A crossbow in space - a shuttle side story

Tonino

Well-Known Member
Hi friends,

excuse me if I start a separate thread for this little thing that is only a single detail in the Shuttle flight deck I’m building, but this little box is the reason for I choose to represent STS134 mission and not another one. I already talked about this this briefly (in this post) but I’d like to tell you all the story. Perhaps this thread should have been posted in another section but, after all, there is actually a build in it (you’ll see… later) so I eventually decided to put it here, please, admins, tell me if this should be moved elsewhere…

Let’s start with some background story…

Not all of you may know that here in Italy we have many towns and cities who has still distinct medieval features in their urban structure. If you walk in streets of the old towns you can easily forget you live in the 21st century and feel like an ancient knight. San Marino is one of those cities.

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Many events are organized every year to recall those ancient times and crossbows shooting competitions are among them.

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In Middle Ages, crossbowmen was the elite army force. Their crossbows was the most powerful weapon available in that era and the arrows they shot could penetrate an iron armor at more than 400 metres. In 1600’ the “Statuti” – the ancient San Marino laws – established that every year , on September 3rd , the San Marino day, when Republic foundation is celebrated, all the crossbowmen should compete in a great shooting competition where they could prove themselves and show to the people (and the enemies) what they could do with their weapons. This was done for centuries until crossbows became obsolete and the traditional competition lost its original function.

This remained until 1956 when a group of enthusiast rediscovered the art of building crossbows with the same techniques used by their ancestors and the “Federazione Balestrieri Sammarinesi” was born.

Till now every 3rd of September, like in ancient times, crossbowmen from San Marino compete with the shooters from other cities who preserved the ancient craftsmanship inherited from old “maestri d’arma” (the crossbow master builders) to gain the coveted title of “Re della balestra” (crossbow king) for the current year. The crossbowmen come from the 5 cities members of Italian Crossbow Federation: San Marino, Gubbio, Sansepolcro, Massa Marittima and Lucca.

The most exciting phase is the shoot at the “Corniolo” a special kind of target composed of a circular plate and a cone whose base is the actual target to aim to. It’s a very little target to hit at a distance of 35 meters (115 feet).

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The contest winner has the honour to wear, during the year he owns the title, the golden collar who entitles him as “Re della balestra”.

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The one who will win the title for 3 consecutive years will keep the collar definitively. This was never happened (and it’s unlikely to do) but the only one who succeeded to win the title for two years was a San Marino shooter, Bruno Giacomoni, in 1973 and 1974.

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But what this all has to do with me and the Shuttle?

My involvement is simple to explain… I was member of San Marino Crossbow federation as a drum player for several years, (many years ago…sigh!)

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this is the reason for all this crossbow talking till here. But what about the Shuttle?

(more coming...)
 
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Tonino

Well-Known Member
STS 134 had on board an Italian mission specialist, Roberto Vittori. He was born in Viterbo but used to live in Sansepolcro, one of the cities who form the Italian Crossbow Federation. The crossbowmen of Sansepolcro had the idea to send a crossbow in the space with their famous citizen, and after some troubles with NASA officers (room and weight available to every astronaut for his personal belongings is very limited) the permission was granted but the crossbow wouldn’t have been – obviously – a “full size” one.

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The space crossbow was specifically realized for this mission from one of the most experienced “master weapon builder” and was named “Petra de Burgo” after the nickname of the most famous artist from Sansepolcro, Piero della Francesca, who signed his works as “Petro de Burgo”.

The little crossbow (measuring 30 x 20 centimeters – 11,8 x 7,8 inches) was made foldable to be able to be stored in a little wooden box (25 x 19 cm. - 9,8 x 7,5 in.).

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The crossbow was actually used to try some zero-g shoots in the ISS during STS 134.

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This is the reason for I choose to represent this particular mission and obviously now I have to include the Petra de Burgo in my model.
 
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Tonino

Well-Known Member
I contacted crossbow designer and builder, Claudio Boncompagni, now vice-president of Sansepolcro Crossbow Society, through my former comrades crossbowmen and had from him drawings and specifications of the original object.
Based on the documentation I realized a scale replica of the box containing the folded Petra de Burgo exactly as it was taken in space on the Endeavour storage compartment.

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Revell-Fan

Co-Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
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First: These are BEAUTIFUL pictures.

Second: A very interesting report of the Italian traditions. Reading your explanations was like watching a Discovery channel documentary. I gotta save this thread to my archive.

Third: You are a master of the craft. I'm getting to the point that I'm running out of superlatives. :)

If I may ask you one thing: Since you have the detailed info from the original maker I'd love to see a large-scale model of the bow, please, and since it is not that big I'd even say a 1:1 scale model would be fantastic. :)
 

Rhaven Blaack

!!!THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!
Staff member
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I have no problem with this thread being here.
I am an avid traditional archer. So, when I see stuff like this, it always catches my attention.
You did a PHENOMENAL JOB on the crossbow kit. I think that this is very cool that they were able to do this.
You adding this to your model, is a great tribute to this mission.

Here are a couple pics of me when I was shooting. The first one is when I was in Hungary and the second was when I was in Poland.
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Tonino

Well-Known Member
If I may ask you one thing: Since you have the detailed info from the original maker I'd love to see a large-scale model of the bow, please, and since it is not that big I'd even say a 1:1 scale model would be fantastic. :)

Really a nice idea Marcell! :) I have to think a little about this. This can be a nice addition for the final display.

I am an avid traditional archer.

I'm happy to have discovered another thing in common with you Chris!
 

Gandolf50

Researcher of obscure between war vehicles...
Staff member
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Love the story...!!! Love your model!
I also shot with a traditional bow, when I was younger, wanted a crossbow, but where I lived they were illegal. I used a 50lb takedown bow ( which I still have) that breaks down into 3 sections, but is nothing compared to this original crossbow... the craftsmanship on that is beautiful!
 

Rhaven Blaack

!!!THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!
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@Tonino You have done a PHENOMENAL JOB! It looks very realistic. This is museum quality work. I could see this being used as a teaching aid.
 

Revell-Fan

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I agree with Rhaven Blaack. This is one of the finest builds I have ever seen. Thank you very much for allowing us to witness its creation. You are a master of the art. :)
 

Tonino

Well-Known Member
Hi friends,
today I choose an easier task and restored photos on this thread that is little but not less important than the main Shuttle Cockpit Thread.
In effect the two threads are intended to form an unique story so, having restored one of them, the other one could not be left "imageless".

Please enjoy my crossbow story.

Tonino
 
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