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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Колесо Фон Брауна http://www.astronet.ru/db/msg/1163494/eng |
Credit & Copyright: Courtesy
NASA/MSFC Historical Archives
Explanation:
Orbiting 1,075 miles above the Earth, a 250 foot wide, inflated,
reinforced nylon "wheel"
was conceived in the early 1950s to function
as a navigational aid, meteorological station, military platform, and
way station for space exploration by rocket pioneer
Wernher von Braun.
The wheel-shaped station could be easily rotated creating artificial
gravity so that the astronauts would not suffer the effects of
prolonged weightlessness.
Von Braun and his team favored building a
permanently occupied
Earth orbiting space station from which to stage a lunar exploration
program.
But in the 1960s NASA adopted
the Apollo Program, which called for
astronauts to transfer to a landing vehicle after achieving lunar
orbit, bypassing the construction of von Braun's wheel.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.