The HabForum

Wow -- random rumors and gossip thread.

The Saturn V (lying down) was never on tour, but solely created to test in the stands on Redstone. The only trip it ever made was from the Arsenal to where is sits now.

F111 at AC never had a cockpit fire, its windows are plastic and turned a opaque yellow. However the T38 does have a painted canopy, not because of a unfortunate fire, but because is utterly empty on the inside and it was fugly. Its just funner to say it had a fire

If you want to know more at the planes at AC go here -> AC Planes

Benji wrote: The SRBs on Pathfinder were real and had flown at one point until NASA needed them... removing them from the USSRC was cheaper than building new ones. The bell at the bottom of the starboard booster is real.

The SRBs are not real. Never were. The exhaust nozzle on the starboard SRB is real. The only other components on the SRBs that was real was the nose caps of both SRBs. NASA took them back (or more appropiately Thiokol) because the equipment used to manufacture the nose caps had been destroyed and NASA/Thiokol needed to figure out how to make more since they were running out of useable ones. NASA reclaimed them back in late '00/early '01 if memory serves.

I stand corrected, Summa here in Huntsville is responsible for the nose caps and they needed them.

Who, since when is there a F/A-18 on property? And since I'm nit-picking, you really should change the aircraft list, there is not, and has never been an SR-71 on property. It's an A-12.

I am the culprit with the slippery fingers who made the F-18 typo. I only wish there was an F-18 on capus because the CF-18 is my favourite fighter jet, hands down. I apologise for the typo, but I wasn't going to fix it because someone already mentioned it before I noticed it.

As for the SR-71/A-12 bit, you may want to tell the USSRC to correct its museum guides, museum brochures, etc., as they have SR-71 Blackbird written all over them. However, I think the actual exhibit sign at the USSRC says A-12 Blackbird... so... what is it really??

I really appreciate the input of the counsellors in this thread to set things straight. I think this is a valuable topic that can set rumours to rest and let the true facts shine through. (I would rather be corrected when I say something wrong than continue to believe in and spread misinformation.)

It would have had to be really late '00 (past september 27th) or early '01 cause the nose cones were still real my first trip. That being said apparently some of the misinformation is spread by counselors because the cockpit fire one was told to me by a counselor when i went to ac.

I'd love for somebody to tell me that the story about a guy getting a barrel of lead ball paint (the stuff used on the SR-71/A-12, or at least thats what i was told it was called) and painting his pickup with it to evade radar detectors was an elaborate story cause i really dont believe it.

Edit: sorry accidental double post.

Well, this is an obvious one, but I put it in my scrapbook next to a postcard of the training floor: The lights above the training floor lighten and darken every 45 minutes to simulate how often you would cross from day into night onboard the Shuttle.

And the official explanation of why some of the stars on the wall twinkle even though you're supposed to be in space is, "because it looks cool."

lol, nice vincent.

SpaceCanada wrote: As for the SR-71/A-12 bit, you may want to tell the USSRC to correct its museum guides, museum brochures, etc., as they have SR-71 Blackbird written all over them. However, I think the actual exhibit sign at the USSRC says A-12 Blackbird... so... what is it really??

It is an A-12. The A-12 "Oxcart" is a CIA project and the parent of the SR-71 "Blackbird". The A-12 was deleloved out of a need by the CIA for high altitude, high speed recon in much the same way as the U-2/TR-1. Both are children of Lockheed's infamous "Skunk Works" and interestingly enough were developed around the same time.

Oddly enough, none of the aircraft to ever come out of "Skunk Works" has ever had an offical aircraft designation/knickname. The SR-71 is called the "Habu" or simply "The Sled" buy those that have flown her. And one final tidbit about the "Habu," the SR-71 was originally designated the RS-71, but during the unveiling of it to the public, President LBJ had a brain fart and mistaking called it the SR-71. After that it stuck because who after all is going to correct the commander-in-chief?

Space Nerd wrote:I'd love for somebody to tell me that the story about a guy getting a barrel of lead ball paint (the stuff used on the SR-71/A-12, or at least thats what i was told it was called) and painting his pickup with it to evade radar detectors was an elaborate story cause i really dont believe it.

Utter garbage. This story has been around in one form or another since Police departments started using radar to bust speeders (during the 70s I believe). It was no doubt created by someone in the know, be they an Air Force ground crew member, or an engineer. To this day the paint used on the SR-71 and TR-1 is classified, so the likelyhood of someone getting their hands on it and painting their truck with it is slim to none.

Space Nerd wrote:I'd love for somebody to tell me that the story about a guy getting a barrel of lead ball paint (the stuff used on the SR-71/A-12, or at least thats what i was told it was called) and painting his pickup with it to evade radar detectors was an elaborate story cause i really dont believe it.

Iron Ball Paint

From what I was told someone just made that one up but the origional testbed for that paint was an old 1940's Ford Pickup that one of the engineers owned, at least thats what my uncle whos a lockheed engineer told me

Iron... Thats it.

So the myth may actually lie in a very small amount of truth. Interesting.

It's odd that all of this SR-71/A-12 stuff comes up right now as i JUST watched a program all about skunk works secret planes yesterday. Very interesting...

Coincidence? I think not. Haha.

I just watched the same programme on Discovery Wings Channel I believe... all about the A-12 and SR-71!

So, does anyone have the guts to face USSRC public affairs and politely ask them to correct all their brochures from SR-71 to A-12?

Any-who... moving on...

Walking into Habibtat 1 you may see something called the 'Interplanetary Bank' or something like that where they store flight suits and t-shirts. Way back when they used to issue 'Shuttle Bucks' to trainees to replace spending money. Their US Dollars were converted into equivalent Shuttle bucks which were similar to traveller's cheques. To use such money the trainee would have to use their signature as proof of ownership. This system was cancelled somewhere between 1998 and 2004.

I lost mine once....it was nice to have them replaced....I was like 9 at the time tho.

Although shuttle bucks were a fun idea, kids would always forget to exchange their money back for real money at the end of the week, so space camp would have to send the real money to the campers, and got killed by all of the postage. I belive there were still shuttle bucks back in 98 when I went to christmas camp, but I don't really remember. I do however remember having to stand in line at the bank for shuttle bucks back in 96. Another reason for cutting shuttle bucks might be because it took forever to get all of camp through the bank, and we all know that there isn't enough time in the schedule as it is.

it ended between 2002 and 2003.

Who wrote:The Saturn V (lying down) was never on tour, but solely created to test in the stands on Redstone. The only trip it ever made was from the Arsenal to where is sits now.

im pretty sure thats not what nasa says. they say that the three saturn vs that were used by nasa to go into space lay in florida, alabama and texas.

Yeah megs timeframe seems right on the shuttle bucks because it wasnt all that long ago that i was going to get them and decided it wasnt worth the pain... It was a cool system just not great for the older kids.

they had shuttle bucks the first year i was there but had stopped using them by my second trip so yea tht timeline is just about perfect

same here.