NASA Study Summary: Direct Flight Apollo Study

[luke strawwalker]

Here's another fairly short one... The study from Oct 31, 1962 (right there during the Cuban Missile Crisis!) of the Direct Flight Apollo Study: Two Man Apollo Spacecraft. The study looked at a two-man variant of the Apollo spacecraft designed to land directly on the surface of the moon, and also looked at a modified Gemini to perform the same mission, and the feasibility of such craft as a rescue vehicle and logistics/supply vehicle for extended lunar missions needing heavy cargoes on the lunar surface. This would make a neat "Mars Lander" type spacecraft, but this one could be entered in future/fantasy scale, as it was a real proposal.

Here's the summary...

More to come! Later! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

Ok... the first pic is the proposed Apollo Cryogenic Service Module. I'm not sure this one came from this study, but it's an interesting and related proposal nonetheless, and shares many of the same attributed and outer mold line...

The second pic is one of the proposed direct descent spacecraft, using the S-IVB outer diameter of 260 inches for the cryogenic landing stage/service module...

The third pic is the proposed Command Module for the mission, basically a 2 man version of the three man Apollo, with an upright seat position for the lunar landing and a window to see the landing area.

The fourth pic is the general layout of the 2 man direct descent lunar landing Apollo, at least the front half of it. It can be combined with the next pic of the second half to see the whole spacecraft. Note the VERY early LES tower model-- nearly a direct copy of the Mercury flights that were going on at the time... (Wally Schirra had just flown Sigma 7 IIRC). That REALLY dates the piece!

The fifth pic is the back half of the 2 man direct descent spacecraft, showing the descent stage with the landing legs, and the lunar retrograde module used to enter lunar orbit and begin the descent to the lunar surface... probably the first instance of a 'crasher' stage!

More to come! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

Ok... the first pic is one of the proposed variants atop a Saturn V... notice the difference in appearance with the 260 inch lunar service module on the bottom of the Apollo capsule...

The second pic is another dimensioned drawing of the Saturn V with the direct descent Apollo lunar lander atop it.

The third pic is another variant, this one is different from the earlier one in that on the earlier one, both the lunar braking module and the lunar descent module were powered by RL-10's burning liquid hydrogen. The lunar braking module would burn to slow the spacecraft into lunar orbit, then be re-lit to slow the vehicle down most of the way to the lunar landing, then be jettisoned. The terminal descent lunar landing module would then take over and complete the descent, hover, and landing. On the first proposal, this terminal descent module was powered by an RL-10 liquid hydrogen engine. On THIS proposal, the terminal landing module is powered by hypergolic MMH/N2O4 fuels just like the Grumman LM ended up being powered by... I guess they figured it was a lot safer firing up a hypergolically-fuelled engine on final descent to the lunar surface that only required opening two valves, rather than a liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen engine that had a complicated pre-chilldown sequence and ignition sequence for the turbopumps and ignition of the thrust chamber itself...

The fourth pic is a breakdown of the stack-- the retrograde module powered by an RL-10 burning LO2/LH2, the terminal landing module powered by a hypergolic engine, and the service module that would provide for ascent from the lunar surface and Trans-Earth Injection-- powered by hypergolic propellants.

Interesting concept... would make a neat "Mars Lander" type spacecraft or a Saturn V variant...

Later! OL JR