Kevin S. Forsyth

History of the Delta Launch Vehicle

In 1960, a young NASA launched the first of twelve spacecraft on a small, general-purpose rocket called Delta. Cobbled together from the tested pieces of other, less dependable rockets, Delta was intended as a stopgap until more powerful vehicles could be developed.

Fifty years, dozens of upgrades, and more than 300 successes later, the Delta II expendable launch vehicle remains the “magnificent little workhorse” of space. The satellites and space probes it has launched have revolutionized several industries and expanded the boundaries of science, and Delta II has set a high standard for launch vehicle reliability — its record currently stands at 92 consecutive successes.

This site, the basis for a chapter in the NASA History Office book To Reach the High Frontier, provides:

• an overview of Delta development and evolution,
• the most complete and up-to-date flight log available,
• and a current schedule of upcoming launches.

The latest Delta-related news:

Google Maps Hacks

It's a hundred and six miles to...
Chicago Filming Locations of The Blues Brothers

The Buildings of Louis H. Sullivan – a complete listing, or as complete as possible given the data (and buildings) lost to destruction.

Chicago's Tied Houses – saloons built before Prohibition and owned by breweries as marketing tools, back when such things were allowed.

Historic sites of East Lansing and MSU – structures on the National and State Registers, and others of local significance.

The Moon is a Junkyard – a catalogue of lunar detritus. All the stuff we humans have thrown at it, or left behind.

If this fails to load — check out my twitter feed

When Michigan governor Kinsley S. Bingham signed Act 130 into law in 1855, establishing the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, he helped to ignite a spark that continues today as a bright torch of higher education.

The location chosen “for the teaching of scientific agriculture” was an undeveloped area of oak groves and tamarack swamps a few miles east of the state capitol in Lansing. Years of hard work (in both student labor and the political struggles of keeping the school intact) transformed the land into a splendid college campus. Soon, an adjacent college town arose and was chartered as the City of East Lansing.

Today, Michigan State University is the eighth-largest university in the United States by enrollment. East Lansing’s population numbers over 45,000, and it has expanded its role from mere faculty and student housing to become a cultural nexus for the mid-Michigan area.

This site comprises two separate but interconnected histories: a chronology of MSU’s early years, and a compendium of East Lansing’s significant structures, as determined by the city Historical Commission some twenty years ago.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

This book is a modern American classic and a masterpiece of pure genius.

The last time I visited New Orleans I found myself unable to avoid Toole’s impact on the city, and wound up with a strong desire to re-read his work and writing a strange, digressive, stream-of-consciousness book report that has very little to do with the novel itself.

More book reviews to come from the armchair.

Recent updates to kevinforsyth.net:

2-Sep-10 Added a bit more about Dean Chester Clark, prompted by a friendly e-mail from someone who grew up just a few blocks from the Clark home.

29-Apr-10 Thanks to input from East Lansing’s Director of Public Works, corrected a major piece of misinformation about the Orchard Street Pumphouse. Also incorporated some research on the later years of the interurban line that once ran through the city.

22-Apr-10 Made a minor correction and added several new bits to the “more info” links within the Blues Brothers map.

20-Apr-10 This home page thoroughly overhauled. Voíla!