Disney RM-1 Lunar Reconnaissance Vehicle (1955)

Scale: 1/67
Initial Release: 1958
Medium: Styrene
Kit Rarity (Original): 5
Glencoe Release 3

About the Design

The RM-1 Lunar Reconnaissance Vehicle was designed to be built in orbit with modular components, specifically jettisoned pieces of the "Man-in-Space Ship" ie., the Von Braun Ferry Rocket). The craft was intended to accelerate to escape velocity, loop once around the moon where its crew would take photos in preparation for an eventual lunar landing, and then return to Earth where it would rendezvous with the SS-1 Space Station. The conical "aerospike" contained a shielded nuclear reactor that supplied the ship with power during its flight. The projection on the ship's underside is a detachable "bottle-suit," a one-man EVA vehicle.

About the Kit

The RM-1 was released only briefly in the mid-1950s, then re-released in the 1990's by Glencoe Models as the "Mars Retriever Rocket." As conceived by Glencoe, the craft's new mission was to rendezvous with, snag and decelerate ships returning from trips to Mars. This is the Glencoe version of the kit.

Note: Although its appearance in the Disney "Man-In- Space" TV series should technically classify this as a "Pop Culture" design, that it was based on rigid scientific principals and later appeared throughout the period's speculative literature causes it to be listed in this "Concept Spacecraft" section.