Rocketry pioneer Hermann Oberth published this little gem of a book in 1959. Oberth was born in Transylvania in 1894, read a lot of Jules Verne as a child and had a long and mostly distinguished career. Of course there was that embarrassing period during World War 2 when he was making rockets for the Nazis, but such 'issues' didn't seem to be much of a problem for scientists with skills America wanted during the Cold War, and in 1950 Oberth came to the United States to work with fellow ex-Nazi- er, I mean fellow scientist, Wehrner von Braun.
Always a forward-thinker, Oberth wrote several books on the future of rocketry and space travel, of which this is my hands-down favorite. Oberth's Moon Car has everything you need for a comfortable lunar stay, including a patio, complete with a derrick for winching supplies on board, a suspended beer keg, and a newspaper box-
But of course the cheapskate fuddy-duddies at NASA went bare-bones and bought this instead-
And they didn't even spring for the extended warranty, so the damned things still up there.
and so it goes...
7 comments:
A suspended beer keg!! Suspension needed due to lack of gravity, I'm guessing.
Sara- goodness yes! Early astronauts found it very annoying when their beer kegs went floating off into space, as most liquor stores charge extra for lunar deliveries.
Also, if you've ever seen a bunch of Martians blitzed on Schlitz, you'd understand NASA's desire to keep the stuff tied down.
Not a pretty sight.
It's probably easier to get a beer on the moon that it is in parts of Utah. Of course you don't need a moon car to drive around Utah...yet.
(rim shot)
blitzed on Schlitz!!
The Moon Car has a certain 'steam punk' wobbliness about it, but it doesn't look like something to pull the chicks.
Not enough chrome.
Mike- Maybe they should forget about sending Paris Hilton back to jail and just send her to Utah.
Sara- (bow) thank you, I wondered if anyone would like that.
Reverend- it's true, the Moon Car is a bit of a GeekMobile. Moon Car-II had triple chrome stacks and big-ass tires but it got parked in front of a Venusian 7-11 one night and got stripped down to its chassis.
I wouldn't discount the chick appeal. I'll bet those Venusians take one look and say, "my, what a big, long smokestack pole thingie you've got."
If you put a hot tub up on the patio, you'd have to beat the chicks away with a moon rock!
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