Space, what if

What If Space, what if

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What if?....

From the begining of the space program critical decisions have been made that altered the course of humanity's future in Space. From a speculative point of view I have explored a few of these decisions and considered what the consequences would have been if an alternate choice had been made.

Gemini to the Moon

When problems occurred in the Apollo program there was a proposal to use the Gemini spacecraft to beat the Soviets to the Moon. The Gemini spacecraft had the necessary endurance ( Gemini 7 went 14 days in space), and it's navigation system could have been upgraded. The big drawback to Gemini was the lack of a docking port. This required that astronauts perform a space walk to transfer from one vehicle to another. Another problem was the limited payload capability of the Titan II launch vehicle which made Gemini a small cramped spacecraft, with no docking port.

With a Titan III launch vehicle and a high energy upper stage like the Centaur, the Gemini could have been used to circumnavigate the moon ahead of the Soviets. For a lunar landing, a combination of Earth Orbit Rendezvous and Lunar Orbit Rendezvous would have been required. Two Titan IIIs would launch a Gemini with a big Centaur upper stage, a one man Lunar lander, and a lunar orbit stage. After rendezvous in Low Earth Orbit the assemblage would have used the Centaur to head for the Moon.

Centaur]Gemini=Lander[Lunar stage

Jettisoning the Centaur, the Lunar Orbit Stage would have braked the Gemini and lander into lunar orbit. The lucky Astronaut would then transfer to the lander and descend to the Moon. Now comes the tricky part, When the lander departs for the Moon, The Gemini capsule would have had to re-dock with the Lunar orbit stage. Upon return from the Moon the Astronaut would have transferred back to the Gemini and the Lunar Orbit Stage would have boosted the Gemini back to Earth. Of course a heavier heat shield would have been needed for the Gemini lunar re-entry.

The Manned Orbiting Laboratory was an Air Force proposal to use the Gemini for a small space station program. The hardware was actually flown on a Titan III in an unmanned test, but the program was canceled because it was seen by NASA as competition for the NASA Apollo Skylab program. With a Gemini Lunar program and the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program the US space program could have achieved it's goals with a much cheaper and more sustainable program. The impressive Apollo program with it's Saturn V launch vehicle was not really needed.

Plans were even proposed for a four engine Titan first stage with wings and six jet engines to give the Titan a reusable booster. It should be noted that often rocket engines are labeled as expendable when in fact they may have a very long useful life. The RL-10 engine is a good example. In tests it was run the equlivent of 16 full flights with no noticable wear or degradation yet it was never considered as a reusable engine.

Click here to see how this would have changed today's space program.

Apollo Applications Program, if we had continued with Apollo

President Richard M. Nixon canceled the Apollo program. Two brand new Saturn V launch vehicles were impaled on spikes in front of Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center. A further twelve Saturn I launch vehicles were scrapped to parts. Nixon viewed the space program as a Kennedy-Johnson program and had no qualms about throwing it on the scrap heap in the most malicious way. It was a trauma that will forever affect the psyche of NASA. With the Apollo program gone, NASA scrambled to propose a national reusable launch vehicle system to give the organization a sinecure as America's State Airline for Space.

Strangely no one sought to simply reduce the Apollo program to a manageable size. If a single F1 engine and simple tankage were used to replace the Saturn I booster, NASA would have had a two stage, two engine, highly reliable earth orbit launch system, with lots of excess capacity. The Apollo Service Module could have been reduced in size, and a refurb program started for the Apollo capsules. All of this would have reduced the cost of getting astronauts into orbit. More importantly It would have kept the F1, J2, and the Saturn V launch vehicle in production. The US could have sustained a small Lunar program with one flight a year, and continued the Skylab program.

With the Saturn V in production NASA could have proceded with plans for a lunar base. A simple modification of the Lunar Lander was considered, (replacing the asscent stage with a cargo module) which would have been capable of placing 10,000 pounds of cargo on the Moon. Several such units could have been launched on a single Saturn V to land all the equipment needed for a lunar base, with the astronauts to follow later. The maximum capacity of the Saturn V would have been realized with an advanced Lander which would have landed 50,000 pounds on the Moon with each flight. Plans were also in the works to add 260 inch solid boosters to the Saturn to greatly increase the payload capacity.

A reduced Apollo Saturn program need not have precluded NASA from building a Space Shuttle. Indeed it could have been very beneficial. The excess payload capacity of an upgraded Saturn I booster would have allowed NASA to replace the second stage and the Apollo capsule with a fully reusable flyback orbital vehicle. It would have been smaller than today's Space Shuttle, but would not have needed an expendable external tank. A further upgrade of the Saturn 1 booster to include flyback recovery would have given NASA a fully reusable launch system. By upgrading one stage of the Saturn I at a time the manned space program would not have been halted for several years during construction, the cost would have been much lower, and the risk of the program being dependent on a single launch vehicle would have been eliminated. With a proven fully reusable launch system NASA could have begun an upgrade program on the Saturn V class vehicle.