Von Braun 'Round the Moon Ship (1952)
Price: TBD
STATUS: IN DEVELOPMENT
STATUS: IN DEVELOPMENT
About the Design
In 1952, Collier's magazine published a seminal series of articles co-authored by German-born rocketry expert Dr. Werner von Braun that outlined America's nascent plans for the conquest of the Moon and Mars. One of the craft featured in the series was the so-called 'Round the Moon Ship, a large three-piece spacecraft designed specifically for lunar reconnaissance. Basically a slimmed-down version of his Lunar Lander, Von Braun's Round the Moon Ship would have carried a crew of roughly a half-dozen astronauts on a lunar survey mission prior to the actual moon landing attempt. (Not unlike the actual mission of Apollo 8 in 1968.) To be built in Earth orbit, the Round the Moon Ship was completely functional in design, requiring none of the aerodynamic features necessary for atmospheric flight.
If this design seems familiar to fantastic modelers, it's because Von Braun's concept was liberally "borrowed" and redesigned (without credit) by the engineers at The Lindberg Line for their "U.S. Moon Ship" kit released in 1958. |
About the Model
To reserve your copy, email FantasticPlast@aol.com. |