Apollo Discussions > The Reality of Apollo
Back-up plan for Apollo
Nowhere Man:
Just in case the Saturn V wasn't ready in time.
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19770078693_1977078693.pdf
Documents like these are really hard for Apollo-was-a-hoax believers to explain away except with "Obvious fake!" or "LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
Fred
Donnie B.:
Very cool document. It took me a bit of reading to realize what was being proposed -- launching a complete CSM-LM stack unmanned on a non-man-rated Saturn V, and doing an earth-orbit rendezvous using a whole second manned "ferry" CSM launched on a Saturn 1B. That CSM would be abandoned in orbit (or deorbited empty) after the crew transferred to the CSM-LM stack and headed for the Moon. If anything went wrong with the rendezvous they would perform an alternate earth-orbit mission and return to Earth in the ferry CM. Wowsers!
One little detail wasn't clear to me, and maybe hadn't been considered in this preliminary study. A docking drogue would be used to dock the lunar and ferry CMs nose-to-nose for the crew transfer. But which vehicle would carry the drogue? The manned CSM would require an LES (escape rocket) so you couldn't have the drogue attached to that CM's nose. The unmanned stack would be launched without an LES to increase the propellant load in the S-IVB (for longer duration in Earth orbit), so it could carry the drogue -- but that would cancel the advantage of eliminating the LES to some extent at least. Besides, their drawings show the drogue on the ferry CM, not the lunar CM.
Maybe the drogue would have been carried on top of the S-IC, and the ferry CM would pick it up -- something like the way the lunar CMs picked up the LM after TLI. Or were they actually considering launching the crew in a CM with a drogue and no LES? Somehow I don't see that as being too popular with the astronaut corps.
George Tirebiter:
--- Quote from: Donnie B. on April 04, 2012, 09:20:19 PM ---Maybe the drogue would have been carried on top of the S-IC, and the ferry CM would pick it up
--- End quote ---
I would assume this to be the case, since that arrangement was eventually used for the ASTP docking adapter.
Glom:
--- Quote from: Donnie B. on April 04, 2012, 09:20:19 PM ---Maybe the drogue would have been carried on top of the S-IC, and the ferry CM would pick it up -- something like the way the lunar CMs picked up the LM after TLI. Or were they actually considering launching the crew in a CM with a drogue and no LES? Somehow I don't see that as being too popular with the astronaut corps.
--- End quote ---
Not likely since the S-IC would have been dropped long before reaching orbit and the Saturn IB didn't even have a S-IC stage. I presume you meant S-IVB.
Combining the complication of Earth Orbit Rendezvous with the complication of Lunar Orbit Rendezvous is something we're pretty sure would be a mission mode now. Seems like they were thinking of it in the most wasteful way though compared to pure EOR.
And of course CM on CM action would upset certain people. Look at the trouble Gene Cernan got into for saying a naughty word.
Donnie B.:
--- Quote from: Glom on April 05, 2012, 07:28:22 AM ---
--- Quote from: Donnie B. on April 04, 2012, 09:20:19 PM ---Maybe the drogue would have been carried on top of the S-IC, and the ferry CM would pick it up -- something like the way the lunar CMs picked up the LM after TLI. Or were they actually considering launching the crew in a CM with a drogue and no LES? Somehow I don't see that as being too popular with the astronaut corps.
--- End quote ---
Not likely since the S-IC would have been dropped long before reaching orbit and the Saturn IB didn't even have a S-IC stage. I presume you meant S-IVB.
--- End quote ---
Yes, I did. Must have been a glitch in the matrix there... :o
--- Quote ---And of course CM on CM action would upset certain people. Look at the trouble Gene Cernan got into for saying a naughty word.
--- End quote ---
Hard core docking?
One thing this document underlines is the difficulty and criticality of achieving man-rating status. The whole concept relies on the availability of the Saturn V, fully functional but not quite reliable enough for people to ride on.
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