|
The Apollo spacecraft feasibility study was conducted by NASA from July 1960 through May 1961 to investigate preliminary designs for a post-Project Mercury multi-manned spacecraft to be used for possible space station, circum-lunar, lunar orbital, or manned lunar landing missions. Six-month, $250,000 study contracts were awarded to General Dynamics/Convair, General Electric, and the Glenn L. Martin Company. Meanwhile, NASA conducted its own inhouse design study led by Maxime Faget, intended as a gage of the competitors' entries. The three companies spent varying amounts of their own money in excess of the $250,000 to produce designs which included a ''re-entry module'' separate from the ''mission module'' cabin, and a ''propulsion and equipment module''. One week after the presentation of the contractors' designs, President John F. Kennedy committed NASA to a manned lunar landing, giving the Apollo program an immediate, critical focus. NASA decided to discard the study designs and the mission module cabin, and based the lunar landing mission design on Faget's inhouse design, with a cone-shaped ''command module'', supported by a cylindrical ''service module'' containing return propulsion and supporting equipment. This would be carried to the lunar surface by a still-to-be-defined landing propulsion module. NASA then launched another competition for the command/service module procurement contract. In December 1961, GE publicly presented their feasibility study design to the American Astronautical Society . Similarities in the basic mission-command-propulsion module design have been noted to the Soviet Union's Soyuz spacecraft designed by Sergei Korolev and Vasily Mishin. It has been speculated that Korolev and Mishin could have incorporated GE design elements in the existing OKB-1 Sever designs (1959-1962) that eventually became the cancelled Soyuz-A (7K) (1963) and approved Soyuz 7K-OK (1965-1967).〔 ==Background== In July and August 1960, NASA's Space Task Group hosted a series of NASA-industry conferences to discuss post-Project Mercury manned spacecraft plans. Deputy Administrator Hugh L. Dryden announced at the conference opening that "the next spacecraft beyond Mercury will be called Apollo." 〔(''Chariots'', ch. 1:6: ''Priming the Pipeline'' )〕 On August 30, NASA presented plans to award three feasibility study contracts for the Apollo spacecraft, conceived as a three-man Earth orbital and circumlunar craft, with growth potential for manned lunar landings.〔 A Request For Proposal was issued on September 12, and fourteen bids were received by October 9. On October 25, NASA awarded the $250,000, six-month contracts to General Dynamics/Convair, General Electric, and the Glenn L. Martin Company.〔(''Chariots'', ch. 1-7:''The Feasibility Studies'' )〕 Meanwhile, members of the Space Task Group performed their own spacecraft design studies, to serve as a gauge to judge and monitor the three industry designs.〔 All three competitors supplemented the $250,000 contracts with their own money: Convair spent $1 million, GE $2 million, and Martin $3 million.〔(''Chariots'', ch. 1-8:''Portents for Apollo'' )〕 The Manager of GE Space Vehicle Systems (Philadelphia), George Arthur, led the GE proposal team that included Harold Bloom, Charles Bixler, Jacob Abel, and Arnold Cohen. On May 15 to 17, 1961, the contractors presented their study results to NASA. All three designs employed a ''mission module'' cabin separate from the ''command module'' (piloting and re-entry cabin), and a ''propulsion and equipment module''. Martin studied three different reentry module shapes, including a conical capsule vehicle similar to the STG configuration. GE also studied several reentry module shapes. GD/Convair's proposal employed a lifting body shape.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Apollo spacecraft feasibility study」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|