Pics of real space stuff!

[Xaiier]

So I visited the Udvar-Hazy center (sub part of the Smithsonian in Dulles) this weekend, and I snapped some pics that I figured people here might want to see. Forgive me for the cell phone pictures, it was all I had at the moment, wasn't really planning on this.

If you have the chance, visit this place. No matter how many pictures and videos you have seen of this stuff (and the cool planes too) you can never really understand the scale of this stuff till you see it in person. It's so much bigger than you might expect.

Bell:

Turbopump:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Redstone_Launch_Vehicle

Boilerplate CM:

Saturn 5 Computer ring (ideas for the inside of the large ASAS?):

Saturn 1 engine (positively cute compared to the 5):

Munar decon:

Science bay thingy:

Early satellites, I don't remember what exactly, the smallest are about the size of a basketball:

Sirius radio satellite, could comfortably fit a subcompact car, 40m or something with the solars extended:

[The Yellow Dart]

Great pics! I used to live in Ohio and would love a chance to go back to the Air and Space Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, now that I play KSP. I remember being blown away by just how big everything was there.

[Xaiier]

Great pics! I used to live in Ohio and would love a chance to go back to the Air and Space Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, now that I play KSP. I remember being blown away by just how big everything was there.

After a quick Google session, that place looks pretty cool! It's a bit far to go for me, but it looks like it has all the cool military planes missing from Udvar-Hazy. Seeing a SR-71 was pretty slick though, hilariously its stealthiness worked against my camera as well, I couldn't get a decent picture of a black plane in dim light (not to mention that its HUGE).