At that moment, the US were still involved in the Vietnam War. Even after the
success of the Moon landing, the White House could not justify to taxpayers the
hundreds of billions of dollars it would take for a mission to Mars. Yet something
had to be done, as the entire aerospace industry was struggling in a dramatic crisis
due to the shutdown of the Apollo program. NASA employees dropped from
394,000 to 144,000 in less than ten years, and the industry workforce collapsed
from 800,000 to 400,000 units.
6
Most of the aerospace companies that had built
the Saturn V and the lunar spaceships were the same manufacturers of airplanes
for civil aviation; when the global oil crisis in the seventies impacted all airline
orders, these firms felt the squeeze from all sides.
Nixon had to approve at least one major project, and the space shuttle was the
most logical choice. First, it had a sustainable development cost, and above all, it
was in line with long-term military strategy. Since the fifties, the Air Force had
been considering a shuttle and a crewed outpost as a space-based system to control
the whole planet.
The foundations of the military space strategy can be found in two projects, the
Dyna-Soar
7
and the Manned Orbital Laboratory MOL,
8
both developed in the late
fifties by the Air Force together with the main aerospace industries. The Dyna
Soar was a single-pilot bomber to be launched into space inside the Titan III
launcher’s fairing. It was supposed to glide over Russia at hypersonic speed, dropping a nuclear weapon and then landing on a military runway in California. It
never entered service, but most of the research done to develop it was later used
for the space shuttle’s design.
The MOL was a small orbital outpost composed of a pressurized 65-foot cylindrical module, which was supposed to host several military astronauts tasked with
taking pictures of the entire planet. The crew would have reached the MOL in orbit
with a dedicated launch vehicle and would have docked with special conical capsules, named Gemini, which in the end were exactly the same ones adopted by
NASA years later.
9
This is further evidence of how the entire American space
program was deeply influenced by the Air Force. The MOL was designed to spy
6
Aerospace Industries Association of American. 1972. Aerospace Year Book 1972. American
Aviation Publications.
7
Geiger, C. 1963. Air Force Space Command: The History of X-20A Dyna-Soar. Historical
Publication Series of the US Air Force 63-50-I, Unclassified.
8
Berger, Carl. 1970. History of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) Program. MOL
Program Office, Dept of the US Air Force.
9
“Agreement between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department
of Defense Concerning the Gemini Program,” signed by Webb and McNamara, January, 21
1963; cf. memo, Seamans and John H. Rubel to Sec. of Defense and NASA Adm., “NASA/
DOD Operational and Management Plan for Accomplishing the GEMINI (formerly MERCURY
MARK II) Program,” January 29, 1962.
42 Rocket Man: From The Space Shuttle to the International Space Station
success of the Moon landing, the White House could not justify to taxpayers the
hundreds of billions of dollars it would take for a mission to Mars. Yet something
had to be done, as the entire aerospace industry was struggling in a dramatic crisis
due to the shutdown of the Apollo program. NASA employees dropped from
394,000 to 144,000 in less than ten years, and the industry workforce collapsed
from 800,000 to 400,000 units.
6
Most of the aerospace companies that had built
the Saturn V and the lunar spaceships were the same manufacturers of airplanes
for civil aviation; when the global oil crisis in the seventies impacted all airline
orders, these firms felt the squeeze from all sides.
Nixon had to approve at least one major project, and the space shuttle was the
most logical choice. First, it had a sustainable development cost, and above all, it
was in line with long-term military strategy. Since the fifties, the Air Force had
been considering a shuttle and a crewed outpost as a space-based system to control
the whole planet.
The foundations of the military space strategy can be found in two projects, the
Dyna-Soar
7
and the Manned Orbital Laboratory MOL,
8
both developed in the late
fifties by the Air Force together with the main aerospace industries. The Dyna
Soar was a single-pilot bomber to be launched into space inside the Titan III
launcher’s fairing. It was supposed to glide over Russia at hypersonic speed, dropping a nuclear weapon and then landing on a military runway in California. It
never entered service, but most of the research done to develop it was later used
for the space shuttle’s design.
The MOL was a small orbital outpost composed of a pressurized 65-foot cylindrical module, which was supposed to host several military astronauts tasked with
taking pictures of the entire planet. The crew would have reached the MOL in orbit
with a dedicated launch vehicle and would have docked with special conical capsules, named Gemini, which in the end were exactly the same ones adopted by
NASA years later.
9
This is further evidence of how the entire American space
program was deeply influenced by the Air Force. The MOL was designed to spy
6
Aerospace Industries Association of American. 1972. Aerospace Year Book 1972. American
Aviation Publications.
7
Geiger, C. 1963. Air Force Space Command: The History of X-20A Dyna-Soar. Historical
Publication Series of the US Air Force 63-50-I, Unclassified.
8
Berger, Carl. 1970. History of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) Program. MOL
Program Office, Dept of the US Air Force.
9
“Agreement between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department
of Defense Concerning the Gemini Program,” signed by Webb and McNamara, January, 21
1963; cf. memo, Seamans and John H. Rubel to Sec. of Defense and NASA Adm., “NASA/
DOD Operational and Management Plan for Accomplishing the GEMINI (formerly MERCURY
MARK II) Program,” January 29, 1962.
42 Rocket Man: From The Space Shuttle to the International Space Station