Soviet Luna Missions Options

[PhilHorzempa]

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I thought that it was time to start up a discussion of what we know, or
would like to know, about the Soviet Luna Missions.

To start off, I have heard many a reference to the landing system utilized
by the early landers, such as Luna 9. However, I have yet to find a report,
or even a diagram, that shows the sequence of events, or such details as
the air bags. If such references do not exist, I hope that some of the UMSF
community have Russian contacts that could lead us to the source material
before it ends up in the dust bin of history.

In addition, I heard of an effort several years ago to obtain ALL of the imagery
from Lunakhods 1 and 2. Does anyone know if that effort was able to
secure that data?

Also, as far as Lunas 15, 18 and 23, the sample-return missions that didn't
quite make it home, are there any official reports "out there" that detail what
actually occurred to those missions? Or will we have to wait for the
high-resolution images from the LRO to determine their fates?


Another Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Thanks. Book update: It's finished. The last entries were the SMART-1 impact and a comment on LCROSS targets. I'm getting a foreword written by - a well-known person - as the last thing to plug in. I am trying to nail down the last permissions to publish material - from Russia (Don will understand that). Some of my colleagues here on UMSF get a big thank-you in the acknowledgements. Then it's file formatting time, and off to the Publisher in November.

All this would be fine if I hadn't been asked to write something for the History of Cartography project as well! - in the same time frame. And you can't turn down a request like that.

Phil

[Guest_DonPMitchell_*]

I am trying to nail down the last permissions to publish material - from Russia (Don will understand that). Some of my colleagues here on UMSF get a big thank-you in the acknowledgements.
Phil

Yeah, scary stuff. There is a hidden wealth of photographic history in Russia, and trying to find it and get permission ot use it is unbelievably hard.

What software are you using for editing the book? I'm doing final layout myself, so I checked out demo versions of the major contenders. In particular, I was concerned about the visual quality of text justification and hyphenation.

1. Quark Express - Very nice and easy to use. Just expensive and not what I'm used to.
2. Adobe InDesign - Incomprehensibe interface. I couldn't even figure out how to start a new document.
3. Word 2003 - Familiar and rock-solid stable(unlike older versions of Word!).
4. Open Office - Did exactly the same typography as Word. Holy reverse engineering, Batman!

I ended up using Word 2003. Discovering the Wordperfect text-justification compatability mode was key. Word's native typography settings are a little ragged when columns get narrower, but in Wordperfect mode it seems just as good as QE or ID.

Of course I violate all the rules about how you are suppose to write a book. I've just typed the book in as final camera-ready layout, adding photos and everything as I go. Why? Because its more fun that way.