Town & Country & Infinity

May 17, 2010 12:58 PM

Chrysler's recent announcement of a three year technical collaboration with NASA continues the automaker's long involvement with the agency, including production of the historic Redstone, reliable Jupiter, and mighty Saturn launch vehicles, and the design of an unusual Space Shuttle called SERV.

Of course this was before we spelled Chrysler "F-I-A-T".

posted by Chinese Jet Pilot (5 comments total)

As a young boy, (born in 85) I had posters in my room with various U.S. and Soviet rockets and space vehicles on them. I’d occasionally make my own drawings of these rockets, as I fancifully dreamed of doing something as amazing as these unknown-to-me scientists had done years before.

The rocket names and thrust ratings were all listed under their images, but those numbers meant little to me. My only opinion was the olive green Soviet rockets with 30 engines on them seemed silly, compared to the bold white and black, five-engine Saturn V.

I never knew Chrysler was responsible for making many of these rockets, thanks for the post.
posted by parhamr at 1:46 PM on May 17, 2010

OK, round trip from Earth to Moon is at least 477,000 miles (that's from the center of each body, but you also have to figure in some orbits); since when did Chrysler forget how to make high-mileage vehicles?
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:07 PM on May 17, 2010

I hope this collaboration leads to my life long dream of seeing a LeBaron orbiting Saturn.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:35 PM on May 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

I hope this collaboration leads to my life long dream of seeing a LeBaron orbiting Saturn.

Or orbiting Uranus?
posted by iviken at 3:34 PM on May 17, 2010

Wow, that SERV concept is completely fascinating; I'd never heard of it before. A 1970's SSTO design which directly influenced thinking of both the DC-X and Amazon's Blue Origin New Shepard vehicle. And with a 10 person spaceplane stuck on top! It deserves a FPP all its own.
Thanks, Chinese Jet Pilot!
posted by Auden at 4:36 PM on May 17, 2010