NASA 1980s and 1990s plans

Here are some interesting videos that show NASA's big plans during the 1980s and early 1990s.

The first big project was a large space station, called Space Station Freedom. This is one of the early configurations (the "dual-keel") shown as a miniature model. The footage manages to give some sense of scale of the completed station with the Shuttle docked.

Another large project was crewed Moon and Mars missions. These 1990 animations show some nice early computer animations. The overall hardware design is not much different from present day proposals.

As normal, the videos were assembled by joining sequences presented on diferent NASA documentaries. This allows to reconstruct the original resource reel and also to present a more complete view of the mission steps and hardware.

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Orion cockpit layout

In preparation for my Constellation program add-on, I collected some images about Orion's cockpit panel layout. These are quite interesting and you can see how it is evolving. 2012 (NASA Systems Engineering Simulator) 2014 layout I assembled this view from a NASA video showing most parts of the panel and LCD displays. Resolution is good enough to read most of the labels. 2014 Mockup 2015 Mockup The 2015 mockup shows some diferences from the 2014 version. The design seems less monotonous and with a few less flip switches. Image sources: NASA

Hermes space shuttle interior, cockpit and instrument panel resources

The ESA Hermes space shuttle project ran from 1975 to 1992, after an original proposal from the French CNES (National Space Studies Center). The spacecraft was intended to serve two proposed European space stations: the Man Tended Free-Flyer / Columbus Space Station and the Polar Platform. Before cancellation, some mock-ups and trainers were built. Because the project was developed in the 1980's there aren't many reference photos on the web. I'm taking the liberty of posting the all the images I could find on the web of the Hermes interior, cockpit and instrument panels. This way they are grouped all together in a single place for the convenience, so that the general layout can be understood and the different mock-ups / simulator versions can be sorted out. Hermes shuttle flight simulator Hermes shuttle simulator Hermes shuttle misc mock-ups Hermes shuttle mock-up version "a" ...

Vostok panels

I've more or less completed the Vostok panels. The main panel is reasonably accurate, but the side panel is still very rough. Without better reference images it will be hard to do.

Orbiter Spaceport

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