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Author
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Topic: Launching a Mercury capsule to the moon
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Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1332
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 11-27-2019 03:24 PM
   
I have been exercising in a little armchair aerodynamics lately. Could an Atlas-Agena booster have propelled a Mercury spacecraft around the moon on a "free return" trajectory? |
Michael Davis
Member Posts: 530
From: Houston, Texas
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 11-27-2019 04:40 PM
Well, not with the Atlas-Agena. It could get 400 kg to trans lunar injection and the Mercury capsule weighed about 1400 kg. Something bigger would be needed to get to the moon.Plus MA 9 stretched the consumables at 36 hours, not enough for a lunar trip. Also guessing the Mercury heat shield would not have stood up to a 25,000 mph reentry on a lunar flight. |
Mike Dixon
Member Posts: 1428
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003
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posted 11-27-2019 05:09 PM
Fascinating, but not all that surprising. At least to me.Could a Titan 2 have done it with a manned or unmanned Gemini? Pardon my ignorance. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 891
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 11-27-2019 07:10 PM
Slightly off topic but I vaguely recall a book by Hank Searls (?) titled "The Pilgrim Project" where they used a Saturn IB to launch a manned Mercury capsule to land on the moon. Of course the Mercury capsule had some sort of descent stage to effect the landing. |
Andy Anderson
Member Posts: 87
From: Perth, Australia
Registered: Dec 2009
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posted 11-29-2019 02:12 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Mike Dixon:
Could a Titan 2 have done it with a manned or unmanned Gemini?
I think the answer is no Mike.Doing a little digging around, in a 1964 document by John Hammersmith, it seems the best that could be done to get a Gemini on a circumlunar mission using Titans only, was to use two Titan III's — one for launch and one as a tanker in EOR. Other vehicles to be used in various numbers and configurations that were mentioned, involved the Titan II GLV, Agena, Centaur, Saturn I and by itself — a three stage Saturn IB. Then going way of topic, there was a McDonnell 1962 report that in part, considered various configurations of the Gemini vehicle launched with the Saturn C5 (as it was known then) to get about 90,000 lbs to a direct moon landing and back.  |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1488
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 11-29-2019 07:26 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Mike Dixon:
Could a Titan 2 have done it with a manned or unmanned Gemini?
No, Titan II could just barely get Gemini into LEO. quote:
Originally posted by Andy Anderson:
...was to use two Titan III's - one for launch and one as a tanker in EOR.
Didn't need two Titan IIIs. The Gemini still could have been launched by a Titan II. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 891
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 11-29-2019 11:52 AM
As info, there is a copy of a McDonnell study, for a Gemini circumlunar mission, included at the end of Apogee Books Gemini 12 Mission Report. It involved launching a Gemini on a Titan II and launching a fully fueled Centaur upper stage, with docking ring and electronic connections, with a Titan III. The Gemini would dock with the Centaur and use it to do a figure eight around the moon. There are a number of abort scenarios included in the study. Well worth reading. |
ManInSpace
Member Posts: 134
From: Brooklin, ON Canada
Registered: Feb 2018
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posted 11-29-2019 03:49 PM
Pete Conrad lobbied hard for the Gemini lunar mission, however Jim Webb wanted nothing to do with it. He worried that any diversion of funds and manpower for such a flight, would only detract from achieving JFK's target of achieving the landing before the end of the decade. |
AstroCasey
Member Posts: 49
From:
Registered: Feb 2019
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posted 11-29-2019 06:26 PM
I have a copy of "The Pilgrim Project" by Hank Searls. In the novel, a Saturn IB with a Centaur upper stage is used to send a Mercury spacecraft to the Moon. A Polaris missile stage is used to slow the capsule down as it descends to the surface. In the 1968 film version, titled "Countdown," a Gemini spacecraft is sent to the Moon instead of the Mercury capsule.Outside the book, I am unaware of any proposals to send the Mercury spacecraft to the Moon. Gemini was a different story. Many studies for lunar versions of Gemini can be found in the subtopics section of Gemini's Encyclopedia Astronautica page. |
ManInSpace
Member Posts: 134
From: Brooklin, ON Canada
Registered: Feb 2018
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posted 11-29-2019 09:59 PM
This article from The High Frontier provides a good insight into proposals for a lunar Gemini flight. |
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