For this week, we turn the spotlight on a custom-made model of the Lockheed Constellation. Mr. Steven shares how proud he was when he received his custom model. He writes,

The model of the Lockheed Constellation L-1649 looks fantastic! You people at TMC Pacific Modelworks truly do great work. This has been a pleasurable experience. Thanks to everybody!

Mr. Steven, we are very flattered by your testimonial. Here at TMC Pacific Modelworks, we’re more than happy to oblige our customers’ requests. Do you have a made-to-order replica that you’d like to share as well? Please let us know! You might see your custom model in this spot next time.

Learn more about the Custom Models we offer. Order yours today!

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The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is a twin-engine, multi mission and tactical aircraft designed for the offensive, both ground and aerial targets.

The F/A-18A entered service on September 13, 1978 and its maiden flight was on November 18. The first production of F/A-18A flew on April 12, 1980. The F/A-18 first saw combat action in April 1986, the time during operation Prairie Fire, when VFA-131 Hornets from USS Coral Sea flew SEAD missions against Libyan air defenses.

The aircraft has an M611A1 20-mm gun mounted inside the nose of the craft and carries up to 13,700 pounds of external ordinance and has nine weapon stations.

The F/A-18 fulfills these assignments: fighter escort, suppression of enemy air defenses, forward air control, close air support and day and night strike missions. The F/A-18A has a maximum speed of 1,190 mph at 40,000 ft. and has a ferry range of 2,070 mi. The F/A-18 utilizes various systems and technologies to minimize the likelihood of detection. It has an APG-73 with increased speed and memory capacity. It also has a laser target designator/ranger which enables it to deliver precision laser-guided bombs accurately.

In 2001, four F/A-18A aircrafts were deployed to Diego Garcia during coalition operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The F/A-18 has been deployed by the armed services to the United States (Navy an Marines), Canada, Australia, Spain, Kuwait, Finland, Switzerland and Malaysia.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104) is currently one among the three operational spacecraft in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA. It was named after the two-masted boat of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts from 1930 to 1966 and it served as the primary research vessel.

Atlantis’ maiden flight was on October 1985. Atlantis went seven straight flights to the Russian space station Mir. The spacecraft served as the on-orbit launch site for many notable and noteworthy spacecrafts, including planetary probes Magellan and Galileo. In 1991, it deployed the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Atlantis underwent refitting operations and modifications including the installation of a glass cockpit. Atlantis completed an 11-day mission to the International Space Station, involving three space walks in October 2002.

During September 9-24, 2005, Atlantis was scheduled for its 27th launch though the mission was suspended by NASA due to the complications during Discovery’s launch of mission STS-114 and there are subsequent suspensions of all future shuttle launches. Atlantis was scheduled to fly the STS-121 mission, but the mission was flown by Discovery instead.

In the recent years, Atlantis has delivered several vital components, the U.S. laboratory module, Destiny, the Joint Airlock Quest and multiple sections of the Integrated Truss structure that serves as the backbone of the International Space Station.

As of September 2006, Atlantis completed 28 flights, spent 220.40-days in space, completed 3,468 orbits and flown 89,908,732 nautical miles in total.

Atlantis is scheduled to remain operational until 2010, the Shuttle program’s projected end, but is not currently scheduled for any missions further in 2008.

After launching on December 21, 1968, Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first human beings to escape Earth’s gravity and first to see the far side of the Moon. The crew took three days to travel to the Moon, reaching the Moon on Christmas Eve which they orbited ten times, 20 hours in total. The mission was also the first manned launch of the Saturn V Rocket.

One of the crew’s major tasks was reconnaissance of the planned landing sites on the Moon, they also saw the Earth rise and by the end of the mission, the crew would take photographs of the Moon and the Earth.

On Christmas afternoon, the crew had ended their final television broadcast and prepared for the re-entry to Earth. The capsule landed at the USS Yorktown deck on December 27, 1968 before sunrise.

TIME magazine chose the crew of Apollo 8 as their Man of the Year for 1968 recognizing them as the people who most influenced events in the preceding year. Also, they were the first people ever to leave the gravitational influence of the Earth and orbit another celestial body.