{"id":166726,"date":"2022-08-26T08:19:10","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T13:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/?p=166726"},"modified":"2022-08-26T17:25:14","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T22:25:14","slug":"ad-astra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/ad-astra\/","title":{"rendered":"Ad astra"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you want breathtaking landscapes, Kansas is the last place in North America to look. However, there are things worth seeing. I recently spent a couple hours at the Cosmosphere<\/a> in Hutchinson, which has an impressive collection of aerospace memorabilia, including a SR-71 Blackbird in the lobby.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A Redstone<\/a> rocket such as was used during the Mercury program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Cosmosphere website features more graphics than information, and I haven’t found exactly what the nozzle in the foreground is. In the background is a Titan II<\/a> rocket of the sort used in the Gemini program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
A close view of the Titan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
How big were the Redstone and Titan rockets? Rather dinky by later standards. (Graphic from here<\/a>.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
V-1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
V-2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Various historical sound recordings play continuously at the exhibits (JFK had a rather annoying voice). I didn’t hear Tom Lehrer’s tribute to Wernher von Braun, though.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A Russian RD-107 rocket engine<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
A “flight-ready backup” of Sputnik I.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
A Redstone atomic warhead, presumably with the fissionables removed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
A replica of an Apollo lunar module.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
A statue of Eugene Cernan, who fifty years ago was the last man to set foot on the Moon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There’s lots more there. I’ll be making more trips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you want breathtaking landscapes, Kansas is the last place in North America to look. However, there are things worth seeing. I recently spent a couple hours at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, which has an impressive collection of aerospace memorabilia, including a SR-71 Blackbird in the lobby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photo-gallery","category-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xam3-Hn8","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166726"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166755,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166726\/revisions\/166755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}