Paul Drye / is on Nostr

Software development by day, table-top RPG writing and space/science fiction/fantasy noodling by night. Amateur historian of spaceflight with an emphasis on unbuilt projects and proposals. Blog at pauldrye.wordpress.com.

Last Notes

2024-10-25 13:53:51

Artist Grant Lathe worked for Marshall Space Flight Center from 1960 onward and was often given the assignment for more "artistic" NASA art. With the 5- (or even 6!) legged conical LEM and fancy racing livery on the CSM I have to figure this painting is from very early in the LOR period, possibly while it was still being debated. Call it about mid-1961.
I'm quite pleased that the red-and-white checks remind me of Tintin's Destination Moon rocket.
#Apollo #Moon #spaceart #Tintin
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/113/368/363/414/430/805/original/d3935f982b50b43e.jpg

2024-09-27 22:03:04

- reply

@npub1pvf…093g Paraphrasing, but: "Any advert on a website that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours to block. Not doing so is like not wearing a helmet when people are throwing rocks at your head."

2024-08-12 20:50:06

- reply

@npub1zdp…vqv8 Kids here mostly chant in Latin and spin their heads around 360 degrees. But this is a pretty bad neighbourhod.

2024-05-31 13:42:07

- reply

@npub1ks7…eg5u Not only did he die this day, he died as the result of a duel over love at the age of 20. So basically a Nick Cave song.

2024-05-24 19:12:37

So this happened. Given the colour and the fact they were working with nitric acid, I'm feeling somewhat doubtful this was (relatively benign) nitrous oxide.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd11xzjkvk0o
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/112/497/643/285/295/109/original/453903e6edaaf5d4.png

2024-02-15 16:18:02

- reply

@npub1sdk…0kgj @npub1ku6…5t4e Interesting...this sounds like a distorted version of the Benandanti folktales, though through the lens of a Christian backlash.
In particular the theorized relation to Livonian folks cult tales, which is not far away from Kashubia.
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/111/936/383/268/964/797/original/7489dbca71ceec35.png
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/111/936/395/592/646/306/original/f169acef76640df4.png

2024-02-01 22:18:17

The galaxy has many worlds that suffered a runaway greenhouse with resulting dense, scorching atmosphere. Few have been visited, but one was the original, Venus. During Mars' authoritarian-scientific era some unfortunates had their brains grafted into refractory bodies and were sent to Venus with orders to explore. One of them, Gakumjaagu Sube, found a way to disable their Compliance Detonators and the last recorded message from any of them was COME DOWN AND MAKE ME. #Lore24 #LongHorizon

2023-08-19 21:14:26

- reply

@npub1zdp…vqv8 One of my favourite stories, "Time Shards" by Gregory Benford (from 1979) might have been the source of the idea you saw in the church magazine https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/time-shards/
There was an article about the concept in the New Scientist's "Daedalus" column back in 1969 too: https://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Inventions_of_Daedalus.html?id=0Xt2QgAACAAJ
(I'm mildly obsessed with the concept, so I suppose we share a wistful hoax)

2023-08-07 13:11:56

Krafft Ehricke, showing off a cutaway model of a four-astronaut space station based on Atlas that his group designed at General Dynamics. I'm particularly interested in the high Delta-v chemical rocket propellants scribbled on the board over his right shoulder:
- O2 + H2, yes, sure, good call.
- Fluorine and Hydrogen, um...
- Fluorine and Hydrazine, ummmm...
- Chlorine trifluoride + Hydrazine, *waves from a concrete bunker several miles away*
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/110/848/485/703/476/606/original/e5d85166ecdbfb5d.jpeg

2023-07-25 18:14:10

The more I got into the pre-Sputnik history of space, the more I came to like Atomic Age graphic design. It's interesting to look at with 20/20 hindsight.
These are by Fred McNabb, who did a lot of work printed in American Weekly in the '50s. In particular, they were done on behalf of a ball bearing company named New Departure, which had a line of ads depicting the near future as they saw it (and in which they'd participate, of course!)
Cultural blind spots galore in these.
#atompunk #retro
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/110/776/025/748/400/634/original/9e374550ab761228.png
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/110/776/027/589/030/021/original/e779c82f96f41872.png
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/110/776/038/257/887/038/original/9fcc5be7733be33c.png
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/110/776/058/255/500/896/original/d0074205b0ad492c.png