1968 ... USAF in Spaaaaace!


... we have to realize that much of what spurred the "Space Race" was the Cold War and the "Arms Race". Big rockets meant big payloads; and those payloads could either be heroic astronauts of H-bombs. The Air Force had it's own space program throughout this period. USAF interest in military applications of space continued throughout the Cold-War. Remember Reagan's 'Star-Wars' (SDI) program. Here we see the sort of nifty magazine cover that I am trying to resurrect in my own illustration work. (no wimpy articles on green, baby-whale saving, technology here!)

Lifting body research helped lead to the Space Shuttle; but the fly-boys were talking manned bombers and fighters in orbit ... oorah!



all images- Right click- open in New Window or Tab = super colossal size!



1 comment:

GlenH said...

Cool- wasn't the Soviet lead in space partly a result of not being able to miniaturise nuclear warheads? This lead to bigger, most powerful boosters, which then could be repurposed to launch payloads into orbit.