NRO-MOL_2015

6 The Dorian Files Revealed: a Compendium of the NRO’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory Documents
Figure 10. Mercury Mark II
Source: CSNR Reference Collection
In January 1961 the contractors submitted preliminary
reports to the Air Force, describing their progress in
defining designs for an MTSS, and in February they made
oral presentations to a USAF-sponsored conference. Later
the Aeronautical Systems Division, with the help of other
Air Force agencies, evaluated the interim reports and,
on the basis of their comments, a design was developed
for a relatively simple space station. ASD proposed a
development which would lead to the launching of a threeman
ballistic capsule plus a module or station where the
crew would live and function for a period of up to 30 days.
The ASD concept called for the station to be abandoned
when the time came for the crew to return to earth in its
capsule. ASD’s preliminary evaluation was submitted
on 30 April 1961 to the newly-formed Air Force Systems
Command (AFSC), successor to ARDC. 16
By early July the six contractors had completed their
studies and submitted final reports. Their conclusions
were sufficiently encouraging for Headquarters USAF
in mid-July to establish the MTSS as an active project
under its newly-organized Directorate of Advanced
Technology. A month later, on 16 August 1961, the Air
Force submitted a Program Package VI element to OSD
requesting an allocation of $5 million in fiscal year 1963
to begin space station studies. When OSD’s budget
guidelines were released in September, however, the
proposed USAF project was left unfunded. A reclama
was subsequently rejected. 17
Meanwhile, representatives of the Air Staff, six major
USAF commands, several AFSC divisions, and the
RAND and Aerospace Corporations, attended a final
MTSS evaluation conference on 12-15 September.
They reviewed the contractors’ reports and agreed
that, while the individual designs differed in detail, all
emphasized the importance of orbital rendezvous, not
only for supply purposes but also to initially activate the
station. The conference recognized that, because the Air
Force lacked basic data on man’s ability to perform for
long periods under conditions of Zero G and knowledge
about the problems of space rendezvous, ‡‡ it would be
extremely difficult to proceed with a satisfactory MTSS
design. They saw some hope of acquiring the necessary
information from NASA’s newest man-in-space project
(originally called Mercury Mark II, later re-designated
Gemini), one of whose major objectives was to achieve
and demonstrate orbital rendezvous. 18
‡‡ Only two men, Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov, had
flown in orbit by September 1961. Titov’s flight lasted 25.3 hours. When the
Russians finally released some data on these flights, they indicated Titov
became disoriented. And, of course, the first orbital rendezvous between two
space vehicles was still some years off.