Space designs that never where

Manned Venus flyby

The Manned Venus flyby Wikipedia page: Manned Venus flyby

Apollo Venus-FlyBy was a NASA proposal to send a crew to Venus using already flight proven Apollo Hardware as part of the Apollo Applications Program.

Apollo LM Lab

The Shuttle Z proposal Astronautix page: Apollo LM Lab

American manned space station. Study 1965. Use of the Apollo LM as an earth-orbiting laboratory was proposed for Apollo Applications Program missions.
AKA: LM Lab. Status: Study 1965.

The LM would have its engines and propellants removed, providing space for up to 10 metric tons of scientific equipment. A specific version of the LM lab was the Apollo Telescope Mount.

As of 1966 it appeared that the original buy of 12 Saturn IB's and 15 Saturn V's would be used up by the end of 1968 and March 1970, respectively. Any excess to this original buy after the moon landing goal was achieved could be used for Apollo Applications 14-day earth orbit flights beginning in March 1968. The number of flights would depend on the number of surplus spacecraft. Experiments for these missions began definition at the beginning of 1965 and development was already underway by late 1965.

Extended life earth orbit missions would be lofted at the rate of three to four per year starting in 1970 and require several new elements:

- Production of additional Saturn IB vehicles, with launches to start in 1970.

- Extended CSM. Definition began in mid-1965, and with development starting in April 1966 and fabrication in spring 1967. First article would be delivered for payload integration in April 1969 with first flight in January 1970..

LEM Lab. Definition began in mid-1965, and with development starting in April 1966 and fabrication in February 1967, first flight would be in January 1970.

But as the Viet Nam War and public indifference cut into NASA budgets, these plans were continuously cut-back. This can be seen in the number of Saturn V launches allocated by NASA for Apollo Applications Program lunar activities:

- December 1966: 13 Saturn V flights.

- May 1967: 12 Saturn V flights.

- October 1967: 6 Saturn V flights.

- June 1968: All post-Apollo lunar launches deleted.

Remaining boosters and spacecraft were dedicated to the Skylab space station and Apollo Soyuz Test Projects. The LM Lab evolved into the Apollo Telescope Mount, launched with and attached to the Skylab station.

Shuttle-C proposal

The Shuttle Z proposal Astronautix page: Shuttle-C proposal

The Shuttle-C was a study by NASA to turn the Space Shuttle launch stack into a dedicated uncrewed cargo launcher. The Space Shuttle external tank and Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) would be combined with a cargo module that take the place of the Shuttle orbiter and include the main engines. Various Shuttle-C concepts were investigated between 1984 and 1995.

The Shuttle-C concept would theoretically cut development costs for a heavy launch vehicle by re-using technology developed for the shuttle program. End-of-life and space Shuttle hardware would also have been used. One proposal even involved converting Columbia or Enterprise into a single-use cargo launcher. Before the loss of Space Shuttle Challenger, NASA had expected about 24 shuttle flights a year. In the aftermath of the Challenger incident, it became clear that this launch rate was not feasible for a variety of reasons. With the Shuttle-C, it was thought that the lower maintenance and safety requirements for the uncrewed vehicle would allow a higher flight rate.

The Shuttle-C would have been the main crew launch vehicle for the Piloted ILREC Lander in the International Lunar Resources Exploration Program.

In the early 1990s, NASA engineers planning a crewed mission to Mars included a Shuttle-C design to launch six non-reusable, 80-ton segments to create two Mars ships in Earth orbit. After President George W. Bush called for the end of the Space Shuttle by 2010, these proposed configurations were put aside.



An artists rendering of the Shuttle-C being launched:

Where is it German cousin.

My version of Saturn Shuttle

Alexeyev Sukhoi Albatros 3 Stage Rocket System 1974