04-10-2019, 09:30 AM
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Master Modeler
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by tbzep
The silhouette makes me think of a mini-Skylab.  |
I like it for that reason as well. The Saturn IB-Centaur, without the Centaur third stage, could have--with some parts and/or tools stored in the nose section--been a "Wet Workshop" space station vehicle. The S-IVB (as was proposed in the AAP plans) could have had the grid floors of each "story" of the space station pre-installed. Once it was in orbit, and a second Saturn IB--after having orbited an Apollo CSM with some more equipment stashed in the SLA adapter section (as the docking module was during the Apollo-Soyuz mission)--brought a 3-astronaut crew up, they could go about converting the first S-IVB into a space station. The ATM (Apollo Telescope Mount, used for observing the Sun) could have been brought up by the second Saturn IB in its SLA adapter. While the Saturn V-based "Dry Workshop" was logistically simpler, the Saturn IB-based (quite possibly a Saturn IB-Centaur, minus the Centaur) "Wet Workshop" might have been cheaper. |