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Reigners Don't Lose

Buzz Aldrin

(born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr., January 20, 1930) is an American engineer and former astronaut. As the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11, he was one of the first two humans to land on the Moon, and the second person to walk on it. He set foot on the Moon at 03:15:16 on July 21, 1969 (UTC), following mission commander Neil Armstrong. He is a former U.S. Air Force officer with the Command Pilot rating. He also went into orbit on the Gemini 12 mission, finally achieving the goals for EVA (space-walk work) that paved the way to the Moon and success for the Gemini program; he spent over five hours on EVA on that mission.

Aldrin was selected as a member of the third group of NASA astronauts in October 1963. Because test pilot experience was no longer a requirement, this was the first selection for which he was eligible. After the deaths of the original Gemini 9 prime crew, Elliot See and Charles Bassett, Aldrin and Jim Lovell were promoted to backup crew for the mission. The main objective of the revised mission (Gemini 9A) was to rendezvous and dock with a target vehicle, but when this failed, Aldrin improvised an effective exercise for the craft to rendezvous with a co-ordinate in space. He was confirmed as pilot on Gemini 12, the last Gemini mission and the last chance to prove methods for extravehicular activity (EVA). He set a record for EVA, demonstrating that astronauts could work outside spacecraft.

Aldrin was chosen for the crew of Apollo 11 and made the first lunar landing with commander Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969. The next day, Aldrin became the second person to walk on the Moon, keeping his record total EVA time until that was surpassed on Apollo 14. Aldrin's first words on the Moon were "Beautiful view." Then, in response to Armstrong asking, "Isn't it magnificent?", he responded, "Magnificent desolation. He was also the first person to urinate while on the Moon.

There has been speculation about the extent of Aldrin's desire at the time to be the first astronaut to walk on the Moon and its impact on his pre-flight, in-mission and post-flight actions. According to different NASA accounts, the Lunar Module Pilot (i.e. Aldrin on Apollo 11) had originally been proposed as the first to step onto the Moon's surface in early versions of the EVA checklist, and when Aldrin became aware that this might be amended, he lobbied within NASA for the original procedure to be followed. A number of factors seem to have contributed to the final decision, including the physical positioning of the astronauts inside the compact lunar lander, which made it easier for Armstrong to be the first to exit the spacecraft. Also, Armstrong was the Mission Commander, and other senior astronauts who would command later Apollo missions (and who might have ended up making the first landing in the event of failure on Apollo 11) were not sympathetic to Aldrin's views. Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot Michael Collins has commented that he thought Aldrin "resents not being first on the moon more than he appreciates being second.

Aldrin, a Presbyterian, was the first person to hold a religious ceremony on the Moon. After landing on the Moon, he radioed Earth: "I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way." He took communion on the surface of the Moon, but he kept it secret because of a lawsuit brought by atheist activist Madalyn Murray O'Hair over the reading of Genesis on Apollo 8.[24] Aldrin, then a church elder, used a home communion kit given to him, and recited words used by his pastor at Webster Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Dean Woodruff. The communion elements were the first food and liquid consumed on the Moon: in Guideposts, Aldrin stated: "It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the Moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.

Later Aldrin commented on the event: "Perhaps, if I had it to do over again, I would not choose to celebrate communion. Although it was a deeply meaningful experience for me, it was a Christian sacrament, and we had come to the Moon in the name of all mankind – be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, agnostics, or atheists. But at the time I could think of no better way to acknowledge the enormity of the Apollo 11 experience than by giving thanks to God. Mindful of the controversy caused by the Bible readings made by the Apollo 8 crew, the NASA management had warned the Apollo 11 crew against making any explicit religious comments during the flight. However, in the final Apollo 11 TV broadcast during the return journey to Earth, Aldrin quoted from Psalm 8 (verses 3 and 4). I've been reflecting the events of the past several days and a verse from the Psalms comes to mind to me. 'When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him?'".This particular quote seems to have been accepted as a personal observation and did not precipitate any controversy.

Apollo 11

The spaceflight that landed the first two humans on the Moon. Mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American, landed the lunar module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC. Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface six hours later on July 21 at 02:56:15 UTC; Aldrin joined him about 20 minutes later. They spent about two and a quarter hours together outside the spacecraft, and collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth. Michael Collins piloted the command module Columbia alone in lunar orbit while they were on the Moon's surface. Armstrong and Aldrin spent just under a day on the lunar surface before rendezvousing with Columbia in lunar orbit.

Apollo 11 was launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida, on July 16, and was the fifth manned mission of NASA's Apollo program. The Apollo spacecraft had three parts: a command module (CM) with a cabin for the three astronauts, and the only part that landed back on Earth; a service module (SM), which supported the command module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water; and a lunar module (LM) that had two stages – a lower stage for landing on the Moon, and an upper stage to place the astronauts back into lunar orbit. After being sent toward the Moon by the Saturn V's upper stage, the astronauts separated the spacecraft from it and traveled for three days until they entered into lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into the lunar module Eagle and landed in the Sea of Tranquility. They stayed a total of about 21.5 hours on the lunar surface. The astronauts used Eagle's upper stage to lift off from the lunar surface and rejoin Collins in the command module. They jettisoned Eagle before they performed the maneuvers that blasted them out of lunar orbit on a trajectory back to Earth. They returned to Earth and landed in the Pacific Ocean on July 24.

Broadcast on live TV to a worldwide audience, Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface and described the event as "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." Apollo 11 effectively ended the Space Race and fulfilled a national goal proposed in 1961 by U.S. President John F. Kennedy: "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

Neil Armstrong

Neil A. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on August 5, 1930. He began his NASA career in Ohio. After serving as a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952, Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1955. His first assignment was with the NACA Lewis Research Center (now NASA Glenn) in Cleveland. Over the next 17 years, he was an engineer, test pilot, astronaut and administrator for NACA and its successor agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). As a research pilot at NASA's Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., he was a project pilot on many pioneering high speed aircraft, including the well known, 4000-mph X-15. He has flown over 200 different models of aircraft, including jets, rockets, helicopters and gliders. Armstrong transferred to astronaut status in 1962. He was assigned as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission. Gemini 8 was launched on March 16, 1966, and Armstrong performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. As spacecraft commander for Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission, Armstrong gained the distinction of being the first man to land a craft on the moon and first to step on its surface. Armstrong subsequently held the position of Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. In this position, he was responsible for the coordination and management of overall NASA research and technology work related to aeronautics. He was Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati between 1971-1979. During the years 1982-1992, Armstrong was chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation, Inc., Charlottesville, Va. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California. He holds honorary doctorates from a number of universities. Armstrong was a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the Royal Aeronautical Society; Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the International Astronautics Federation. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco. He served as a member of the National Commission on Space (1985-1986), as Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident (1986), and as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Peace Corps (1971-1973). Armstrong was decorated by 17 countries. He was the recipient of many special honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom; the Congressional Gold Medal; the Congressional Space Medal of Honor; the Explorers Club Medal; the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy; the NASA Distinguished Service Medal; the Harmon International Aviation Trophy; the Royal Geographic Society's Gold Medal; the Federation Aeronautique Internationale's Gold Space Medal; the American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award; the Robert J. Collier Trophy; the AIAA Astronautics Award; the Octave Chanute Award; and the John J. Montgomery Award. Armstrong passed away on Aug. 25, 2012 following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. He was 82.

Air Jordan 15 “Obsidian”

The Air Jordan 15 is a contentious silhouette in the sneaker world. Sourcing influence from both the X-15 rocket plane and fashion label Prada, the AJ15 should have been a sure-fire hit when it arrived in 1999. While the borrowed design cues were certainly evident, not everybody was a fan of it’s ‘elf boot’ aesthetic. Still, the shoe is not without its die-hard fans – the very same who were elated to see the model make a return in the OG ‘Stealth‘ colourway earlier this year.

Making the most of its unexpected return to the spotlight, Jordan Brand now bring us another colourway from the Air Jordan 15’s original release. The AJ15 ‘Obsidian’ pairs sleek blue with contrast crisp white, highlighting its angular, segmented design. Love it or hate it, with this make-up having never before been retroed, you can be sure it won’t stick around on shelves long.

The Air Jordan 15 ‘Obsidian’ will be available March 4 through NDC and select Jordan Brand stockists.

What Happened to Apollos 2 and 3? By Amy Shira Teitel October 28, 2013 Things were looking good for NASA at the beginning of 1966. The Gemini program was halfway done and well on track to accomplish all the major program goals by the end of the year, and Apollo was in the pipeline on track to begin manned missions early in 1967. And flights in support of Apollo's lunar goal were well underway by this point. Tests of the Saturn I rocket and flights of boilerplate Apollo Command Modules (CSM) had begun in 1961. And from the start NASA had been using a straightforward and self-evident naming scheme: a letter denoting the rocket and payload and number standing for the rocket type and launch number. There were ten Saturn I launches designated by “S” or “AS” followed by a number from 100 to 110. The 100-series numbers were reserved for the Saturn I rocket, so AS-101 would be the first Saturn I launch. Five Little Joe launched tests of the CSM were noted by "A" followed by a number from 1 to 4; the first was an unnumbered qualification flight. Getting closer to manned missions were the more advanced Saturn IB launches. These missions were designated “AS” for Apollo-Saturn followed by a number beginning with 201, the 200-series numbers were reserved for the Saturn IB rocket. NASA AS-109's 1965 launch. All launched in 1966 while Gemini was coming to a close, AS-201 on February 26 was a suborbital test of the Saturn IB with a Block I Apollo CSM as its payload, AS-203 on July 5 was another suborbital flight to test the CSM’s heat shield, and AS-202 was a test of the Saturn IB rocket. The next mission in the Saturn IB sequence, AS-204, was scheduled as the first manned mission. It was a simple but vital Earth orbital test of the Block I CSM scheduled to launch on February 21, 1967. When NASA received the spacecraft for AS-204, spacecraft 012, at the Kennedy Space Center on August 26, 1966, it was protected by a cover emblazoned with “Apollo One” in capital letters. The mission was colloquially known as Apollo 1; the crew even had agency approval for a mission patch paying homage to the flight’s foremost position among manned missions. Following this first manned flight would be Apollo 2 was, a duplicate of the Apollo 1 mission to give NASA a chance to test or revisit anything the first crew might have missed. Apollo 3 would debut the advanced Block II CSM, the lunar mission-capable version of the spacecraft designed to dock with the Lunar Module and create a tunnel through which astronauts could transfer between vehicles. But it wasn’t long before this plan fell out of favour. With spacecraft 014, the spacecraft for Apollo 2, falling badly behind, many started questioning the value of flying a second Block I mission. There wasn’t too much the agency could learn from a Block I flight that it could then apply to the Moon-bound Block II missions. Besides, NASA had long abandoned the practice of duplicating missions; not since Gus Grissom followed in Al Shepard’s suborbital contrails in 1961 had NASA duplicated a mission. Not long after Gemini 12 splashed down on November 15, 1966, George Mueller of the Office of Manned Spaceflight cancelled Apollo 2. The missions were reorganized so Apollo 2 would debut the Lunar Module while Apollo 3, a high Earth orbit mission with both the CSM and LM, would be the first manned Saturn V launch. This was the standing order for Apollo missions, all with assigned crews in training, in January of 1967. Then NASA was struck with its first major setback. During a pre-launch test, a fire ripped through spacecraft 012 and killed the Apollo 1 crew. The ensuing accident investigation had widespread effects. It revealed shoddy workmanship found flaws in management practices, and underscored discrepancies in the spacecraft’s overall design. The review board recommended dozens of changes be made to make the spacecraft safer going forward, meaning NASA and the CSM contractor North American Aviation were facing a substantial redesign. A congressional inquiry ended with Apollo Spacecraft Program Office manager Joe Shea leaving the agency. NASA managers became increasingly cautious right at the time they needed to take big risks to meet the end of decade lunar landing goal. The fire also forced Apollo management to reconsider whether it was worth rescheduling the Apollo 1 Block I shakedown flight at all. With so many changes pending, it hardly seemed worth flying the version of the spacecraft that wouldn’t be going to the Moon. While the Apollo 1 investigation wore on, the structure of the whole lunar program was called into question. By the end of April, the charred spacecraft 012 had been disassembled to find the root of the accident and the pieces of Apollo were slowly coming back together. The decision was made to cancel all manned Block I flights. And with the Lunar Module still behind schedule, Apollo would start with an Earth orbital Block II CSM only flight followed, possibly, by a lunar orbital CSM flight.

Apollo 1

Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was the first manned mission of the United States Apollo program, which had as its ultimate goal a manned lunar landing.[1] The low Earth orbital test of the Apollo Command/Service Module never made its target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test on January 27 at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White II, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the Command Module (CM). The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was officially retired by NASA in commemoration of them on April 24, 1967.

Immediately after the fire, NASA convened the Apollo 204 Accident Review Board to determine the cause of the fire, and both houses of the United States Congress conducted their own committee inquiries to oversee NASA's investigation. The ignition source of the fire was determined to be electrical, and the fire spread rapidly due to combustible nylon material, and the high pressure, pure oxygen cabin atmosphere. The astronauts' rescue was prevented by the plug door hatch, which could not be opened against the higher internal pressure of the cabin. A failure to identify the test as hazardous (because the rocket was unfueled) led to the rescue being hampered by poor emergency preparedness.

During the Congressional investigation, then-Senator Walter Mondale publicly revealed a NASA internal document citing problems with prime Apollo contractor North American Aviation, which became known as the "Phillips Report". This disclosure embarrassed NASA Administrator James E. Webb, who was unaware of the document's existence, and attracted controversy to the Apollo program. Despite congressional displeasure at NASA's lack of openness, both congressional committees ruled that the issues raised in the report had no bearing on the accident.

Manned Apollo flights were suspended for 20 months while the Command Module's hazards were addressed. However, the development and unmanned testing of the Lunar Module (LM) and Saturn V Moon rocket continued. The Saturn IB launch vehicle for Apollo 1, AS-204, was used for the first LM test flight, Apollo 5. The first successful manned Apollo mission was flown by Apollo 1's backup crew on Apollo 7 in October 1968.

#apollo 1

Alan Shepard

Rear Admiral Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman.

A graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Shepard saw action with the surface navy during World War II. He became a naval aviator in 1946, and a test pilot in 1950. He was selected as one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts in 1959, and in May 1961 he made the first manned Project Mercury flight, MR-3, in a spacecraft he named Freedom 7. His craft entered space, but did not achieve orbit. He became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space, and the first person to manually control the orientation of his spacecraft. In the final stages of Project Mercury, Shepard was scheduled to pilot the Mercury-Atlas 10 (MA-10), which was planned as a three-day mission. He named Mercury Spacecraft 15B Freedom 7 II in honor of his first spacecraft, but the mission was cancelled.

Shepard was designated as the commander of the first manned Project Gemini mission, but was grounded in 1963 due to Ménière's disease, an inner-ear ailment that caused episodes of extreme dizziness and nausea. This was surgically corrected in 1969, and in 1971, Shepard commanded the Apollo 14 mission, piloting the lander Antares to the most accurate landing of the Apollo missions. At age 47, he became the fifth and oldest person to walk on the Moon, and the only one of the Mercury Seven astronauts to do so. During the mission, he hit two golf balls on the lunar surface. He was Chief of the Astronaut Office from November 1963 to July 1969 (the approximate period of his grounding), and from June 1971 until his retirement from the United States Navy and NASA on August 1, 1974. He was promoted to rear admiral on August 25, 1971, the first astronaut to reach that rank.

#alan shepard

Friendship 7

On February 20, 1962, John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit Earth. An Atlas launch vehicle propelled a Mercury spacecraft into Earth orbit and enabled Glenn to circle Earth three times. The flight lasted a total of 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 23 seconds before the Friendship 7 spacecraft splashed down in the ocean. Most major systems worked smoothly, and the flight was a great success as an engineering feat.

This Mercury-Atlas (MA) 6 mission also reestablished NASA and the U.S. as a strong contender in the space race with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had launched the world’s first spacecraft, Sputnik, in October 1957 and had also sent the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into space on April 1961. NASA responded by sending the first American, Alan Shepard, into space in May 1961, but Shepard’s flight was only a suborbital lob, whereas Gagarin had orbited Earth. With Glenn’s orbital mission, NASA was finally able to pull back even with the Soviets.

The flight was the culmination of a tremendous amount of work in a relatively short time. On October 7, 1958, the newly formed NASA had announced Project

Mercury, its first major undertaking. The objectives were threefold: to place a piloted spacecraft into orbital flight around Earth, observe human performance in such conditions, and recover the human and the spacecraft safely. Despite Shepard’s successful first flight, many questions had still remained about how Americans could survive and function in space.

The success of the Friendship 7 mission enabled NASA to accelerate further its efforts with Project Mercury. During less than five years, from Mercury’s start to finish, more than two million people from government and industry pooled their skills and experience to produce and manage the Nation’s first six piloted spaceflights. Mercury flights demonstrated that people could survive in microgravity for over a day without deterioration of normal physiological functions.

Mercury also set the stage for Projects Gemini and Apollo during the 1960s and all later U.S. human spaceflight activities. Thus, the MA-6 mission of Friendship 7 was both a capstone event and the beginning of many more achievements in human spaceflight for NASA.

#john glenn #friendship 7

John Herschel Glenn Jr.

(July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was a United States Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, and United States Senator from Ohio. In 1962 he was the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times. Before joining NASA, Glenn was a distinguished fighter pilot in World War II and Korea with six Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen clusters on his Air Medal.

He was one of the Mercury Seven, military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA as the United States' first astronauts. On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission; the first American to orbit the Earth, he was the fifth person in space. He received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978, was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990, and was the last surviving member of the Mercury Seven.

After Glenn resigned from NASA in 1964 and retired from the Marine Corps the following year, he planned to run for a U.S. Senate seat from Ohio. An injury in early 1964 forced his withdrawal, and he lost a close primary election in 1970. A member of the Democratic Party, Glenn first won election to the Senate in 1974 and served for 24 years until January 3, 1999.

In 1998, still a sitting senator, Glenn was the oldest person to fly in space as a crew member of the Discovery space shuttle and the only person to fly in both the Mercury and Space Shuttle programs. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012

#john glenn #astronaunt

Ralph Louis + NIKE

Summer 2017

A $1,000 OLED iPhone. I'm shocked.

(Not.) The 256GB iPhone 7 Plus already sells retail for $969, as pointed out by Fast Company. So, a high-storage-capacity $1,000 premium iPhone 8 (aka 10th Anniversary iPhone or "iPhone X") is practically a given. The question is whether Apple would price a 128GB version at, or close to, $1,000 (the 128GB 7 Plus is now $869).

It's hardly breaking news that Apple is really good at selling lots and lots of pricey iPhones (aka iPhone 7 Plus), as pointed out by Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies.

"I do think Apple has room to move on the premium side. One way to look at it is inflation of expectations. People are already used to paying a premium for Apple," he said.

"I think it's rather good positioning on Apple's part. Paradoxically, they'll probably sell a boatload," he added.

I'm guessing that may include a $1,000-ish middling-storage capacity OLED iPhone.

And speaking to a source who is familiar with the pricing of components going into high-end smartphones, that person told me that an OLED display would come at a premium (not surprising) compared to the LCDs Apple has used to date. What's not clear is how much of a premium.

Remember Apple is probably going to adopt the most technologically advanced OLEDs -- the flexible variety that can bend, similar to what's used on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. And Samsung will likely use these on all of the Samsung Galaxy S8s (without bringing out a special Edge version, according to reports). The S7 Edge, by the way, isn't cheap, with a retail price of close to $800, even with only 32GB of storage.

Early production?

Not likely. It's more likely that Apple engineers are running a series of builds in the months leading up to a final production run, a source familiar with supply chain activity told me.

Do you really want an expensive iPhone with a curvy OLED? Or would you settle for a cheaper LCD version?

The answer to that question is that millions of iPhone buyers will not settle for an LCD iPhone when they see the flashy OLED model (despite what they might tell you in an online survey).

"The OLED display will definitely be...expensive, and the limited quantities available will definitely require some models to stick with LCDs (as rumored)," Daniel Matte, an analyst at market researcher Canalys told me, referring to the fact that Apple will likely have cheaper LCD versions of the 2017 iPhone.

Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate Technologies, and a longtime display expert seconds that. "Apple will likely set the OLED iPhone 8 price as high as possible for the limited quantity of OLED displays that they will be able to get from Samsung Display."

HOW DOES A FOUR STROKE ENGINE MAKE POWER?

Intake: The piston (green) is pulled down inside the cylinder (gray) by the momentum of the crankshaft (grey wheel at the bottom). Most of the time the car is moving along, so the crankshaft is always turning. The inlet valve (left) opens, letting a mixture of fuel and air (blue cloud) into the cylinder through the purple pipe.

Compression: The inlet valve closes. The piston moves back up the cylinder and compresses (squeezes) the fuel-air mixture, which makes it much more flammable. When the piston reaches the top of the cylinder, the sparking plug (yellow) fires.

Power: The spark ignites the fuel-air mixture causing a mini explosion. The fuel burns immediately, giving off hot gas that pushes the piston back down. The energy released by the fuel is now powering the crankshaft.

Exhaust: The outlet valve (right) opens. As the crankshaft continues to turn, the piston is forced back up the cylinder for a second time. It forces the exhaust gases (produced when the fuel burned) out through the exhaust outlet (blue pipe).

Mercedez-Benz SLK R170

At start of the 1990s, after the introduction of their two-seater grand-tourer R129 SL and the Mazda MX-5, Daimler-Benz set out to create a new compact roadster, slotted below the SL. By late 1991 under Bruno Sacco, the first design sketches were drawn and twelve 1:5 scale models being built in the first half of 1992. By the middle of the year, five of them were proposed again in full-scale. In early 1993, the final design was selected and approved by the board, with the German design patent being filed on September 30, 1993. On April 22, 1996, the new production SLK-Class, based on the R170 platform was introduced at the Turin Motor Show. SLK 230 Kompressor launch model became a competitor to the Porsche Boxster and BMW Z3. It was powered by a 193 hp 2.3 L supercharged straight-4 engine and a choice of automatic transmission or 5-speed manual transmission. The SLK was a modern incarnation of the 1950s Mercedes-Benz 190SL by returning to four cylinders and a 94-inch (2,400 mm) wheelbase. Worldwide sales hit 55,000, over double the entire nine-year production of 190SLs, and between 1996 and 2004, over 311,000 SLKs were sold. The very first U.S.-market R170 Mercedes SLK was completed on November 1, 1996 and went on sale in January 1997 for the 1998 model year. The last was completed on April 7, 2004.

#mercedez benz #slk #r170 #cars #love #louis mixon #louis robert mixon III

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