Retro Arxiv

Retro Arxiv

Rediscovering research from our top research organizations from the previous decades to inspire the next golden age of R&D.

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A retro poster of the Moon with a low orbit line, where a small craft climbing from the surface meets its mother ship
1961NASA TM-74736, Vol. INASA Langley Research Center

Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous

Langley's 1961 case for leaving the Earth-return ship in a low lunar orbit and sending only a small lander down: a single-launch mission architecture, a parametric weight study, and the piloting simulations behind it.

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  1. A retro poster of a cream airfoil section with ribbons of air streaming smoothly around it1945Wing Sections and Laminar FlowNACA Report No. 824 · Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory
  2. A retro poster of a cream dart with swept wings and a pinched, soda-bottle waist, seen from above, with smooth ribbons of air bowing gently around it1956The Transonic Area RuleNACA Report 1273 · Langley Aeronautical Laboratory
  3. A retro poster of a small blunt capsule diving above Earth's curved horizon, with a glowing bow shock standing just ahead of its rounded face and hot gas streaming around it into a wide wake1958Blunt-Body Atmospheric EntryNACA Report 1381 · Ames Aeronautical Laboratory
  4. A retro poster of the Moon with a low orbit line, where a small craft climbing from the surface meets its mother ship1961Lunar-Orbit RendezvousNASA TM-74736 · Langley Research Center
  5. A retro poster of a navy, flat-topped airfoil with a slot near its tail, a dome of orange dots over its upper surface ended by one short vertical line, and thin teal streamlines flowing past against a mustard sky1965The Supercritical AirfoilNASA TM X-1109 · Langley Research Center
  6. A retro poster of a chunky cream rocket with glowing reactor rods in a cutaway window and a faint teal exhaust, heading for a tiny distant Mars1968Nuclear-Rocket PropulsionNASA TM X-1685 · Lewis Research Center
  7. A retro poster of a small wingless craft gliding steeply down a dotted path toward a dry lakebed at dawn, with a low Sun on the left and long shadows on the cracked lakebed1970Lifting-Body Flight ResearchNASA TM X-2101 · Flight Research Center
  8. A retro poster of a night-time desert covered in rows of identical radio dishes, all tilted toward one faint star ringed by ripples1971Project CyclopsNASA CR-114445 · Ames Research Center and Stanford University
  9. A retro poster of a thin spoked wheel in black space with a large tilted mirror above its hub, and a small crescent Earth and Moon far away1977Space SettlementsNASA SP-413 · Ames Research Center and Stanford University
  10. A retro poster of a flat rectangular solar array in orbit sending a faint beam to a small receiving field on a half-lit Earth1978Solar Power SatellitesDOE/ER-0023 · Johnson Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center

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