelligent and so capable in your delivery.
I want to add about Bruce Peterson. He was one of my two officers for quality assurance and was the pilot of the HL-10 shown crashing in the TV show "Six Million Dollar Man". He broke so many bones in his test pilot experience but lost his eye due Staphylococcus from the hospital. He always would rest in my test station and saying he was "keeping an eye out on me". A hero of mine, Without his calm mentoring, He always said the reason why we are test pilots is "we take risks on new ideas" and to paraphrase, bring us home safely.
My dad worked on Gemini at MAC and was involved in the Rogallo. He and a few other engineers built one of the first wings and flew it at a small strip near St. Louis, towed behind a car. It was really more of a weight shift hang glider with a low aspect ratio although the term hang glider was not used at that time . The "bat glider", as it was known, was stored in our barn for 20 years before it was thrown out. I have a few color slides but no physical remnants. Oddly enough, there were no metal used in this construction so I guess it could be described as a stealth bat glider.
The man that taught me parachuting, Gene Michael Bland, worked on that system. He also tested parachute systems for NASA. He was an Army veteran that served in Vietnam in the SOG program and was HALO instructor #38. Probably a minor character in this chapter of history but I would be curious if you ever came across his name.
also, I like your perspective and approach to telling these nuggets of vintage space
also also, you are the most attractive youtuber!
Bravo, Amy! I really enjoyed this...and the longer-form format in general. Looking forward especially to your take on MOL. Keep up the great work, and stay awesome! ✌️❤️🚀
Definitely MOL. Fascinating what-could-have-been. Looking forward to Amy's deep dive on that.
I was 4 years old when the first manned Gemini spaceflight launched. It was an exciting time. There was so much anticipation and hope, and worry, too. I remember the later missions, especially the one where the initial rendezvous vehicle did not properly deploy and they had to change the mission. The splashdowns were also always very exciting to watch. Thanks for the great content.
Amy, I haven't forgotten about the Gemini Rogallo wing. I was in elementary school back in the '60's and I did a presentation about the Gemini capsule and the Rogallo wing. I had a model of the capsule with the wing so the audience could see what I was talking about. It did not go very well, I'm sure I mumbled throughout the presentation and I don't think anyone understood or even cared what I was talking about!
Somewhere in my piles of things I still have from my youth is an official NASA pamphlet about the Gemini program. If I manage to locate I'll send you a scan of it if you'd like. Ned
Back in the '60s Popular Science published plans for a Rogallo kite. I made one, it was awesome; it would even fly upwind of me.
I love how detailed Amy is with her history. 😃
Oh the perfection of it all!!!
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels about space. Thanks.
I see Amazing Amy, I hit like then watch because I KNOW its going to be good.
Amy, how about an episode on the NASA lifting body aircraft? And the 'Hotrod' Pontiac Catalina tow car?
I grew up with the space program, watching every launch live starting with Gemini 5. I also read everything I could find on space. Sometime after the Apollo 1 fire I checked out a book that was only about three or four years old, but already out of date. It showed how "Gemini will not splash down, but will return on land", and it had a pencil sketch of a Gemini capsule using a paraglider to come back home. By the time I saw this, Project Gemini had already finished, and I knew it had never happened that way, but I was fascinated nonetheless. I asked every adult I knew about it, and no one knew anything, some thinking I was just crazy. So this video gave me much joy to see, to learn about something I first wondered about well over 50 years ago. I think you have a new subscriber. Thank you.
The record setting duration missions of the Gemini program are even more impressive when you consider with Gemini the crew was 2x of Mercury and the capsule had habitable space 1.5x of Mercury
And after two weeks it STANK
@@bobdionne4625 I don't remember where I read it, but allegedly when Gemini 5 splashed down after 8 days, one of the Navy frogmen that attached the flotation collar on the capsule threw up when they opened the hatches from the smell.
Fascinating story, well told. Thanks Amy!😊
The paraglider was featured in a March or May National Geographic article with pictures in the early 1960’s. I always wondered why it never flew on a Gemini Mission
You beat me to it. I just posted this fact!
Amy, I remember reading the Rogallo wing in a National Geographic magazine back in the 60's. I never thought anyone would have seen or heard of this today. Thanks for writing about this and keeping this alive.
Thank you for that informative video. I actually met Francis Rogallo in the late seventies. He was at Kitty Hawk Kites in Kitty Hawk North Carolina watching people enjoy flying his wing. He laughed when I asked for his autograph. I guess not many people think of scientists as heroes but hang glider pilots appreciate him. I didn’t see it but I was told he flew hang gliders occasionally also.
I love Rogallo. That development, made me play and enjoy flying hangliders, for many years!
Ooo! This is relevant to my interests!
Nice job Amy! You are clearly passionate about Rogallo Wings!
This woman is gorgeous and she has a mind o stay up nights to ponder....wish there were more like her
You can imagine my surprise, being a nut-job aerospace engineer on vacation in Scotland, wandering through the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and happened across the TTV-2 in the basement. One of those "holly cow, what's that doing here" moments. Great episode Amy!
I was enamored with the idea of a flying Gemini when I read about it, back in the day! There was another possible return option that I read about too: the "Ball-ute" system. It was accomplished by a half balloon, half parachute re-entry. The Gemini astronauts would have to abandon the spacecraft and each man deploy a balloon to slow down his decent through the atmosphere until deploying his parachute to finish. What can you me about it, was that a serious option too?
When I was in junior high school, I had no idea how fortunate I was that its library had a collection of books which had evidently been published to promote various projects different aerospace companies were trying to sell to NASA and/or the military. I spent many happy hours poring over the technology of alternate histories, seeing "artist's renderings" of Gemini capsules landing under Rogallo wings, the crew of the MOL busily at work on "science", &c.
Her dress, hair style and makeup are definitively late nineteen-fifties, just about the video story. Congratulations!
True, and if she's not been to it, then she ought to pay a visit to the Goodwood Revival meeting which recreates exactly that sort of period, with exhibits, car and motorcycle races including all the period glamour and visitors and music in period. COVID allowing of course.
I have to say this is probably my favorite video of yours! 🪂
The world needs more women like you.
Amy you are a breath of fresh air. You definitely have the right stuff!
tatoo artist: "you want what?"
Love your videos. I watch tons of videos on this subject, but you always cover things I never see on anywhere else. Very interesting, informative, and entertaining. Thank you.
"How long until she shows her tattoo? 1:13 Yep, there it is."
She is blessed with Perfect Skin.
I hope she doesn't get any more tattoos.
Trying to imagine what that Tat is going to like in 30 years. From a firm Parasail to a DeVinci like flapping wing. 🙄😎 (please don't hate me Amy)
LoL again
@@johnknapp952 LoL once more
@@CessnaPilot99 live to please yourself not others.
Thanks for finally presenting this! Informative and kept short. Looking forward to more Vintage Space.
gotta love the ksp music!!!
Astronomo it isnt from ksp it is from kevin macleod
IsaQuest the makers of KSP probably licensed that music from Kevin McLeod (or used it under a royalty-free arrangement).
@@isaquest134 yes but it is used in KSP, thats like saying Interstellar music isnt interstellar music because Hans Zimmer created it!
As always a great video Amy, and an incredible dress!
I didn't know that Scott Carpenter was equipped with shark repellent; was this the inspiration for Batman's bat shark repellent in the 1966 movie?
Julia Child worked on shark repellants for the OSS
"Quick Robin, hand me the shark repellent bat spray!" Has to be my favourite cheesy movie line.
US pilots had shark repellent as far back as WW2. The Batman writers would have known this.
@@1timcat That sounds crazy enough to be true, where did you hear that?
@@likwidchris It's in her official biography.
Space stuff with KSP music... how did I not know about this channel? Subscribed.
Amy's doubling down on her appearance 😁
As somebody who loves history and grew up inhaling every book he could find at the public library concerning Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, I really appreciate the content you produce. The rogollo wing some something I remember reading about briefly, seeing a few concept drawings of and was curious to know more. But the books I could find at the time had limited information. Thank you for answering some questions I have had for over 40 years now. :)
I remember seeing an illustration of the Rogallo Wing landing a Gemini capsule in National Geographic when I was a kid. The illustration showed it landing somewhere in the American west.
I remember too!
So much experimentation, so many facets, so little time.
There's always to learn at the Vintage Space!
Thank you!
Honestly you look so good when you have your hair down and you dont have those bang. Also you dont need all the makeup and eye shadow. Your older videos you looked great. You don't need to fix what isn't broken. Plz get rid of those bangs.
Great video Amy. Interesting subject... did not know about the Rogallo Wing.
So cool to have you doing these vids again!
NASA managers : No, this thing is useless
Plucky Australians : mind if I borrow you that mate ?
Thx Amy for another fantastic space history lesson and Happy World Space Week everyone! I have a fuzzy memory of 1st seeing the Rogallo wing in an old National Geographic - it is so great now knowing the full story. Also thx for showing us the Gemini USAF MOL atop a Titan III. A rare photo I'm sure - just like seeing a photo of the Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle at Vandenberg AFB. Finally, thx for the Canadian shout out to the Avro engineer who came up with the Rogallo concept for Gemini AND Happy Thanksgiving Amy! Oh btw, love seeing that background photo of Snoopy flying back to Charlie Brown.
Common misconception. Its not friction that heats reentry vehicles. Is compressive heating from the shockwave
Yep, glad I checked whether someone else made this comment first.
thanks Amy. You are real enjoyable to listen to and really get into the facts. great job as always.
Amy awsome dress !
She has a face mask that matches this dress!
@@CessnaPilot99 she doesnt appear in the thumbnail...
@GrumannPilot99 Indeed, what are you talking about...?
@@Paul_VanGo I'm saying she isn't wearing the dress for clickbait as there isn't even a picture of her in the thumbnail, let her wear what she wants to wear thanks Paul !
@@harrygraves6870 Sorry. I agreed with you.
I hung it on the wrong name.
Edit: Corrected
Your recent studio arrangements and lighting have improved dramatically. And do I have to mention I love your dresses?
There is a whole book universe about the Rogallo by Mike Jeanne, The Blue Gemini series
Wishing I had not waiting so long to watch this video. Utterly fascinating concept, likely limited by materials of the times. Thank you, Amy!
Unfurlment: the process of folding and packing of a deployable element. ‘Jeb and Stu tired and tried but simply could not unfurlment the spacecrafts delta wing’.
Synonym: Deploy, unfold, origami, configure
Antonym: Pack, fold, install
Remember, English is a very flexible language. If you can say it, spell it, define it, use it in a sentance, give synonym and antonym, its a working word. The fact that its not in a formal dictionary... a lot of technical jargon isn't.
Unfurl.
@@keithcarpenter5254 and it would probably be enough to turn it into "unfurling", unfurlment is overcompensation.
Great long form video. I remember illustrations of capsules returning under Rogallo wings in Popular Science and National Geographic articles as the programs were anticipated all over the USA.
Does anyone else miss Amy’s cat, Pete Conrad?!?
What happened to Pete?
Oh, Pete always steals the show.
@@ZigZagMarquis Nothing, He's still very common on Amy's instagram.
Phew... I was still pondering when "Next week" was she gonna upload. Thank you!
If you’d like to see this piece of history yourself, there is one displayed at the National Space Centre in Leicester, UK. I’ve seen it - it’s the first thing you come across in the Lobby.
I was just about to post the same thing. I have a photo of it somewhere.
@@eventingcrazy Please share!
I remember the Rogallo project as a kid. There even were free flight models of them. But I never realized just how much actual (and risky!) testing had been done. Thanks for the video (and the dress, of course!)
"Unfurlment" is a real word... now.... Amy used it, so it is!
We sailors speak of "unfurling" a sail that's stowed on a device called a "furler". Sounds reasonable to me.
That was awesome!
Growing up all I really saw regarding this were drawings and photos and vague references in old magazines and books.
This really shed some light on a very cool aspect of the space program that was perhaps ahead of its time in regard to materials and flight control systems but obviously caught the imaginations of so many people.
But the resultant Hang Gliding sport was a great spinoff
I had an 18' Eipper-Formance in the 70's, great fun at Kitty Hawk.
@@Britspence381 WillsWing Falcon 3 in the 90s
I had a Bennett Delta Wing BITD; lotsa fun.
If I haven't complimented you before, in addition to your impeccable researching skills, you are an excellent story teller. Another great video! I seem to recall from my early childhood, that as late as 1968 or 1969, you could still buy a toy model of the Gemini landing with the Rogallo wing.
I remember that as well. It was a build option for the Revell kit.
"unfurlment" _is_, in fact, a word!
I mean, hey, either way, if you say it and someone instantly understands it, that's successful communication.
Of course. The suffix "-ment" means "action; process", thus unfurlment is the process of unfurling. (That's how English works.)
if it isn't it bloody should be.
Amazing detail and analysis of the implications of this program. Super thumbs up on your research of this history.