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Canceled Apollo missions

May 04, 2023

Several planned missions of the Apollo crewed Moon landing program of the 1960s and 1970s were canceled, for reasons which included changes in technical direction, the Apollo 1 fire, hardware delays, and budget limitations. After the landing by Apollo 12, Apollo 20, which would have been the final crewed mission to the Moon, was canceled to allow Skylab to launch as a "dry workshop" (assembled on the ground in an unused S-IVB Saturn IB second stage). The next two missions, Apollos 18 and 19, were later canceled after the Apollo 13 incident and further budget cuts. Two Skylab missions also ended up being canceled. Two complete Saturn V rockets remained unused and were put on display in the United States.

Planned missions prior to Apollo 1 fire

 
The prime crew for the second planned Apollo crewed flight prepares for mission simulator tests at the North American Aviation plant prior to the Apollo 1 fire. Left to right: Donn F. Eisele, senior pilot, Walter M. Schirra, command pilot, and Walter Cunningham, pilot. (September 1966).

In September 1962, NASA planned to make four crewed low-Earth-orbital test flights of partially equipped Block I Command/Service Modules (CSM) using the Saturn I launch vehicle, designated SA-11 through SA-14, in 1965 and 1966. However, the limited payload capacity of the Saturn I compared to the uprated Saturn IB would have severely limited the systems carried, and thus the testing value of these flights. Therefore, NASA canceled these flights in October 1963,[1] and replaced them with two crewed Saturn IB missions, designated AS-204 and AS-205. These would be followed by the first uncrewed flight of the Lunar Module (LM) on AS-206, then the third crewed mission, designated AS-207/208, would use AS-207 to launch the crew in an improved Block II CSM, which would rendezvous and dock with the LM launched uncrewed on AS-208.

The crew selected on March 21, 1966, for AS-204 consisted of Command Pilot Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger Chaffee, who named their mission Apollo 1. AS-205 was to be named Apollo 2, and AS-207/208 would be Apollo 3.[2] The AS-205 crew were Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham. However, AS-205 was later deemed unnecessary and officially canceled on December 22, 1966.

Schirra's crew then became the backup for Grissom's crew, and the crewed LM mission became the second crewed mission, redesignated AS-205/208 and crewed by the original backup for Grissom's crew: Command Pilot Jim McDivitt, CSM Pilot David Scott and LM Pilot Rusty Schweickart. They immediately began their training in the first Block II Command Module CM-101, as Grissom's crew were preparing for a February 1967 launch.

Then, on January 27, 1967, Grissom, White, and Chaffee were killed in a flash fire in their spacecraft cabin during a test on the launch pad, interrupting the program for 21 months to identify and fix the root causes of numerous safety problems. This forced cancellation of plans to fly any crewed Block I spacecraft, and effectively forced a "reboot" of all crewed mission plans.

Development missions after Apollo 1 fire

Main article: List of Apollo missions

In September 1967, NASA created a list of remaining mission types necessary to achieve the first crewed lunar landing, each designated by a letter A through G, where G would be the first crewed landing. This list was later extended through letter J to cover follow-on lunar missions.

Two uncrewed Saturn V test launches (A missions) were flown as Apollo 4 and Apollo 6. A third test was planned but canceled as unnecessary.

The first development Lunar Module, LM-1 was flown uncrewed (B mission) as Apollo 5. A second uncrewed test was planned using LM-2 but was canceled as unnecessary. LM-2 was retrofitted to look like a production LM which would land men on the Moon and was donated to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, where it is currently on display as a simulation of the Apollo 11 first landing.

Schirra's crew would fly the C mission, first crewed CSM (Block II CSM-101, retrofitted with the cabin safety improvements) as Apollo 7 in October 1968.

McDivitt's crew and mission were kept as the first crewed development LM flight (D mission); this was planned to be Apollo 8 in December 1968, now using a single Saturn V launch vehicle instead of two separate Saturn IB launches. The E mission was planned as an elliptical medium Earth orbit test of the operational LM with the CSM in a simulated lunar mission to an apogee of 4,600 miles (7,400 km), to be commanded by Frank Borman in March 1969.

Of all the components of the Apollo system, the LM had the most technical issues. It was behind schedule and when LM-3 was shipped to the Kennedy Space Center in June 1968, over 101 separate defects were discovered. Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, which was the lead contractor for the LM predicted that the first man-rated LM, to be used for the D mission, would not be ready until at least February 1969, delaying the entire sequence.

George Low, the manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, proposed a solution in August 1968. Since the CSM would be ready three months before the Lunar Module, they could fly a CSM-only mission in December 1968. But instead of just repeating the C mission that would fly the CSM in Earth orbit, they could send the CSM all the way to the Moon and maybe even enter into orbit. This mission was dubbed "C-Prime" (an imaginary letter between C and D). This new mission would allow NASA to practice procedures for a lunar flight that would otherwise have to wait until Apollo 10, the F mission. There were also concerns from the Central Intelligence Agency that the Soviet Union was planning their own circumlunar flight for December to upstage the Americans once again (see Zond program). McDivitt's crew—who had grown accustomed to working with LM-3 and preparing for its flight—was kept on the D mission which now became Apollo 9, while Borman's crew would fly the CSM lunar orbit mission on Apollo 8, and the E mission was canceled.

The swap of crews was also decisive in who would be the first man to walk on the Moon. Pete Conrad was backup commander for McDivitt's crew, and by the process of crew rotation, would have been in line for commander of Apollo 11 three flights later. Neil Armstrong got this honor by virtue of being Borman's backup commander.

Follow-on lunar missions

NASA contracted to have 15 flight-worthy Saturn V rockets produced. Apollo 11 achieved the first landing with the sixth Saturn V, leaving nine for follow-on landings. The following landing sites were chosen for these missions, planned to occur at intervals of approximately four months through July 1972.[3][4]

The last five missions were J-class missions using the Extended Lunar Module, capable of three-day stays on the Moon and carrying the Lunar Roving Vehicle:

As the later missions were up to three years out, little detailed planning was made, and a variety of landing sites were given for some flights. According to "NASA OMSF, Manned Space Flight Weekly Report" dated July 28, 1969, Apollo 18 would have landed at Schröter's Valley in February 1972, Apollo 19 in the Hyginus rille region in July 1972, and Apollo 20 in Copernicus crater in December 1972.

Other proposed landing sites and schedules for the last three missions included Gassendi crater (Apollo 18, July 1973), Copernicus (Apollo 19, December 1973), and Marius Hills or Tycho crater (Apollo 20, July 1974).[5]

As a number of ambitious Apollo Applications Programs were planned, it was still hoped in 1969 that further Saturn V launch vehicles could be contracted, allowing for more ambitious lunar missions.

In the NASA report "Scientific Rationale Summaries for Apollo Candidate Lunar Exploration Landing Sites" from March 11, 1970, Apollo 18 is targeted for Copernicus, and Apollo 19 is assigned Hadley rille (the eventual landing site of Apollo 15). The Apollo 20 mission had been canceled two months before, but the report still suggested its target, Hyginus rille, possibly as an alternative Apollo 19 landing site.[6]

Cancellations

Harrison Schmitt was likely to be the first scientist to the Moon on Apollo 18 or 19, with Don L. Lind the second.[7] On January 4, 1970, NASA announced the cancellation of Apollo 20 so that its Saturn V launch rocket could be used to launch the Skylab space station as a "dry workshop" (assembled on the ground), instead of constructing it as a "wet workshop" from a spent S-IVB upper stage of a Saturn IB launch vehicle. Also, budget restrictions had limited the Saturn V production to the original 15.[8] After NASA Deputy Administrator George M. Low announced that the final three Moon landings were rescheduled for 1973 and 1974, following the three planned Skylab missions,[9] Chief Astronaut Deke Slayton moved Lind to Apollo Applications, stating that "with the cancellation of 20, I could see I just wasn't going to have a flight for him".[10]

Another lunar landing was lost in April 1970 when Apollo 13 had in-flight failure, and the Fra Mauro landing site was reassigned to Apollo 14. Then on September 2, 1970, NASA announced it was canceling the H4 and J4 missions after more budget cuts. Skylab was postponed to 1973, and the final landing schedule became:

At the time, 35 of NASA's 49 active astronauts were waiting for a mission.[11]

In the closing days of the program, Apollo 17 LMP Schmitt aggressively lobbied for a crewed landing on the far side of the Moon, targeting the far side Tsiolkovskiy crater. Schmitt's ambitious proposal included the launch into lunar orbit of special communications satellites based on the existing TIROS satellites to allow contact with the astronauts during their powered descent and lunar surface operations. NASA administrators rejected these plans because of lack of funding and added risk.

In August 1971, President Richard Nixon proposed to cancel all remaining lunar landings (Apollo 16 and 17). His Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Caspar Weinberger was opposed to this and persuaded Nixon to keep the remaining Moon missions, but recommended that if such cancellation did happen, it should be "on the ground that Apollo 15 was so successful in gathering needed data that we can now shift, sooner than previously expected, to the Space Shuttle, Grand Tour, NERVA, etc".[12]

John Young, who flew on Apollo 10 and 16, believed that fear of losing astronauts was a reason why NASA canceled Apollo 18, 19, and 20.[13]

Crew assignments

Slayton was the director of Flight Crew Operations and effectively chose the crews for the flights. He did not intend to give astronauts two lunar landing commands but, according to historian Michael Cassutt, as late as the summer of 1969—when 10 landings were still scheduled—Slayton planned to give Lunar Module pilots Fred Haise, Edgar Mitchell, and James Irwin the opportunity to walk again on the Moon as commanders.[14] During the early Apollo missions he used a rotation system of assigning a crew as backup and then, three missions later, as the prime crew; however, by the later Apollo flights, this system was used less frequently as astronauts left the program, Slayton wanted to give rookies a chance, and astronauts did not want to take backup positions that no longer could lead to prime-crew spots.

 
A Gantt chart showing how astronaut assignments were deeply affected by cancelled Apollo missions.

In the case of Apollo 18 the crew was probably the Apollo 15 backup crew:[4]

When Apollo 18 was canceled, Schmitt was moved up to Apollo 17 under pressure from the scientific community, replacing Joe Engle. Schmitt, a geologist, became the only professional scientist and the twelfth man to walk on the Moon.

Slayton's intention for the Apollo 19 crew was the original (prior to cancellation) Apollo 16 backup crew:[4][15]

For Apollo 20 there is even more uncertainty. Based on normal crew rotation, the crew would likely have been:[4]

Another possibility would have been:[5]

  • Stuart Roosa or Edgar Mitchell (CDR)
  • Jack R. Lousma (CMP)
  • Don L. Lind (LMP)

Skylab

 
Vance Brand and Don Lind, the crew for the unflown Skylab Rescue mission.

Skylab Rescue

Main article: Skylab Rescue

One of the surplus CSMs, CSM-119, was modified to carry two additional crew and kept on standby for a potential rescue mission in case of issues on-board Skylab. During Skylab 3, a malfunction on the Apollo CSM docked to the station caused fears that the crew would not be able to return safely. CSM-119 was wheeled out to Launch Complex 39B on Saturn IB SA-209 during the mission and prepared for a possible launch. Two astronauts, Brand (commander) and Lind (Command Module pilot), would have flown the CSM to retrieve the three crew members. The problem was fixed without requiring a rescue flight. CSM-119 was returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building and remained on standby until the Skylab program ended.

CSM-119 was also held as a backup CSM for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.

Skylab 5

Main article: Skylab 5

Skylab 5 would have been a short 20-day mission to conduct more scientific experiments and boost Skylab into a higher orbit. Brand, Lind, and William B. Lenoir (science pilot) would have been the crew.[16]

Surplus hardware

 
LM-2 on display at the National Air and Space Museum
 
CSM-119 on display at the Apollo/Saturn V Center
 
Saturn V at the Apollo/Saturn V Center
 
Rear view of Saturn V at the Apollo/Saturn V Center
 
Saturn IB SA-209 on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

Two complete Saturn V rockets went unused after the Apollo program, SA-514 and SA-515, as well as the third stage of the SA-513. SA-513 was the launch vehicle originally planned for the Apollo 18 mission, which was instead used (without its third stage) to launch Skylab.

Several Saturn IBs also remained unused and in storage at the end of the Apollo program. Three (SA-206, SA-207 and SA-208) were used for the crewed launches of the Skylab program, and SA-210 was used for the crewed ASTP flight. The second stage of SA-212 was rebuilt as the launched Skylab. Of the remaining vehicles, two are on display, and the rest were scrapped.[17] Any surplus Rocketdyne H-1 first stage engines were rebranded as the Rocketdyne RS-27 engine for usage on active launch vehicles of the time, such as those of the Delta 2000 Series in 1974.[18]

  • The last complete, unflown Saturn IB, SA-209, kept on standby for a possible Skylab Rescue mission, is on display outdoors in the Rocket Garden of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, topped by an Apollo boilerplate in place of the rescue spacecraft.
  • One other surplus Saturn IB (SA-211) was displayed horizontally for a time, until the late 1970s, at the Marshall Spaceflight Center, in Huntsville, Alabama. The second stage of the vehicle (S-IVB-211) was later moved to be combined with the Neutral Buoyancy training components of Skylab at the US Space and Rocket center, minus its J-2 engine. The first stage of SA-211 (S-1B-11) is now displayed vertically at the welcome center off of Interstate I-65, near to Ardmore, Alabama. That vehicle hosts an older ground-test second stage (Battleship stage?) SLA adapter and boilerplate Apollo hardware.[19]
  • The first stage of SA-212 (S-IB-12) was the last stage to have been static test fired, but was later scrapped, since no further flights were planned. The second stage of SA-212 (S-IVB-212) was converted into the flown, prime Skylab space station.
  • The remaining surplus Saturn IB first stages for SA-213 and SA-214 were built, but never static tested, and were also scrapped. No S-IVB second stages were ever built for these two vehicles.

Likewise, the canceled flights' CSMs and LMs went either unused or were used for other missions:

  • After Apollo 15's original H mission was canceled, there was a surplus H mission CSM and Lunar Module. CSM-111 was used for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project. LM-9 is on display at the Kennedy Space Center (Apollo/Saturn V Center)
  • Apollo 18's CSM and LM were used by Apollo 17.
  • Apollo 19's CSM (#115) is displayed on the Saturn V located at the Johnson Space Center. Its LM (LM-13, originally assigned to Apollo 18) was only partially completed by Grumman, and was used as a prop for the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon in Moon exploration scenes. It is now on display at the Cradle of Aviation Museum on New York's Long Island.
  • Apollo 20's CSM was never completed and was scrapped. The LM was also scrapped before completion, though there are some unconfirmed reports that some parts (in addition to parts from the LM test vehicle LTA-3) are included in the LM on display at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • The Skylab Rescue CSM-119 is on display at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Notes

  1. ^ Wade, Mark. "Apollo SA-11". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  2. ^ Teitel, Amy Shira (October 29, 2013). "What Happened to Apollos 2 and 3?". Popular Science.
  3. ^ "Next Decade Challenges Man the Magnificent", Albuquerque Journal, November 23, 1969, pE-2
  4. ^ a b c d "Apollo 18 through 20 - The Cancelled Missions", Dr. David R. Williams, NASA, accessed July 19, 2006.
  5. ^ a b . Archived from the original on 2012-05-07.
  6. ^ "Scientific rationale summaries for Apollo candidate lunar exploration landing sites". NASA Report. Downloaded from NASA Technical Reports Server December 14, 2007.
  7. ^ Shayler, David J. (2001). Skylab: America's Space Station. Berlin: Springer. p. 125. ISBN 1-85233-407-X.
  8. ^ . Time. January 26, 1970. Archived from the original on October 30, 2010.
  9. ^ "Budget Cuts, Revisions Could Delay Apollo Flights", Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA), January 6, 1970, pA-7
  10. ^ Slayton, D.K.; Cassutt, M. (1995). Deke! U.S. Manned Space From Mercury To the Shuttle. Tom Doherty Associates. p. 252. ISBN 978-1-4668-0214-8.
  11. ^ . Time. September 14, 1970.
  12. ^ "Memorandum for the President" by Caspar Weinberger (via George Shultz), August 12, 1971, Page 32 (of 39) [1]
  13. ^ Little, Geoffrey (September 2005). "John Young, Spaceman". Air & Space.
  14. ^ Cassutt, Michael (2007-05-09). "Re: Don Lind and Tony England". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved April 17, 2011.
  15. ^ Donald K. Slayton, Deke! (New York: Forge, 1994), 262
  16. ^ Wade, Mark. . Astronautix. Archived from the original on 2011-05-13. Retrieved 2011-02-04.
  17. ^ . Space Launch Report. 6 Dec 2012. Archived from the original on 14 Mar 2022.
  18. ^ "Delta 2000 series". . Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  19. ^ . Space Launch Report. 6 Dec 2012. Archived from the original on 9 Aug 2022.

References

  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

External links

  • Missions we Lost When Apollo was Cancelled Vintage Space (YouTube)

May 04, 2023
canceled, apollo, missions, several, planned, missions, apollo, crewed, moon, landing, program, 1960s, 1970s, were, canceled, reasons, which, included, changes, technical, direction, apollo, fire, hardware, delays, budget, limitations, after, landing, apollo, . Several planned missions of the Apollo crewed Moon landing program of the 1960s and 1970s were canceled for reasons which included changes in technical direction the Apollo 1 fire hardware delays and budget limitations After the landing by Apollo 12 Apollo 20 which would have been the final crewed mission to the Moon was canceled to allow Skylab to launch as a dry workshop assembled on the ground in an unused S IVB Saturn IB second stage The next two missions Apollos 18 and 19 were later canceled after the Apollo 13 incident and further budget cuts Two Skylab missions also ended up being canceled Two complete Saturn V rockets remained unused and were put on display in the United States Contents 1 Planned missions prior to Apollo 1 fire 2 Development missions after Apollo 1 fire 3 Follow on lunar missions 3 1 Cancellations 3 2 Crew assignments 4 Skylab 4 1 Skylab Rescue 4 2 Skylab 5 5 Surplus hardware 6 Notes 7 References 8 External linksPlanned missions prior to Apollo 1 fire Edit The prime crew for the second planned Apollo crewed flight prepares for mission simulator tests at the North American Aviation plant prior to the Apollo 1 fire Left to right Donn F Eisele senior pilot Walter M Schirra command pilot and Walter Cunningham pilot September 1966 In September 1962 NASA planned to make four crewed low Earth orbital test flights of partially equipped Block I Command Service Modules CSM using the Saturn I launch vehicle designated SA 11 through SA 14 in 1965 and 1966 However the limited payload capacity of the Saturn I compared to the uprated Saturn IB would have severely limited the systems carried and thus the testing value of these flights Therefore NASA canceled these flights in October 1963 1 and replaced them with two crewed Saturn IB missions designated AS 204 and AS 205 These would be followed by the first uncrewed flight of the Lunar Module LM on AS 206 then the third crewed mission designated AS 207 208 would use AS 207 to launch the crew in an improved Block II CSM which would rendezvous and dock with the LM launched uncrewed on AS 208 The crew selected on March 21 1966 for AS 204 consisted of Command Pilot Virgil Gus Grissom Senior Pilot Ed White and Pilot Roger Chaffee who named their mission Apollo 1 AS 205 was to be named Apollo 2 and AS 207 208 would be Apollo 3 2 The AS 205 crew were Wally Schirra Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham However AS 205 was later deemed unnecessary and officially canceled on December 22 1966 Schirra s crew then became the backup for Grissom s crew and the crewed LM mission became the second crewed mission redesignated AS 205 208 and crewed by the original backup for Grissom s crew Command Pilot Jim McDivitt CSM Pilot David Scott and LM Pilot Rusty Schweickart They immediately began their training in the first Block II Command Module CM 101 as Grissom s crew were preparing for a February 1967 launch Then on January 27 1967 Grissom White and Chaffee were killed in a flash fire in their spacecraft cabin during a test on the launch pad interrupting the program for 21 months to identify and fix the root causes of numerous safety problems This forced cancellation of plans to fly any crewed Block I spacecraft and effectively forced a reboot of all crewed mission plans Development missions after Apollo 1 fire EditMain article List of Apollo missions In September 1967 NASA created a list of remaining mission types necessary to achieve the first crewed lunar landing each designated by a letter A through G where G would be the first crewed landing This list was later extended through letter J to cover follow on lunar missions Two uncrewed Saturn V test launches A missions were flown as Apollo 4 and Apollo 6 A third test was planned but canceled as unnecessary The first development Lunar Module LM 1 was flown uncrewed B mission as Apollo 5 A second uncrewed test was planned using LM 2 but was canceled as unnecessary LM 2 was retrofitted to look like a production LM which would land men on the Moon and was donated to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum where it is currently on display as a simulation of the Apollo 11 first landing Schirra s crew would fly the C mission first crewed CSM Block II CSM 101 retrofitted with the cabin safety improvements as Apollo 7 in October 1968 McDivitt s crew and mission were kept as the first crewed development LM flight D mission this was planned to be Apollo 8 in December 1968 now using a single Saturn V launch vehicle instead of two separate Saturn IB launches The E mission was planned as an elliptical medium Earth orbit test of the operational LM with the CSM in a simulated lunar mission to an apogee of 4 600 miles 7 400 km to be commanded by Frank Borman in March 1969 Of all the components of the Apollo system the LM had the most technical issues It was behind schedule and when LM 3 was shipped to the Kennedy Space Center in June 1968 over 101 separate defects were discovered Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation which was the lead contractor for the LM predicted that the first man rated LM to be used for the D mission would not be ready until at least February 1969 delaying the entire sequence George Low the manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office proposed a solution in August 1968 Since the CSM would be ready three months before the Lunar Module they could fly a CSM only mission in December 1968 But instead of just repeating the C mission that would fly the CSM in Earth orbit they could send the CSM all the way to the Moon and maybe even enter into orbit This mission was dubbed C Prime an imaginary letter between C and D This new mission would allow NASA to practice procedures for a lunar flight that would otherwise have to wait until Apollo 10 the F mission There were also concerns from the Central Intelligence Agency that the Soviet Union was planning their own circumlunar flight for December to upstage the Americans once again see Zond program McDivitt s crew who had grown accustomed to working with LM 3 and preparing for its flight was kept on the D mission which now became Apollo 9 while Borman s crew would fly the CSM lunar orbit mission on Apollo 8 and the E mission was canceled The swap of crews was also decisive in who would be the first man to walk on the Moon Pete Conrad was backup commander for McDivitt s crew and by the process of crew rotation would have been in line for commander of Apollo 11 three flights later Neil Armstrong got this honor by virtue of being Borman s backup commander Follow on lunar missions EditNASA contracted to have 15 flight worthy Saturn V rockets produced Apollo 11 achieved the first landing with the sixth Saturn V leaving nine for follow on landings The following landing sites were chosen for these missions planned to occur at intervals of approximately four months through July 1972 3 4 Apollo 12 H1 November 1969 Ocean of Storms Surveyor 3 site Apollo 13 H2 April 1970 Fra Mauro highlands Apollo 14 H3 Littrow crater Apollo 15 H4 Censorinus craterThe last five missions were J class missions using the Extended Lunar Module capable of three day stays on the Moon and carrying the Lunar Roving Vehicle Apollo 16 J1 Descartes Highlands Apollo 17 J2 Marius Hills Apollo 18 J3 Copernicus crater Apollo 19 J4 Hadley Rille Apollo 20 J5 Tycho crater Surveyor 7 site As the later missions were up to three years out little detailed planning was made and a variety of landing sites were given for some flights According to NASA OMSF Manned Space Flight Weekly Report dated July 28 1969 Apollo 18 would have landed at Schroter s Valley in February 1972 Apollo 19 in the Hyginus rille region in July 1972 and Apollo 20 in Copernicus crater in December 1972 Other proposed landing sites and schedules for the last three missions included Gassendi crater Apollo 18 July 1973 Copernicus Apollo 19 December 1973 and Marius Hills or Tycho crater Apollo 20 July 1974 5 As a number of ambitious Apollo Applications Programs were planned it was still hoped in 1969 that further Saturn V launch vehicles could be contracted allowing for more ambitious lunar missions In the NASA report Scientific Rationale Summaries for Apollo Candidate Lunar Exploration Landing Sites from March 11 1970 Apollo 18 is targeted for Copernicus and Apollo 19 is assigned Hadley rille the eventual landing site of Apollo 15 The Apollo 20 mission had been canceled two months before but the report still suggested its target Hyginus rille possibly as an alternative Apollo 19 landing site 6 Cancellations Edit Harrison Schmitt was likely to be the first scientist to the Moon on Apollo 18 or 19 with Don L Lind the second 7 On January 4 1970 NASA announced the cancellation of Apollo 20 so that its Saturn V launch rocket could be used to launch the Skylab space station as a dry workshop assembled on the ground instead of constructing it as a wet workshop from a spent S IVB upper stage of a Saturn IB launch vehicle Also budget restrictions had limited the Saturn V production to the original 15 8 After NASA Deputy Administrator George M Low announced that the final three Moon landings were rescheduled for 1973 and 1974 following the three planned Skylab missions 9 Chief Astronaut Deke Slayton moved Lind to Apollo Applications stating that with the cancellation of 20 I could see I just wasn t going to have a flight for him 10 Another lunar landing was lost in April 1970 when Apollo 13 had in flight failure and the Fra Mauro landing site was reassigned to Apollo 14 Then on September 2 1970 NASA announced it was canceling the H4 and J4 missions after more budget cuts Skylab was postponed to 1973 and the final landing schedule became Apollo 14 H2 Littrow crater February 1971 Apollo 15 J1 Hadley Apennine July 1971 Apollo 16 J2 Descartes Highlands April 1972 Apollo 17 J3 Taurus Littrow valley December 1972At the time 35 of NASA s 49 active astronauts were waiting for a mission 11 In the closing days of the program Apollo 17 LMP Schmitt aggressively lobbied for a crewed landing on the far side of the Moon targeting the far side Tsiolkovskiy crater Schmitt s ambitious proposal included the launch into lunar orbit of special communications satellites based on the existing TIROS satellites to allow contact with the astronauts during their powered descent and lunar surface operations NASA administrators rejected these plans because of lack of funding and added risk In August 1971 President Richard Nixon proposed to cancel all remaining lunar landings Apollo 16 and 17 His Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Caspar Weinberger was opposed to this and persuaded Nixon to keep the remaining Moon missions but recommended that if such cancellation did happen it should be on the ground that Apollo 15 was so successful in gathering needed data that we can now shift sooner than previously expected to the Space Shuttle Grand Tour NERVA etc 12 John Young who flew on Apollo 10 and 16 believed that fear of losing astronauts was a reason why NASA canceled Apollo 18 19 and 20 13 Crew assignments Edit Slayton was the director of Flight Crew Operations and effectively chose the crews for the flights He did not intend to give astronauts two lunar landing commands but according to historian Michael Cassutt as late as the summer of 1969 when 10 landings were still scheduled Slayton planned to give Lunar Module pilots Fred Haise Edgar Mitchell and James Irwin the opportunity to walk again on the Moon as commanders 14 During the early Apollo missions he used a rotation system of assigning a crew as backup and then three missions later as the prime crew however by the later Apollo flights this system was used less frequently as astronauts left the program Slayton wanted to give rookies a chance and astronauts did not want to take backup positions that no longer could lead to prime crew spots A Gantt chart showing how astronaut assignments were deeply affected by cancelled Apollo missions In the case of Apollo 18 the crew was probably the Apollo 15 backup crew 4 Richard F Gordon Jr commander CDR Vance D Brand Command Module pilot CMP Harrison Schmitt Lunar Module pilot LMP When Apollo 18 was canceled Schmitt was moved up to Apollo 17 under pressure from the scientific community replacing Joe Engle Schmitt a geologist became the only professional scientist and the twelfth man to walk on the Moon Slayton s intention for the Apollo 19 crew was the original prior to cancellation Apollo 16 backup crew 4 15 Fred Haise CDR William R Pogue CMP Gerald P Carr LMP For Apollo 20 there is even more uncertainty Based on normal crew rotation the crew would likely have been 4 Stuart Roosa CDR replacing Pete Conrad already CDR on Apollo 12 Paul J Weitz CMP Jack R Lousma LMP Another possibility would have been 5 Stuart Roosa or Edgar Mitchell CDR Jack R Lousma CMP Don L Lind LMP Skylab Edit Vance Brand and Don Lind the crew for the unflown Skylab Rescue mission Skylab Rescue Edit Main article Skylab Rescue One of the surplus CSMs CSM 119 was modified to carry two additional crew and kept on standby for a potential rescue mission in case of issues on board Skylab During Skylab 3 a malfunction on the Apollo CSM docked to the station caused fears that the crew would not be able to return safely CSM 119 was wheeled out to Launch Complex 39B on Saturn IB SA 209 during the mission and prepared for a possible launch Two astronauts Brand commander and Lind Command Module pilot would have flown the CSM to retrieve the three crew members The problem was fixed without requiring a rescue flight CSM 119 was returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building and remained on standby until the Skylab program ended CSM 119 was also held as a backup CSM for the Apollo Soyuz Test Project Skylab 5 Edit Main article Skylab 5 Skylab 5 would have been a short 20 day mission to conduct more scientific experiments and boost Skylab into a higher orbit Brand Lind and William B Lenoir science pilot would have been the crew 16 Surplus hardware Edit LM 2 on display at the National Air and Space Museum CSM 119 on display at the Apollo Saturn V Center Saturn V at the Apollo Saturn V Center Rear view of Saturn V at the Apollo Saturn V Center Saturn IB SA 209 on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed March 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message Two complete Saturn V rockets went unused after the Apollo program SA 514 and SA 515 as well as the third stage of the SA 513 SA 513 was the launch vehicle originally planned for the Apollo 18 mission which was instead used without its third stage to launch Skylab A Saturn V on display at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas is made up of the first stage of SA 514 the second stage of SA 515 and the third stage of SA 513 This display includes a production command service module CSM 115 which was never completed after funding was cut A Saturn V on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Merritt Island Florida is made up of static test stage S IC T and the second and third stages of SA 514 The command module associated with the KSC Saturn V display is a boilerplate BP 30 The stack was originally displayed outdoors in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building and was a stop for tour buses It was later restored and moved indoors to the Apollo Saturn V Center The first stage from SA 515 resides at the INFINITY Science Center in Pearlington Mississippi The third stage was converted into a backup to the Skylab space station It is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum Several Saturn IBs also remained unused and in storage at the end of the Apollo program Three SA 206 SA 207 and SA 208 were used for the crewed launches of the Skylab program and SA 210 was used for the crewed ASTP flight The second stage of SA 212 was rebuilt as the launched Skylab Of the remaining vehicles two are on display and the rest were scrapped 17 Any surplus Rocketdyne H 1 first stage engines were rebranded as the Rocketdyne RS 27 engine for usage on active launch vehicles of the time such as those of the Delta 2000 Series in 1974 18 The last complete unflown Saturn IB SA 209 kept on standby for a possible Skylab Rescue mission is on display outdoors in the Rocket Garden of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex topped by an Apollo boilerplate in place of the rescue spacecraft One other surplus Saturn IB SA 211 was displayed horizontally for a time until the late 1970s at the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville Alabama The second stage of the vehicle S IVB 211 was later moved to be combined with the Neutral Buoyancy training components of Skylab at the US Space and Rocket center minus its J 2 engine The first stage of SA 211 S 1B 11 is now displayed vertically at the welcome center off of Interstate I 65 near to Ardmore Alabama That vehicle hosts an older ground test second stage Battleship stage SLA adapter and boilerplate Apollo hardware 19 The first stage of SA 212 S IB 12 was the last stage to have been static test fired but was later scrapped since no further flights were planned The second stage of SA 212 S IVB 212 was converted into the flown prime Skylab space station The remaining surplus Saturn IB first stages for SA 213 and SA 214 were built but never static tested and were also scrapped No S IVB second stages were ever built for these two vehicles Likewise the canceled flights CSMs and LMs went either unused or were used for other missions After Apollo 15 s original H mission was canceled there was a surplus H mission CSM and Lunar Module CSM 111 was used for the Apollo Soyuz Test Project LM 9 is on display at the Kennedy Space Center Apollo Saturn V Center Apollo 18 s CSM and LM were used by Apollo 17 Apollo 19 s CSM 115 is displayed on the Saturn V located at the Johnson Space Center Its LM LM 13 originally assigned to Apollo 18 was only partially completed by Grumman and was used as a prop for the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon in Moon exploration scenes It is now on display at the Cradle of Aviation Museum on New York s Long Island Apollo 20 s CSM was never completed and was scrapped The LM was also scrapped before completion though there are some unconfirmed reports that some parts in addition to parts from the LM test vehicle LTA 3 are included in the LM on display at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia Pennsylvania The Skylab Rescue CSM 119 is on display at the Apollo Saturn V Center at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Notes Edit Wade Mark Apollo SA 11 Encyclopedia Astronautica Retrieved July 29 2022 Teitel Amy Shira October 29 2013 What Happened to Apollos 2 and 3 Popular Science Next Decade Challenges Man the Magnificent Albuquerque Journal November 23 1969 pE 2 a b c d Apollo 18 through 20 The Cancelled Missions Dr David R Williams NASA accessed July 19 2006 a b Apollo 18 Archived from the original on 2012 05 07 Scientific rationale summaries for Apollo candidate lunar exploration landing sites NASA Report Downloaded from NASA Technical Reports Server December 14 2007 Shayler David J 2001 Skylab America s Space Station Berlin Springer p 125 ISBN 1 85233 407 X Peril Point at NASA Time January 26 1970 Archived from the original on October 30 2010 Budget Cuts Revisions Could Delay Apollo Flights Press Telegram Long Beach CA January 6 1970 pA 7 Slayton D K Cassutt M 1995 Deke U S Manned Space From Mercury To the Shuttle Tom Doherty Associates p 252 ISBN 978 1 4668 0214 8 Waning Moon Program Time September 14 1970 Memorandum for the President by Caspar Weinberger via George Shultz August 12 1971 Page 32 of 39 1 Little Geoffrey September 2005 John Young Spaceman Air amp Space Cassutt Michael 2007 05 09 Re Don Lind and Tony England NASASpaceFlight com Retrieved April 17 2011 Donald K Slayton Deke New York Forge 1994 262 Wade Mark Skylab 5 Astronautix Archived from the original on 2011 05 13 Retrieved 2011 02 04 Saturn Vehicle History Space Launch Report 6 Dec 2012 Archived from the original on 14 Mar 2022 Delta 2000 series Encyclopedia Astronautica Archived from the original on 18 June 2012 Retrieved 8 June 2012 Saturn Vehicle History Space Launch Report 6 Dec 2012 Archived from the original on 9 Aug 2022 References Edit This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Apollo 18 19 20 Skylab B and Skylab 5 at the Encyclopedia Astronautica CM 115 on display at Johnson Space Center From A Field Guide to American Spacecraft External links EditAstronautix Missions we Lost When Apollo was Cancelled Vintage Space YouTube Portals Solar System Space Spaceflight Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Canceled Apollo missions amp oldid 1141263368, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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