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<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<title>Chariots For Apollo, ch3-3</title>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">
<h2>LOR Gains a NASA Adherent</h2>
<p>
At Langley Research Center, several committees were formed during 1959
and 1960 to look at the role of rendezvous in space station
operations.<a href = "#explanation1"><b>*</b></a> John Houbolt,
Assistant Chief of the Dynamic Loads Division, who headed one of these
groups, fought against being restricted to studies of earth-orbiting
vehicles only. The mission the Houbolt team wanted to investigate was a
landing on the moon.<a href = "#source17"><b>17</b></a><p>
A more formal Lunar Missions Steering Group was established at Langley
during 1960, largely through the efforts of Clinton E. Brown, Chief of
the Theoretical Mechanics Division. The Lunar Trajectory Group within
Brown's division made intensive analyses of the mechanics in a moon
trip. Papers on the subject were presented to the steering group and
then widely disseminated throughout Langley.<a href =
"#source18"><b>18</b></a><p>
One of these monographs, by William Michael, described the advantage of
parking the earth-return propulsion portion of the spacecraft in orbit
around the moon during a landing mission. Michael explained that leaving
this unit, which was not needed during the landing, in orbit would save
a significant weight over that needed for the direct flight method; the
lander, being smaller, would need less fuel for landing and takeoff. But
he cautioned that this economy would have to be measured against the
"complications involved in requiring a rendezvous with the
components left in the parking orbit."<a href =
"#source19"><b>19</b></a><p>
Brown's steering group looked closely at total weights and launch
vehicle sizes for lunar missions, comparing various modes. Arthur
Vogeley, in particular, concentrated on safety, reliability, and
potential development programs; Max Kurbjun studied terminal guidance
problems; and John Bird worked on designs for a lander. They concluded
that lunar rendezvous was the most efficient mode they had studied.<a
href = "#source20"><b>20</b></a><p>
Work at Langley then slackened somewhat, since NASA's manned lunar
landing plans seemed to be getting nowhere. On 14 December 1960,
however, personnel from Langley went to Washington to brief Associate
Administrator Robert Seamans on the possible role of rendezvous in the
national space program. When he first joined NASA, three months earlier,
Seamans had toured the field centers. At Langley, Houbolt had given him
a 20-minute talk on lunar-orbit rendezvous, using rough sketches to
illustrate his theory. Seamans had been sufficiently impressed by this
brief discussion to ask Houbolt and his colleagues to come to Washington
in December and make a more formal presentation. At this meeting,
Houbolt spoke on the value of rendezvous to space flight; Brown
presented an analysis of the weight advantages of lunar-orbit rendezvous
over direct flight; Bird talked about assembling components in orbit;
and Kurbjun gave the results of some simulations of rendezvous,
indicating that the maneuver would not be very difficult.<p>
<p align=center>
<img src = "images/c068a.gif" width=461 height=370 ALT="Comparison of lander sizes">
<p>
<cite>A ferry that would leave a command ship in orbit around the moon,
visit the lunar surface, and then return to the command ship for the
voyage back to the earth could be smaller than the lander required for
direct landing on the moon or other suggested modes. The reduced size
was seen by many engineers as the great advantage of lunar orbit
rendezvous over the other techniques.</cite>
<p>
<hr>
<p>
Houbolt closed the session, remarking that rendezvous was an undervalued
technique so far, but NASA should seriously consider its worth to the
lunar landing program. Several members of Seamans' staff viewed the
weight-saving claims with skepticism,<a href = "#source21"><b>21</b></a>
but Seamans was understanding. He had just completed a study for the
Radio Corporation of America on the interception of satellites in earth
orbit, and it occurred to him that some of the concepts he had studied
might well be adapted to lunar operations.<a href =
"#source22"><b>22</b></a><p>
Back in Virginia, the Langley researchers had been trying to get their
Space Task Group neighbors interested in rendezvous for Apollo. On 10
January 1961, Houbolt and Brown briefed Kurt Strass, Owen Maynard, and
Robert L. O'Neal. O'Neal, who reported to Gilruth on the meeting, was
less than enthusiastic about the lunar-orbit rendezvous scheme. He
conceded that it might reduce the weight 20 percent, but "any other
than a perfect rendezvous would detract from the system weight
saving."<a href = "#source23"><b>23</b></a><p>
From December 1960 to the summer of 1961, Langley continued its analyses
of lunar-orbit rendezvous as it applied to a manned lunar landing. Bird
and Stone, among others, studied hardware concepts and procedures,
including designs and weights for a lunar lander, landing gear, descent
and ascent trajectories between the landing site and lunar orbit, and
final rendezvous and docking maneuvers. Their findings were distributed
in technical reports throughout NASA and in papers presented to
professional organizations and space flight societies.<a href =
"#source24"><b>24</b></a><p>
<p align=center>
<img src = "images/c068b.jpg" width=365 height=578 ALT="Early LEM - MALLIR">
<p>
<cite>An early lunar excursion model was designed on a Friday afternoon
in early 1961 by John D. Bird and Ralph W. Stone, Jr., of Langley
Research Center for project MALLIR.</cite>
<p>
<hr>
<p>
In the spring of 1961, these Langley engineers compiled a paper
proposing a three-phase plan for developing rendezvous capabilities that
would ultimately lead to manned lunar landings: (1) MORAD (Manned
Orbital Rendezvous and Docking), using a Mercury capsule to prove the
feasibility of manned rendezvous and to establish confidence in the
techniques; (2) ARP (Apollo Rendezvous Phase), using Atlas, Agena, and
Saturn vehicles to develop a variety of rendezvous capabilities in earth
orbit; and (3) MALLIR<a href = "#explanation2"><b>**</b></a> (Manned
Lunar Landing Involving Rendezvous), employing Saturn and Apollo
components to place men on the moon. Houbolt urged that NASA implement
this program through study contracts.<a href =
"#source25"><b>25</b></a><p>
<p>
<hr>
<p>
<a name = "explanation1"><b>*</b></a> Most deeply engaged in Langley's
rendezvous studies were John Bird, Max C. Kurbjun, Ralph W. Stone, Jr.,
John M. Eggleston, Roy F. Brissenden, William H. Michael, Jr., Manuel J.
Queijo, John A. Dodgen, Arthur Vogeley, William D. Mace, W. Hewitt
Phillips, Clinton E. Brown, and John C. Houbolt.<p>
<a name = "explanation2"><b>**</b></a> MALLIR embodied lunar-orbit
rendezvous and a separate landing craft. Because America had no launch
vehicle large enough to send a craft to the moon with only one earth
launch, it also required an earth-orbital rendezvous before the
spacecraft departed on a lunar trajectory.
<p>
<hr>
<p>
<a name = "source17"><b>17</b>.</a> John C. Houbolt, interview,
Princeton, N.J., 5 Dec. 1966; Houbolt, "Lunar Rendezvous,"
<cite>International Science and Technology</cite> 14 (February 1963):
62-70; John D. Bird, interview, Langley, 20 June 1966.<p>
<a name = "source18"><b>18</b>.</a> Bird interview; Bird, "A Short
History of the Lunar-Orbit-Rendezvous Plan at the Langley Research
Center," 6 Sept. 1963 (supplemented 5 Feb. 1965 and 17 Feb. 1966);
Houbolt, "Lunar Rendezvous," p. 65.<p>
<a name = "source19"><b>19</b>.</a> William H. Michael, Jr.,
"Weight Advantages of Use of Parking Orbit for Lunar Soft Landing
Mission," in Jack W. Crenshaw et al., "Studies Related to
Lunar and Planetary Missions," Langley Research Center, 26 May
1960, pp. 1-2.<p>
<a name = "source20"><b>20</b>.</a> John M. Eggleston, interview,
Houston, 7 Nov. 1966; Bird, "Short History," p. 2; Bird
interview.<p>
<a name = "source21"><b>21</b>.</a> Bird, "Short History," p.
2; list of attendees at Briefing on Rendezvous for Robert C. Seamans,
Jr., 14 Dec. 1960; Bird and Houbolt interviews.<p>
<a name = "source22"><b>22</b>.</a> Seamans, interview, Washington, 26
May 1966.<p>
<a name = "source23"><b>23</b>.</a> Robert L. O'Neal to Assoc. Dir.,
STG, "Discussion with Dr. Houbolt, LRC, concerning the possible
incorporation of a lunar orbital rendezvous phase as a prelude to manned
lunar landing," 30 Jan. 1961.<p>
<a name = "source24"><b>24</b>.</a> For a listing of some of the results
of these studies, see "Reports and Technical Papers Which
Contributed to the Two Volume Work 'Manned Lunar-Landing through Use of
Lunar-Orbit-Rendezvous,' by Langley Research Center," Langley
Research Center, n.d.; William D. Mace, interview, Langley, 20 June
1966. See also John C. Houbolt, "Problems and Potentialities of
Space Rendezvous," paper presented at the International Symposium
on Space Flight and Re-Entry Trajectories, Louveciennes, France, 19–21
June 1961, published in Theodore von Kármán et al., eds.,
<cite> Astronautica Acta</cite> 7 (Vienna, 1961): 406-29.<p>
<a name = "source25"><b>25</b>.</a> Langley Research Center,
"Manned Lunar Landing Via Rendezvous," charts, n.d.; Bird,
"Short History," p. 3; Houbolt interview; Houbolt, "Lunar
Rendezvous," <cite>International Science and Technology,</cite>
February 1963, pp. 62-70, 105.
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