posted 05-29-2005 03:10 PM               

There then follows a sequence of missions, both manned and unmanned which lead to the landing. Apollo 3 is the 207/208 LM-2 flight with McDivitt. Borman takes the first Saturn V flight in HEO. Apollo 5 and Apollo 6 test the system in lunar orbit. Apollo 7 makes the first landing, followed by a couple of short duration landings with Apollo 8 and Apollo 9. This ends the first phase of Apollo and the first few AAP missions now take place. The first dual launch is of the unmanned wet-Workshop, followed by a 28 day initial mission. The second dual launch is the unmanned Apollo Telescope Mount, which is then docked to the OWS by the second manned crew who stay for 56 days. The last flight in the first batch of AAP missions is the test of an orbital mapping system intended for use in later lunar flights. It was known as AAP-1A prior to its cancellation and would seem to be a logical way to take some pressure of the AAP-1 and AAP-3 crews.

I would assume that following the AAP missions a second batch of longer landings would take place to use up the leftover hardware before a full AAP Workshop and Lunar missions started. Just as a note, I’ve listed the next lunar crew as being commanded by Al Shepard, with Stuart Roosa as CMP and Bill Anders as LMP. This gives Shepard the first available flight, an experienced LMP and keeps Anders in the program since he really wanted to walk on the moon.

There are a lot of changes in this ALT History. However I believe it shows Apollo as many people thought it would turn out from a mid-1966 standpoint.

-----------------------------------

Apollo 1
CSM-012
AS-204

Grissom (3) McDivitt (1)
White (2) Scott (1)
Chaffee (1) Schweickart (0)

Apollo 2
CSM-014
AS-205

Schirra (3) Borman (1)
Eisele (1) Bassett (1)
Cunningham (1) Anders (0)

Apollo 3
CSM-101/LM-2
AS-207/AS-208

McDivitt (2) Conrad (2)
Scott (2) Gordon (1)
Schweickart (1) Williams (0)

Apollo 4
CSM-103/LM-3
AS-503

Borman (2) Grissom (3)
Bassett (2) Young (2)
Anders (1) Collins (1)

Apollo 5
CSM-104/LM-4
AS-504

Armstrong (2) Stafford (2)
Lovell (2) Eisele (1)
Aldrin (1) Cernan (1)

Apollo 6
CSM-106/LM-5
AS-505

Conrad (3) Scott (2)
Gordon (2) Chaffee (1)
Williams (1) Mitchell (0)

Apollo 7
CSM-107/LM-7
AS-506

Grissom (4) Bassett (2)
Young (3) Anders (1)
Collins (2) Haise (0)

Apollo 8
CSM-109/LM-8
AS-507

Stafford (3) Lovell (2)
Eisele (2) Mattingly (0)
Cernan (2) Aldrin (1)

Apollo 9
CSM-110/LM-9
AS-508

Scott (3) Gordon (2)
Chaffee (2) Swigert (0)
Mitchell (1) Williams (0)

AAP-1 (Followed by workshop launch)
CSM-105
AS-209

White (3) Cunningham (1)
Lousma (1) Pogue (0)
Kerwin (1) Gibson (0)

AAP-3 (Followed by ATM launch)

See (2) Cunningham (1)
Weitz (1) Pogue (0)
Garriott (1) Gibson (0)

AAP-5 (14 Days)

Bean (1) Schweickart (1)
Engle (1) McCandless (0)
Michel (1) Lind (0)

--------------------

A couple of points about the AAP crews. I didn't switch Lousma and Weitz in order just to be different. I did it because Lousma was working on power-up procedures in the AAP branch and would seem logical for the first flight. AAP-5 was given to Bean as a rookie due to his work getting the AAP branch ready for so long, but I suppose he could equally have flown in a later Apollo LMP slot.

I am somewhat worried about Armstrong and Conrad. Without landing on the moon, it seems possible they would have stayed in the rotation and gone direct from prime on 5 to backup on 8 and then back to prime. If this seems more likely to you then remove Mattingly and Swigert from the later backup crews. Anyway, sorry for the long post, hope it formats right. Let me know your thoughts guys.

posted 05-30-2005 04:13 AM               

AAP-5 is essentially the mission that is featured on p87 of "Apollo - The Lost and Forgotten Missions". Originally the Mapping and Survey Systems (M&SS) module was to be attached to the OWS during the first AAP flight. In 1967 this was assigned to a seperate mission to take the pressure off the first two AAP crews. This seems a logical move and so I've added it into the timeline. Since it doesn't involve docking, it doesn't seem to require an experienced crew. I've earmarked CSM-111 for AAP-5, but again plans suggested reuse of CSM-101. AS-213 would be the launch vehicle.

As for after what I've listed. I think we would see five or six landings similar in scale to the J-Missions. There would then follow a couple more long duration flights to the first workshop before a second, possible dry-workshop was deployed. After that its difficult to say. I think a Block III CSM would have been developed for AAP missions, probably with a Saturn II launch vehicle replacing the Saturn IB production line. Mars? Not sure, but interesting. If that was going to happen I'm sure a lot of astronauts would have hung around.

The attraction of this timeline for me is that this is how Apollo and early AAP was shaping up in 1966 when NASA seemed to be at its ambitious peak. It also shows how Deke might have intended to use his astronauts before events began to take their toll. It shows why Deke needed some experienced astronauts in AAP. If you start from this baseline, a lot of decisions make more sense.