This started with me wanting to build a spacecraft that did not have the usual cockpit lid that lifted up. So I built a cockpit lid that slid out. Then I built a spacecraft around it. After one tear down and rebuild, I came up with this. I think it’s a bit boxy, but it has a certain charm. I am rather fond of the engines.
I showed it to Phillip, and he challenged me to build some sort of mechanism to remove that sliding cockpit lid. (“Something like The Scorpion” he suggested.) I quickly came up with the idea of what I wanted to do, but it became a challenge of physics. How could I keep the mechanism from tipping forward from the weight of the cockpit lid? After several attempts, it occurred to me that the solution was to build forward rather than add more weight to the back. It’s not pretty, but it works.
This whole build is rather fragile, however, so I don’t consider it a complete success.
The support vehicle, with a team of five, arrives.
The support vehicle is guided toward the landed spacecraft.
The arms need to be lined up.
The arms are latched to the cockpit lid.
As the support vehicle backs up, the cockpit lid is removed.
The lid is almost off.
The lid is off, and it is now safe for the crew to approach the spacecraft again.
The crew attends to the pilot as the lid is stored away.
