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Showing results for tags 'vintage space program'.
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As some of you no doubt have heard often enough, I'm trying to do a 1950s space program, according to plans compiled by von Braun and as pictured in magazine illustrations of the time. My attempt at devblogging can be found here. Now, what bugs me is the lunar landing. It would be an expedition-style thing with some 40-odd crew spending a fortnight on the moon, doing excursions in hydrazine-powered tracked vehicles. So far, that's fine with me. However, the landers are pictured like this: And I'm pretty certain that I don't want to do it quite like that. For one thing, they're tall and spindly. What's worse, they're not reusable (while most other vessels are, on a "gas and go" basis) and, perhaps the biggest problem, no LOR. Although *a lot* of docking and refueling (and handwaving) goes into assembling these vessels in the first place (160ft tall, 4370 tons, if you zoom in on the crew module you can see a human for scale), the landers as pictured are designed to carry the fuel for the return trip all the way down to the surface. This makes no sense. With docking and refueling being as easy as they make it out to be, a LOR kind of mission should be a no-brainer. Actually, the "right" way to do it would probably look a lot like the 1969 integrated program plan: ...but that concept strikes me as far too advanced, even without a nuclear shuttle. Besides, I don't think I really want to set up a regular moon service. So, I'm looking for ideas (or historic proposals) that would allow me to make several (but not regular) visits to the moon while keeping with the general jive of my 1950s space program. Spaceships being ships and requiring a proper crew of several specialists is an important part of that. As is sending small fleets for mutual support, because the occasional breakdown has to be expected as a matter of course. I can't quite think of something. Can you? Then please tell me.