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NASA

What do the Boeing, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic space vehicles look like?

What do the Boeing, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic space vehicles look like?

Four space vehicles, each with different shaped rockets and crew capsules, with braille labels.

Title: Space Flight Vehicle Comparison

Image Description: Diagram of four space flight vehicles, representing the crew capsules with an empty outline and the propulsion systems with solid fill. The vehicle on the far left of the page is SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket that is a long cylinder with the Crew Dragon capsule on top. To the right of Falcon 9 is Boeing’s Atlas V Rocket with a long cylinder propulsion base with the Starliner crew capsule on top. The top right of the page has Blue Origin’s New Shepard with a short cylinder propulsion module and a crew capsule on top. The bottom right of the page has Virgin Galactic’s White Knight Two double fuselage propulsion system carrying SpaceShipTwo at the center.

Crew and Propulsion comparison table:

Company Outline: crew area Solid fill:  propulsion
Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo White Knight Two
Blue Origin New Shepard capsule New Shepard propulsion module
Boeing Starliner Atlas V Rocket
SpaceX Crew Dragon Falcon 9 Rocket

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ZIP folder contains files for producing tactile graphics on 8.5 x 11-inch paper, landscape:

  • PRNs for ViewPlus Columbia / Delta, APH PixBlaster, IRIE BrailleTrac / BrailleSheet;
  • PDFs for Swell, Microcapsule or PIAF;
  • Reference PDFs with corresponding large print text (not for tactile production).

Printing Instructions and Supported Embossers

How to unzip/uncompress: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, MacOS.

Source: How SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and others compete in the growing space tourism market, CNBC. It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity that grounded Boeing’s Starliner, Ars Technica. SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX Falcon 9, Blue Origin New Shepard, Virgin Galactic, Boeing Starliner and Atlas V Rocket.

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Touching The News: What does the International Space Station look like?

Touching The News: What does the International Space Station look like?

side-by-side graphic and diagram of International Space Station with braille labelsTitles, from left: International Space Station,  International Space Station Diagram

Description: 3-page graphic containing an illustration of the International Space Station as seen from the Zenith (above), a layout diagram, and a key to abbreviations. The drawing shows the truss system horizontally, with solar arrays extending vertically up and down on the page, radiators up, and a series of connected modules. The diagram shows the same layout, using lines to connect feature labels, as well as the orientation with directions Aft, Port, Forward, Starboard (Zenith and Nadir omitted for clarity). The key contains abbreviations with additional information.

Download Graphic

ZIP folder contains files for producing the 3-page tactile graphics on 8.5 x 11-inch paper, landscape:

  • PRNs for ViewPlus Columbia / Delta, APH PixBlaster, IRIE BrailleTrac / BrailleSheet;
  • PDFs for Swell, Microcapsule or PIAF;
  • Reference PDFs with corresponding large print text (not for tactile production).

Printing Instructions and Supported Embossers

How to unzip/uncompress: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, MacOS.

Source: International Space Station Facts and Figures

Related articles and podcasts: NASA Podcasts, NASA 3D models for 3D printing, Spacewalk to Install First New Solar Array Concluded

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