While it wouldn’t be the most aerodynamic object to start with, this 15ft tall (or long) titanium tank would certainly be one of the coolest and most expensive pieces to start an LSR project with. This is no ordinary tank. It was designed and intended to be used on a cancelled NASA Apollo Space Mission (missions 18-20 were whacked from the program). The whole damned thing weighs 70lbs!
Like the typical belly tanker, this piece was intended to be the fuel tank of a flying vehicle. Not just any flying vehicle, mind you, but the Apollo Command Service Module, one of the pieces of the puzzle that actually landed the astronauts on the moon. We’re guessing that it would have been filled with hydrazine for use in the rockets that kept it in orbit and facing the correct way.
As we said earlier, the tank is 15ft tall and 3.8ft in diameter. That’s plenty of room for a dude, a couple of motors, and any other mechanicals that need to be present and accounted for!
Maybe the neatest part of the story is that when NASA cancelled the end of the Apollo program, they sold lots of parts and pieces off as scrap, including big titanium stuff like this tank. A Naval captain who obviously had some smarts bought tons of the stuff for 10 cents a pound!
He’s asking $104,000 for the tank, but seems to be willing to take reasonable offers. Anybody got five bucks?
He bought it for 10 cents a pound ($7) and now wants over $100000! Yea – right
Typical officer, thinks the ‘little peopl’ make the same amount of money that he does.