Welcome to my first series, Ares program which mainly focuses on Post-Apollo missions
Part I: Introduction and Development
After the success of Apollo moon program, by 1973 plans were underway for More Apollo-related missions, with the introduction of Saturn MLV Launch vehicles, which allowed for more payload to LEO
By 1976, work started on a new and improved Apollo CSM specifically designed for interplanetary missions - Using the leftover CSMs for Apollo 18- onwards, and some upgrades like an orbital module for the crew, and replacing the AJ10-137 with 2 TR-201 LM descent engines for SPS
In 1977, the main contractors for Saturn program decided to begin developing a nuclear stage for interplanetary operations; they looked at the existing hardware like S-IVB stages and they looked at a provider for nuclear engines, They found TIMBERWIND, specifically TIMBERWIND 75 variant because it has a better thrust and exhaust velocity than the existing NERVA because of the usage of a particle-bed reactor
By mid-78, NASA searched for a crew module that was suitable for interplanetary missions, they looked at the then-cancelled Venus flyby proposal, so the program was relived in a small form
By early-79 The main transfer stage was already built and in mid-79 the habitation module was already built- They were scheduled for shipping to Cape Canaveral in December of 1979
The mission plan was to send a transfer stage into LEO, while it waits there for the habitation module to launch later and finally the 5-crew Apollo CSM to rendezvous with it
Mars Transfer window starts at May of 1980 and ends in August
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Probably multiple parts from other mods
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