A relic from the old space program

by John Michael Greer
(Cumberland, MD, USA)

When I was a boy, back when Heinleins walked the earth, I built a lot of model kits -- everything from World War II tanks to creature-feature dioramas -- but I had a special thing for spacecraft, especially spacecraft that never actually happened. My favorite of all was an item from MPC, one of the big model companies in those days, called the Pilgrim Observer. It was supposed to be the workhorse spacecraft of the post-Apollo era of planetary exploration, a big, convincingly ungainly 8 to 12 person ship with a NERVA nuclear engine on a long boom aft, three rotating arms up front that produced about 0.lg worth of centrifugal force to imitate the effects of gravity, and a whole galaxy of similar details.

Of course it was never built, but it could have been. I had one hanging from the ceiling in a corner of my bedroom for years. I hoped to see one lift off from Kennedy Spaceport. No, let's be honest -- I wanted to catch the space shuttle up a few weeks later, float through the airlock onto the Pilgrim I, and run the oxygen- and food-producing hydroponic gardens all the way to Mars and back.

A few years back, I found out that the kit was back in production -- a firm called Round 2 that specializes in re-releasing old model kits got the molds and started filling them with polystyrene again -- and I got one and built it. It's hanging from the ceiling in a corner of my study right now, dish antenna turned toward distant Earth, NERVA engine shut down until it's time to start braking into Mars orbit. I suspect something not all that different is going to feature in the Old Mars fiction I'm plotting out right now.

One thing I recall from those same, at this point rather distant years, was that the Old Solar System wasn't just a matter of books and magazines. There was a lot of it in all kinds of corners in popular culture. The amusement park just north of downtown Seattle in those days, in the old Worlds Fair grounds, had a ride titled "FLIGHT TO MARS" that included a lot of bits of OSS folklore in a sort of low-budget vein. So I'm wondering whether other readers of this site also have relics of the old space program in their memories, or even in their homes...

{Z: Well, can anybody follow this one up? Material memorabilia of the future-that-ought-to-have-happened? I once possessed a few Space Cards, but I can't remember where I got them from, and I certainly don't have them now. One such card is depicted on the Mercury page of this site - showing a froglike Mercurian fire-dweller. I can well imagine there may have been model spaceships in breakfast-cereal packets, even tiny ones in Christmas crackers... and for that matter, I wonder what has happened to the props used in old science fiction films and TV series.}

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Nov 16, 2016
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Re: Ought To Have Been
by: John Michael Greer

Dylan, well, I had a chemistry set from age ten on, and spent a lot of time doing an assortment of experiments, so I have no trouble at all imagining a meeting of the Young Chemists Club -- kids talking about the experiments they'd done and what happened, maybe somebody giving a talk, and then sandwiches and milk, courtesy of somebody's mom. Think of the kind of astronomy papers H.P. Lovecraft wrote when he was a kid and you'll have the flavor down pat.

I certainly agree with you about the Pilgrim Observer! It's pretty close to my ideal of what an interplanetary spacecraft circa right now ought to look like. The label "Pilgrim Observer," by the way, is a type name rather than an individual spacecraft name; according to the booklet that came with the kit, the first few Pilgrim craft were of the Observer type, with no landing craft, and would be followed by other types to land on Mars, ferry people there, etc. I liked that; it seemed sensible to have a core design on which various changes could be rung.

The library's just emailed me to tell me that "Old Mars" has arrived, so I'll have it Thursday. I'll certainly let you know what I think.

Nov 10, 2016
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Ought To Have Been
by: Dylan Jeninga

Looking at the picture some more, It seems to me a grave injustice that no such stations were constructed. It has an aestheticaly pleasing look, there really should be dozens of them putting around the System. To compensate, we will have to populate our imaginary Solar Systems with them. What do you say, Zendexor? When we get around to continuing Mission to the Tenth Planet, shall we name our vessel "The Pilgrim Observer"?

{Z: Sounds good to me; bearing in mind the crew will probably find a shorter name for it for everyday use! In Russell's "Jay Score" the "Upskadaska City" became the "Upsydaisy". I wonder how our hard-bitten adventurers would abbreviate "The Pilgrim Observer".

On space stations, I do rather hanker after the wheel shape, though the real one has its own knobbly charm too. I suppose the disadvantage of a wheel is that it isn't so modular and extensible as the one we've actually got.

Basically the problem - as I've said before - is that policy-makers haven't read the right books. If they had, we'd have Luna City and a Mars base by now, as well as a nice wheely space-station.}

Nov 08, 2016
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Enjoy It!
by: Dylan Jeninga

Oh, and I should have said, I hope you enjoy Old Mars! I'd be curious to know what stories stand out to you!

Nov 08, 2016
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Pioneering
by: Dylan

A chemist club, eh? I was never terribly disposed towards chemistry, and so find it hard to imagine what the weekly meetings might have been about!

In regards to the New Mars Craze, as I've just titled it, your concern comes up frequently and is hardly invalid. I have a few thoughts on the matter, though. Firstly, that a wholesale abandonment of Earth in the public mind is improbable. The balance of humanity will probably always live here, so I think it's unlikely to be forgotten. Secondly, that Earth could do with a valve to vent some of these humans out - a decreased strain on the planet could only benefit the wildlife. And third, as Henry Kuttner said in his novel "Fury", the forces that drive people to colonize new lands are bad conditions at home, and a grail elsewhere. Now, I would have to be mad to say that the ravaging of Earth is a good thing, even if it gets us to Mars, but we can take some solace if it does. After all, life on Earth may someday be rendered impossible by events outside of our control, and if that happens, countless species (including humanity) may be saved if the human race is an interplanetary species!

{Z: That reminds me, the worst ever plot - morally speaking - to get humans off Earth comes at the end of Asimov's "Robots and Empire". Even wickeder in some respects than the plot of Kornbluth's great tale "The Marching Morons", and that's saying something. We can hope it won't be done that way. But how will it be done? What can motivate governments or organizations to undertake the enormous costs of transportation? Well, there are special folk like Elon Musk... and there is the long-term prospect of economic advance based on the necessary technological advances which must ensure from space-colonization.

That in turn reminds me of the "Long Range Foundation" in Heinlein's "Time For the Stars". Perhaps that's the answer - a real-life Long Range Foundation.

And actually, is there not some such organization already? I seem to remember there's something called the Long Now Clock... and the people behind that are the sort we need.}

Nov 07, 2016
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Re: Astro Archeology
by: John Michael Greer

Dylan, fascinating! I hadn't heard of the Junior Space League, but there were a lot of science-themed clubs in the US back in the day. (A while back I looked over an old 1960s-era chemistry set in a flea market, and it came with a little certificate of membership in the Young Chemists Club and a booklet on how to organize and run a club in your neighborhood, with regular meetings and the rest of it. That was a blast from the past...)

The current fascination with Mars strikes me as partly very positive and partly less so -- the latter because so many people seem to think that colonizing Mars is an escape hatch from the mess we've made of our home planet, and thus an excuse for not cleaning up said mess. Certainly, though, it seems favorable for Mars-themed science fiction.

Speaking of which, I have a copy of "Old Mars" on its way via interlibrary loan; I'm looking forward to it.

{Z: Chemistry - ah, that brings back memories of wanting answers that were never forthcoming, such as, WHY are there such things as acids and alkalis? WHY are there metals and non-metals? Why, why, why... I rather sympathize with Gibson's hero Duncan Wemyss in "The Slant", regarding his swipes at that incomprehensible alchemical discipline...}

Nov 07, 2016
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Astro Archeology
by: Dylan Jeninga

I missed out on the space craze, sadly, but I do own a bit of it! I have a "Junior Space League" pin I located here in Chicago, at a local antique store. It features an image of a rocket, which can be bound to the shirt by a rather deadly looking, overlarge pin - one must have been brave indeed to join the Junior Space League!

Fortunately, the modern day is seeing a minor space craze of its own. Call it a space interest, perhaps. This time, it's all centered around Mars! I'm not sure what the cause is, it might be the discovery of water, or Elon Musk's big dreams, or maybe even "The Martian", but whatever it was it seems to have reignited the public imagination a bit. Just a few days ago, I picked up a copy of Time and National Geographic about Mars (the same issue Zendexor was perturbed by), and Life Magazine just published a special issue on the Space Race that I may get as well. The Map of Mars from the inside of National Geographic now hangs on my wall.

I'm sure it doesn't match the fervor of the old days, after all, "the end of the decade" is a much better promise than "maybe in 2030" for a manned mission to another world. What's more, when it comes to sending astronauts to Mars, the pattern seems to be one of cancellation or delay. I suspect people are hesitant to get excited now.

But how ever short lived it may be, it is better than the alternative, which is no excitement for space at all. That sounds droll and depressing.

{Z: Elon Musk, from what I hear, seems like a character out of a Heinlein novel. A genuine space enthusiast as well as a tycoon. He has been willing to risk his fortune on his astronautical endeavours. And then there's Burt Rutan. Probably others, too. We doubtless have the right men. The question is, will Mars fulfil its side of the bargain when we finally get there? I worry that the magic will fade if there turns out to be absolutely no native Martian life. However, come to think of it, even assuming the worst, it will take ages of exploration to be absolutely sure. A sphere 4200 miles in diameter could hide many secrets.}

Nov 06, 2016
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relics
by: John Michael Greer

Zendexor, one of the things I don't know, having grown up in the US, was how common OSP toys, trinkets, and memorabilia were in other countries in those same years. You basically couldn't get away from it in the US, not that anybody tried; every toy store had its selection of toy flying saucers, plastic spaceships, astronaut and alien figures, etc., etc.; the kid's section at every public library I ever visited in my misspent youth was crammed with stories that were basically OSS Lite -- "The Spaceship Under the Apple Tree," "The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet," and on and on.

Now of course I grew up in a south Seattle suburb where every third family worked for Boeing; the dad of my best friend when I was in third grade built hydrazine steering rockets for spacecraft, and that was cool but not exceptional. The entire local culture was giddy about space. I'm not at all sure that was the case elsewhere in the country, though I don't know that it wasn't. Here's my question, though, to you and anyone who was familiar with popular culture in other corners of Jasoom in the 1960s and 1970s -- was there the same saturation level of outer-space toys, kid's books, etc?

{Z: No, unfortunately, from my own memories, I don't think there was. Popular culture was thoroughly aware of "space stuff" and those who wished it could find things to interest them - toys, pictures, books - but nothing like the interesting scene you describe. However, we urgently need another person's perspective, other than mine which may be far too limited. Calling all mature folk who remember the 1960s and 70s! Come in, oldies! Do you read me? Please report!}

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