Apollo Extension System Flight Mission Assignment Plan (1965) (2)
Stylized depiction of the LEM as envisioned in 1964. This image can stand in for the 1964 LEM-Taxi; outwardly, the Apollo LEM and the LEM-Taxi designs were very similar. Image credit: NASAIn April 1970, SA-515 would reach lunar orbit. The mission would use the last of the 15 Saturn V rockets ordered for Project Apollo. Its payload would comprise an XCSM, LEM-Taxi, and a crew of three.
Two men would descend to a landing near the LEM-Shelter in the LEM-Taxi, then would put the LEM-Taxi in hibernation and transfer to the LEM-Shelter. The LEM-Shelter would carry a small rover, enabling longer geologic traverses than could be achieved during Apollo missions (at the time Bellcomm performed its study, no Apollo mission was expected to carry a rover).
The LEM Shelter would include analysis equipment to enable the astronauts to decide which geologic samples should be returned to Earth (Bellcomm assumed that the astronauts would collect more samples than the LEM-Taxi could carry to lunar orbit, so some form of "discrimination" would be required). After 14 days on the Moon, they would abandon the LEM-Shelter, revive the LEM-Taxi, and return to the XCSM in lunar orbit in the LEM-Taxi ascent stage. Mission duration would total about 20 days.
Bellcomm noted that astronauts living in the LEM-Shelter for 14 days stood a 28% chance of exceeding their allowed mission radiation dose. Passing the limit would force them to terminate their surface mission early. Beefing up radiation protection would dramatically increase LEM-Shelter weight. They determined that, combined with other modifications required for months-long hibernation and a 14-day surface stay - for example, replacement of Apollo LEM batteries with fuel cells and insulated tanks containing cryogenic liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen fuel cell reactants - the LEM-Shelter might put on so much weight that its landing legs would collapse (unless, of course, they were also modified).
SA-221 (May 1970) was a three-man, 30-to-45-day XCSM/LEM-Lab mission in near-equatorial low-Earth orbit dedicated to meteorology, agricultural remote sensing, and oceanography, placing it in the Earth-Oriented mission class. The Bellcomm engineers stressed that astronauts on board would serve as "trained observers" and "data filters," functions that automated satellites were unable to perform. The following month, SA-516 (XCSM/LEM Lab, 30-45 days, geosynchronous orbit) would test an astronomy payload.
SA-517 (August 1970), the second Lunar Orbital Survey mission, would see an XCSM/LEM-Lab/descent stage stack enter an orbit inclined steeply relative to the lunar equator, enabling it to pass over a larger portion of the lunar surface than its predecessor SA-511. SA-518 in October 1970, an XCSM/LEM-Lab, would survey the Earth from polar orbit using instruments tested during SA-215. SA-519 (December 1970) would round out the year by delivering a LEM-Shelter to a new complex landing site on the Moon.
The first mission of the AES program's last year would be the February 1971 SA-520 LEM-Taxi mission to the LEM-Shelter delivered during SA-519. Next up would be Earth-Oriented SA-521 (April 1971), which would see three astronauts in an XCSM/LEM-Lab study meteorology and oceanography from geosynchronous orbit for up to 45 days. Bellcomm noted that AES meteorological studies might lead to an "economical" weather satellite system or even "eventual control of the weather."
In June 1971, NASA would launch to lunar polar orbit SA-522 (XCSM/LEM-Lab/descent stage), the third and final AES Lunar Orbital Survey Mission. In polar orbit, the spacecraft would pass over the lunar polars on every orbit and fly over the entire lunar surface in daylight over a period of about a month.
SA-523 (XCSM/LEM-Lab) would be a long-duration Earth-orbital astronomy mission with a substantial biomedical/behavioral component (August 1971). SA-229 (XCSM/LEM-Lab) would rendezvous with and resupply SA-523 in September 1971.
SA-524 (October 1971) would deliver to the Moon the third and last LEM-Shelter of Bellcomm's AES FMAP. The same month, SA-230 (XCSM/LEM-Lab) would rendezvous with and resupply the ongoing SA-523 mission in Earth orbit. The final scheduled AES FMAP mission, SA-525 in December 1971, would see astronauts in a LEM-Taxi descend from an XCSM in lunar orbit to land near the SA-524 LEM-Shelter for 14 days of exploration.
The Bellcomm engineers argued that AES could accomplish many more types of missions if NASA's ground rules were relaxed. They suggested, for example, that another LEM derivative, the LEM-Truck, be developed to deliver large lunar surface payloads, such as more capable rovers, to the surface of the Moon in the period after 1971. The LEM-Truck would enable planners to abandon entirely the restrictive confines of the LEM ascent stage, permitting maximum exploitation of descent stage payload capacity. Grumman had studied the LEM-Truck since 1962.The LEM-Truck was a LEM descent stage that included ascent stage systems required for landing on the Moon. Cargo would replace the LEM ascent stage. The image shows cargo volume available atop the LEM-Truck. Image credit: Grumman Aircraft Engineering Company.In March 1965, against a backdrop of budget hearings in Congress, President Johnson made a surprise visit to NASA Headquarters. He received a briefing on Mariner IV, which had left Earth for Mars on 28 November 1964. Along with Vice President Hubert Humphrey's visit to Cape Kennedy a few days earlier, this was widely seen as a show of support for programs in the Fiscal Year 1966 NASA budget, including AES.
In August 1965, with the Fiscal Year 1966 budget in effect since 1 July, George Mueller established the Saturn/Apollo Applications Office at NASA Headquarters. The following month, AES became the Apollo Applications Program (AAP). The name changes signalled that NASA managers had learned an important lesson during the Fiscal Year 1966 budget cycle; that extending Apollo had less appeal than applying Apollo to new tasks with benefits for people on Earth.
Webb and Mueller remained outwardly enthusiastic about minimally modified Apollo spacecraft and long-duration missions; during August 1965 visits to the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) in Houston, Texas, for example, Webb reiterated that AAP should use "off-the-shelf" spacecraft with minimal modifications. Mueller, for his part, raised the possibility of a 135-day XCSM/LEM-Lab AES Earth-orbital mission in a 27 August 1965 letter to MSC director Robert Gilruth.
Bellcomm, Grumman, and NASA in-house studies had, however, by August 1965 raised questions about the practicality of using modified Apollo spacecraft for long-duration flights. On 20 August 1965, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama, home of the Saturn rocket family, began an in-depth in-house study of an orbital "workshop" based on the 21.7-foot-diameter S-IVB stage. The S-IVB was the second stage of the Saturn IB and the third stage of the Saturn V.
At the end of November, MSFC planners briefed Mueller on their results as part of the lead-up to NASA's Fiscal Year 1967 budget request. On 1 December 1965, Mueller gave MSFC director Wernher von Braun authority to establish the S-IVB Workshop Project Office.Apollo and AES Flights in the January 1965 AES FMAP (includes Voyager)1/66 - SA-201 - Apollo
4/66 - SA-202 - Apollo
7/66 - SA-203 - Apollo
10/66 - SA-204 - Apollo, CSM test
1/67 - SA-205 - Apollo, CSM/LEM test
1/67 - SA-501 - Apollo
4/67 - SA-206 - Apollo
5/67 - SA-502 - Apollo
7/67 - SA-207 - Apollo
10/67 - SA-503 - Apollo
11/67 - SA-208 - Apollo or AES, unassigned
2/68 - SA-504 - Apollo
3/68 - SA-209 - AES, Apollo CSM/Apollo LEM ascent stage
5/68 - SA-505 - Apollo
6/68 - SA-210 - Voyager, Saturn IB/Centaur
8/68 - SA-506 - Apollo, lunar landing 1
9/68 - SA-211 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab
11/68 - SA-507 - Apollo, lunar landing (SA-506 backup), or AES, Apollo CSM/Apollo LEM
12/68 - SA-212 - AES, unassigned
1/69 - SA-213 - Voyager, Saturn IB/Centaur
2/69 - SA-508 - Apollo, lunar landing 2
2/69 - SA-214 - Voyager, Saturn IB/Centaur
4/69 - SA-509 - AES, Apollo CSM/Apollo LEM ascent stage
5/69 - SA-215 - AES, Apollo CSM/Apollo LEM ascent stage
6/69 - SA-510 - Apollo, lunar landing 3
7/69 - SA-216 - AES, unassigned
8/69 - SA-511 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab/descent stage
9/69 - SA-217 - AES, unassigned
10/69 - SA-512 - Apollo, lunar landing 4
12/69 - SA-513 - AES, Apollo CSM/Apollo LEM ascent stage
12/69 - SA-218 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab
1/70 - SA-219 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab
2/70 - SA-514 - AES, Apollo CSM/LEM-Shelter
4/70 - SA-220 - AES, unassigned
4/70 - SA-515 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Taxi
5/70 - SA-221 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab
6/70 - SA-516 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab
7/70 - SA-222 - AES, unassigned
8/70 - SA-517 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab/descent stage
9/70 - SA-223 - AES, unassigned
10/70 - SA-518 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab
11/70 - SA-224 - AES, unassigned
12/70 - SA-519 - AES, Apollo CSM/LEM-Shelter
1/71 - SA-225 - AES, unassigned
2/71 - SA-520 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Taxi
3/71 - SA-226 - AES, unassigned
4/71 - SA-521 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab
5/71 - SA-227 - Voyager, Saturn IB-Centaur
6/71 - SA-228 - Voyager, Saturn IB-Centaur
6/71 - SA-522 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab/descent stage
8/71 - SA-523 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab
9/71 - SA-229 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab
10/71 - SA-524 - AES, Apollo CSM/LEM-Shelter
10/71 - SA-230 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Lab
12/71 - SA-525 - AES, XCSM/LEM-Taxi
SourcesFinal Technical Presentation: Modified Apollo Logistics Spacecraft, Contract NAS 9-1506, North American Aviation, Inc., Space and Information Systems Division, November 1963.
Study of LEM for Lunar Orbital Reconnaissance, ASR 323D-1, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Company, 23 September 1963.
"LBJ Wants Post-Apollo Plans," H. Taylor, Missiles and Rockets, 4 May 1964, p. 12.
"Interim Report for AES Flight Mission Assignment Plan - Part I: Summary," Bellcomm TM-65-1011-7, T. Powers, 29 January 1965.
"Interim Report for AES Flight Mission Assignment Plan - Part III: Extended CSM Spacecraft," Bellcomm TM-65-1011-2, K. Martersteck, 29 January 1965.
"Interim Report for AES Flight Mission Assignment Plan - Part IV: LEM Derivatives," Bellcomm TM-65-1011-3, J. Waldo, 29 January 1965.
"Interim Report for AES Flight Mission Assignment Plan - Part VII: Scheduling Constraints and Alternative Schedules," Bellcomm TM-65-1011-6, P. Gunther, 29 January 1965.
"Top-Level Space Support," W. Coughlin, Missiles and Rockets, 8 March 1965, p. 46.
"NASA to Decide Key AES Issues in June," W. Normyle, Aviation Week & Space Technology, 24 May 1965, pp. 16-17.
LEM Utilization Study for Apollo Extension System Missions, Final Report - Volume I: Summary, Design 378, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Company, 15 October 1965.
Skylab: A Chronology, R. Newkirk and Ivan Ertel with Courtney Brooks, NASA, 1977, pp. pp. 28-29, 35-43, 47-55.
More InformationSpace Station Resupply: The 1963 Plan to Turn the Apollo Spacecraft into a Space Freighter - NAA's plan for a six-man crew rotation/logistics resupply spacecraft for a revolving artificial-gravity space station.
The First Voyager (1967) - The name Voyager was first applied to a planned series of advanced Mars/Venus spacecraft JPL hoped to build and fly in the 1970s.
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