Hacking The Past; Teaching The Future

Can't wait to find out why the Titan at Ames was moved next to the McDonalds turned lunar tape recovery lab.

It appears to be parked behind a McDonalds at NASA Ames. I also understand that NASA is/was trying to give the Titan away to a good home.

It appears to be parked behind a McDonalds at NASA Ames. I also understand that NASA is/was trying to give the missile away to a good home. The missile is a Titan I which is a two-stage rocket powered by RP-1 and Liquid Oxygen.

Whoever photoshopped this could have matched the sharpness of Titan's shadow to those in the rest of the image. Otherwise, not a bad job.

Folks:

OMG! It looks like a Titan 1! Do a quick measure based on the parking spaces it's occupying.

That is a museum piece!

Don't you dare "hack" it!

tinker

P.S. Don't ticket it either (it is double parked). ;)

The structure to the left of the Titan is McMoon's at Ames. The structure on the right of the rocket is the old bowling alley. But why is there a Titan in the parking lot?

Keith:

That roof line looks familiar...

Is that the MacDonalds you folks did the tape recovery at?

8O

How did you... I mean...

tinker

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=mcdonalds&sll=37.415963,-122.065168&sspn=0.00117,0.00309&ie=UTF8&split=1&rq=1&ev=p&radius=0.08&hq=mcdonalds&hnear=&ll=37.415967,-122.064999&spn=0.00117,0.00309&t=h&z=19

same rocket?

I laughed pretty hard at the Zefram Cochrane link, so you guys there at Mcmoons are trying to set up a warp capable Phoenix?
Gentlemen let the wind be at our backs

Titan was a hypergolic propellants rocket. Hydrazine fuel with Nitrogen Tetroxide oxydizer.

If I recall correctly only Titan II used hypergols, Titan 1 in fact did use RP1 and LOX

I stand corrected! I googled it, and indeed, the first version of Titan was RP-1/LOX. Learn something everyday... =)

I had trouble with your link.
Try this instead.

Huh - no rocket in mine. ;-)

Then again, the imagery for Ames on Google maps is old. There's some major construction going on near the parade grounds and the entrance oval that isn't in the imagery either. At least a few months old, maybe more. So, is this a hacked image?

That reminds me of the Titusville Astronaut High Titan I that they tried for years to find a new home and refurbhishment for. Yes, it's a Titan I , not Titan II. Titan II was the same diameter for its whole length; the Titan I has a narrower second stage :)

No one has it right yet.

That's a new display for Universal Studios movie park.

:)

I have to agree with ugordan... some of this photo looks suspicious. There's a few things that don't add up:

1. The diameter of the Titan was 10ft. Typical angled parking spaces are 8-9 ft. Measuring the parking space (444,91 to 447, 117) yields 26.2 pixels. If that is a maximum of 9 ft, then the Titan should be over 29 pixels wide. However, measuring the titan (415,84 to 438,90) yields only 23.8 pixels (that's smaller than the parking space!). That's 20% too small.

2. The shadow on the upper stage looks a little too clear as ugorday said. It's like someone copied the upper stage and used it directly to define the darkened shadow area prior to pasting the upper stage.

3. The angles of the shadows off the Titan don't match the surrounding scenery. Most of the surrounding shadows are almost 90 degrees from vertical, but those on the Titan are closer to 70 or 75 degrees. Look at the shadow profile from the lower right corner of the building and compare it to the Titan.

My vote is "not bad, but no cigar".

Dave