David Knisely
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Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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A few of you may recall (as young children) a Saturday morning TV series known as FIREBALL XL-5:
FIREBALL XL-5 opening sequence on YouTube
Yea, I know, it was pretty crude and a little cheesy, but I was pretty young at the time (the fall of 1963) and promptly fell in love with the show (mainly because of XL-5 itself, as that launch sequence still sends chills down my spine). Years later, I was getting into the space flight simulator ORBITER, when I noticed an add-on, namely XL-5 itself! After a lot of moving of files and playing, I got it to work, so I fulfilled a childhood dream of actually flying the XL-5. I even stuck-in part of the sound track from the series, so as I take off, I hear good old Fireball lighting its engines and roaring off into space with the opening music playing in the background. Since the add-on didn't have the original "Space City", I had to improvise, so I put it at the visitor's center at KSC and took off. After a few flights, I decided to star exploring the solar system with XL-5 and Orbiter's enhanced graphical representation of the outer planets. Here is the first image of XL-5 just after take-off as I am climbing towards a low Earth orbit prior to heading to the moon (XL-5 is about 66 meters (216 ft) long):
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Here is XL-5 about to land at the Brighton Beach moon base (located at Heraclides Promontorium on the edge of Sinus Iridum):
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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David Knisely
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Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Now, I pushed the envelope and here, XL-5 has taken off from the Mars Base next to Olympus Mons and is heading out into deep space (edited for a better version):
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Next stop, the Jovian system. Exploring Io was a real treat, as the enhanced "Level 8" scenery has the volcanoes glowing deep red on the dark side and easily visible in the reflected light from Jupiter itself. Here XL-5 is ascending from the surface of Io with Jupiter in the background:
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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David Knisely
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Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Here is the approach to Saturn:
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Now, "over" the rings roughly above the Encke division, XL-5 is seen again in a stunning flight:
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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This next one is a stop near Saturn, and once I hit this location, I just couldn't stop looking at it. The music for XL-5 and several other Anderson series was done by Barry Gray:
Barry Gray space soundtracks
One particular piece done for the movie "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun" was simply titled "Sleeping Astronauts", and playing it in the background with this shot of XL-5 under Saturn's rings created a stunning environment which I could have sat there and stared at for hours. Here is XL-5 below the rings near the F-ring's distance from Saturn (try and find the sun if you can):
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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bcuddihee
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 11/04/06
Posts: 1401
Loc: Cincinnati Ohio
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Fireball XL-5 was great...I really enjoyed watching the series Stingray on Sunday afternoons as well. bc
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B Cuddihee
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1968 Jason Empire 60X700mm refractor (my buddy from way back)
Celestron Nexstar8SE aka "The Bumblebee",(there is no way this scope should perform as well as it does...but it does)
Feathertouch Microfocuser
Stellarvue 50mm "Sparrowhawk" finder
Denk bino's with Power x switch
Pair of Smart Astronomy 19 EF's (great ep's for binos)
Pair of Edmund 28 plossls
Pair of Edmund 28 RKE'S
Pair of tv 20mm plossls
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rboe
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 45325
Loc: Phx, AZ
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Kudo's!  I loved that show. The 90 degree turn in the launch rail just blew my mind though. Thanks for the memories
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
15X70 Obies
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rboe
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 45325
Loc: Phx, AZ
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Now I see it was just a ramp.  On our HD TV at the time it sure looked like a 90 degree bend. Still, that is quite a change in direction at launch speeds. 
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
15X70 Obies
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Quote:
Now I see it was just a ramp. On our HD TV at the time it sure looked like a 90 degree bend. Still, that is quite a change in direction at launch speeds.
What was interesting about that launch rail/ramp method is that it actually would work and had some real benefit as far as getting a ship up and flying is concerned. I was in my junior year at UNL in my Physics of the Solar System course (taught by Dr. Don Taylor) and surprisingly, he brought up the launching rail concept and why it was feasible. He was more referring to the way the launching rail worked in the George Pal movie WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, but with XL-5, one would still see some benefit. In astrodynamics, it is better to burn once you are already moving, so sliding the ship down a mountain-based launching ramp or accelerating it with fixed rockets on a sled both act to get it moving without a penalty for fuel expended getting the ship off a pad vertically. I don't know if Gerry Anderson consulted anybody on the true science of the concept when cooking up the launching rail system for Fireball XL-5, but in this case, he got it right. The launching ramp is inclined about 40 degrees to get the ship off the ground. Interestingly enough, there is a version of Fireball XL-5 for Microsoft Flight Simulator which includes Space City and the launching ramp. With the ORBITER version, I don't need it, as I use the hover engines to just barely get off the ground and then fire up the main rear engine to get the thing going, throttling the hover engines back and eventually shutting them down once I have established the proper initial flight trajectory to get the ship out of the atmosphere (about a 50 degree inclination from the horizon). However, it would have been nice to have the rail system available too. Clear skies to you.
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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Gone caving
sage
Reged: 04/02/07
Posts: 316
Loc: Underground really
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David,
I still have my XL5 from my youth .
Enjoy !
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Welcome back my friends to the show that never end.............................
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Quote:
David,
I still have my XL5 from my youth .
Enjoy !
Yup, I had one too, although I didn't use the parachute system. I had a bunch of wood blocks in the basement (as well as several large Tinkertoy sets), so I built a small version of Space City and that long launching ramp for the XL-5 toy. Someone even came up with a model rocket version of XL-5 that flies:
Model rocket launch of Fireball XL-5
Clear skies to you.
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Here, XL-5 is about 195 km above the western portions of the Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars:
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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StarWars
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 13792
Loc: CyberSpace
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Quote:
Kudo's! I loved that show. The 90 degree turn in the launch rail just blew my mind though. Thanks for the memories
 
With the cigarette smoke blasting out of the rocket..
http://www.earthstation1.com/ThemeSongs/fbxl5.wav
enjoy... 
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Sony Digital Media player..
MX 460 earbuds
Celestron 2x Barlow Lens
Orion Collimation Eyepiece
Rigel Quick Finder
Assorted Bino's 
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Quote:
Quote:
Kudo's! I loved that show. The 90 degree turn in the launch rail just blew my mind though. Thanks for the memories
With the cigarette smoke blasting out of the rocket..
http://www.earthstation1.com/ThemeSongs/fbxl5.wav
enjoy...
Actually, it wasn't cigarette smoke coming out. They used small solid-fuel "toy" rocket motors that were custom-fabricated for the show. On YouTube is a 4-part summary of Gerry Anderson's puppet sci-fi series (mostly about the Thunderbirds, but does have pieces devoted to Supercar, Fireball XL-5, and Stingray).
The Making of the 21st Century (Gerry Anderson's series)
Clear skies to you.
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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StarWars
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 13792
Loc: CyberSpace
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As I recall the first episodes of FB-XL5 were in black and white.. 
Or was I watching on a B&W TV... 
I really enjoyed the Thunderbirds Saturday morning.. 
Thunderbird #2 was my favorite...
BTW: David your graphics look great!! 
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Sony Digital Media player..
MX 460 earbuds
Celestron 2x Barlow Lens
Orion Collimation Eyepiece
Rigel Quick Finder
Assorted Bino's
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RobertED
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/11/03
Posts: 1192
Loc: Johnston, RI
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That was one fantastic tour of the solar system with XL-5!!!Thanks for the 'ride' David!!!...and thanks for bringing back all those wonderful old memories!!!
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RobertED
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/11/03
Posts: 1192
Loc: Johnston, RI
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"Gone Caving", very cool that you kept your Fireball XL-5 in such good shape!! I had the same toy, but it went the way of all my old baseball cards!! What small kid wants to save something that cool for future collectibility?? Same as my Mickey Mantle, Nolan Ryan, and Carl Yastrzemski baseball cards.....pffffftttttt!!! 
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Quote:
As I recall the first episodes of FB-XL5 were in black and white..
Or was I watching on a B&W TV...
I really enjoyed the Thunderbirds Saturday morning..
Thunderbird #2 was my favorite...
BTW: David your graphics look great!!
All the episodes were broadcast in black and white. There was some colorization done for the re-release of the show on DVD, but I think it was restricted to the box graphics. Clear skies to you.
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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StarWars
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 13792
Loc: CyberSpace
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I must be thinking of XL5 and the Thunderbirds...
The Thunderbirds were in color..
--------------------
Sony Digital Media player..
MX 460 earbuds
Celestron 2x Barlow Lens
Orion Collimation Eyepiece
Rigel Quick Finder
Assorted Bino's
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Here, Fireball XL-5 has landed on the small Saturnian Moon Mimas to look for a spot for a base there.
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Fireball XL-5 has reached Uranus and is approaching its small battered moon Miranda (right part of the frame).
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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Gone caving
sage
Reged: 04/02/07
Posts: 316
Loc: Underground really
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Ok ,Here another very cool toy from the same era....
Hope you remember this one too.......
"Warning Warning C.N ers "
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Welcome back my friends to the show that never end.............................
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Quote:
Ok ,Here another very cool toy from the same era....
Hope you remember this one too.......
"Warning Warning C.N ers "
Yea, and the one line from the robot basically typified the entire series: "That does not compute.". I watched a number of episodes of Lost In Space, but I got terribly annoyed by the continual "Continued Next Week" teasers which were woven into the closing segments of each episode. The character of Dr. Smith was particularly annoying (Babylon 5's security officer Garibaldi would have shoved him out the nearest airlock after the second week). The Jupiter II crashed on that stupid planet leaving them there for an entire season before lifting off and abruptly crashing again in the 2nd season. I wanted space travel and not some dumb "stuck on a planet" kind of series. Star Trek came as a welcome relief. Clear skies to you.
--------------------
David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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RobertED
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/11/03
Posts: 1192
Loc: Johnston, RI
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Yeah, had that one too! Same excuse for not saving it as the XL-5 and Mickey Mantle baseball cards!! "Who knew???"
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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FIREBALL XL-5 is above Neptune's tiny moon Proteus (200 km diameter, and one of the darkest objects in the solar system).
--------------------
David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Here is an orbital sunrise as XL-5 prepares for its departure from Low-Earth Orbit:
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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Dr Morbius
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/06/07
Posts: 1720
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Great scenes you've created there, David. My favorite was Supercar, with I believe Mike Mercury. 
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Meade ETX-125
NightFire 6" f/8 Refractor with Moonlite focuser
Meade 14" LX200 S/C
D&G 10" f/15 Refractor with Parallax Mount
Little Giant 11x70mm Binos
I'm afraid of dying, but I've learned to live with it. ......Steve Perry
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Dr Morbius
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/06/07
Posts: 1720
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Quote:
Quote:
Ok ,Here another very cool toy from the same era....
Hope you remember this one too.......
"Warning Warning C.N ers "
Yea, and the one line from the robot basically typified the entire series: "That does not compute.". I watched a number of episodes of Lost In Space, but I got terribly annoyed by the continual "Continued Next Week" teasers which were woven into the closing segments of each episode. The character of Dr. Smith was particularly annoying (Babylon 5's security officer Garibaldi would have shoved him out the nearest airlock after the second week). The Jupiter II crashed on that stupid planet leaving them there for an entire season before lifting off and abruptly crashing again in the 2nd season. I wanted space travel and not some dumb "stuck on a planet" kind of series. Star Trek came as a welcome relief. Clear skies to you.
Yea, that got to me too, especially the episode with the talking carrot. Thank goodness for Star Trek. 
--------------------
Meade ETX-125
NightFire 6" f/8 Refractor with Moonlite focuser
Meade 14" LX200 S/C
D&G 10" f/15 Refractor with Parallax Mount
Little Giant 11x70mm Binos
I'm afraid of dying, but I've learned to live with it. ......Steve Perry
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StarWars
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 13792
Loc: CyberSpace
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Ok ,Here another very cool toy from the same era....
Hope you remember this one too.......
"Warning Warning C.N ers "
Yea, and the one line from the robot basically typified the entire series: "That does not compute.". I watched a number of episodes of Lost In Space, but I got terribly annoyed by the continual "Continued Next Week" teasers which were woven into the closing segments of each episode. The character of Dr. Smith was particularly annoying (Babylon 5's security officer Garibaldi would have shoved him out the nearest airlock after the second week). The Jupiter II crashed on that stupid planet leaving them there for an entire season before lifting off and abruptly crashing again in the 2nd season. I wanted space travel and not some dumb "stuck on a planet" kind of series. Star Trek came as a welcome relief. Clear skies to you.
Yea, that got to me too, especially the episode with the talking carrot. Thank goodness for Star Trek.
Frankly speaking XL5 was not my cup of tea.. The 90 degree turns with Steve Saturn and Robbie the Robot smoking cigarettes in the XL5 cockpit...
Lost in space was a classic with Dr. Zachary Smith ..And his complete list of Robot insults...   
http://www.promisedplanet.com/Monikers.htm
--------------------
Sony Digital Media player..
MX 460 earbuds
Celestron 2x Barlow Lens
Orion Collimation Eyepiece
Rigel Quick Finder
Assorted Bino's
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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StarWars posted:
Quote:
Frankly speaking XL5 was not my cup of tea.. The 90 degree turns with Steve Saturn and Robbie the Robot smoking cigarettes in the XL5 cockpit...
Uh, what 90 degree turns? The launch rail is inclined at about 40 degrees to the horizon at the far end. Indeed, when landing, I usually have XL-5 go into a brief hover, and I rotate the vehicle so that its long axis points parallel to the long dimension of the landing pad area (a slow 90 degree turn). As for Steve, he was Steve Zodiac (and Robert only smoked when he was overloaded by Professor Matthew Matic  ). Here is XL-5 landing at KSC on its hover engines:
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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StarWars
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 13792
Loc: CyberSpace
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As for Steve, he was Steve Zodiac..
It's been 46 years since I seen XL5..
--------------------
Sony Digital Media player..
MX 460 earbuds
Celestron 2x Barlow Lens
Orion Collimation Eyepiece
Rigel Quick Finder
Assorted Bino's
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Here is Fireball XL-5 on a "tour" over the Olympus Mons volcano, flying just to the southeast of the mountain's caldera:
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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BobinKy
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/27/07
Posts: 1682
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David...
Thanks for sharing the Fireball XL-5 memories.
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Bob
38°N
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RobertED
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/11/03
Posts: 1192
Loc: Johnston, RI
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So Cool!! Thanks for the ride!! 
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Here, XL-5 is in orbit over Europa with Jupiter's light allowing some detail to be seen on the dark side:
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Here is a comparison between the Space Shuttle Atlantis and Fireball XL-5 with both sitting just outside of the Vehicle Assembly Building:
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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revans
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 1514
Loc: Fitchburg, MA
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Strange... I barely remember this series but do vividly remember Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea which came out in 1964, and naturally the Star Trek series. I can just barely recall a TV series with puppet people in a space craft of some sort, but it never captured my imagination... most likely because of the puppets with strings visible as far as I can recall. I wonder if this is the series you are remembering? I think I was resistant to this show because as a very young child I had watched re-runs of Kukla, Fran and Ollie and thought that I had outgrown them and didn't want any more puppets in my life (although I still watched Captain Kangaroo) But regardless... nice tour of the solar system !
Rick
--------------------
Rick Evans
http://www.freewebs.com/revans_01420/
"The universe is there for us to see, but it cannot be understood without learning its language -- mathematics." Galileo Galilei
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The_Vagabond
member
Reged: 10/27/08
Posts: 22
Loc: Jacksonville, Florida
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Holy smokes... what a trip down memory lane!
I remember seeing this when I was very young, mid-1960's, and really enjoyed it. I was in and out of the hospital quite a bit and it was the one constant that I looked forward to. Don't remember the individual episodes well, however.
Thanks for the memories.
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I have loved the stars too dearly to be fearful of the night...
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 8275
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Quote:
Strange... I barely remember this series but do vividly remember Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea which came out in 1964, and naturally the Star Trek series. I can just barely recall a TV series with puppet people in a space craft of some sort, but it never captured my imagination... most likely because of the puppets with strings visible as far as I can recall. I wonder if this is the series you are remembering? I think I was resistant to this show because as a very young child I had watched re-runs of Kukla, Fran and Ollie and thought that I had outgrown them and didn't want any more puppets in my life (although I still watched Captain Kangaroo) But regardless... nice tour of the solar system !
Rick
I bought the DVD's of VOYAGE, although now, after watching them, I am surprised I liked the series so much, as it really wasn't all that good. There were several Gerry Anderson series that used "Supermarionation" (miniature puppets in extensive sets). There was SUPERCAR (a car that flew and could act as a submarine), STINGRAY (a really cool submarine with a great opening sequence), FIREBALL XL-5, and probably the best of the series, THE THUNDERBIRDS (filmed in color for once). There are a few clips of all of these on YouTube. After that, the Andersons concentrated on live-action series like UFO and SPACE 1999 (I hated that one). Clear skies to you.
--------------------
David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
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