NRO-MOL_2015

Chapter VII - THE LABORATORY VEHICLE DESIGN COMPETITION January-June 1965
59
THE LABORATORY VEHICLE DESIGN COMPETITION
January - June 1965
In accordance with the agreements reached at the
budget meetings on 7-8 December 1964, DDR&E
submitted new instructions to the Air Force which formally
changed MOL program objectives. On 4 January 1965
he directed Dr. McMillan to initiate additional studies
for an experimental military program which would
contribute “to improved military observational capability
for manned or unmanned operation” and to development
and demonstration of manned assembly and servicing
of structures in orbit with potential military applications
such as a telescope or radio antenna. 1
In ordering the new studies, Dr. Brown asked the Air
Force to carefully assess whether any of NASA’s Apollo
configurations could be used in place of the Gemini B/
MOL. To help make this determination, he said NASA
would be requested to submit data on the Apollo system
to the Air Force by 30 April 1965. The USAF evaluation of
both configurations was to be submitted to him by 15 May.
Dr. Brown authorized the Air Force to award three
contracts to industry for preliminary design studies of
the MOL laboratory vehicle, based on the Titan IIIC/
Gemini B combination. He asked that the proposed lab
configurations provide for assembly and servicing of
large optical devices and radio telescopes in space, for
testing high resolution surveillance radar concepts, and
be capable of being used as a manned experimental
facility. He required that the three contractors be qualified
to build the laboratory module, whether the final Titan
IIIC/Gemini or NASA’s Saturn IB/Apollo combination was
chosen. It was OSD’s intention that the final contractor
would be selected from the above three firms without
further competition from industry.
The Defense Research Director also asked the Air
Force to re-examine its proposed MOL unmanned flight
schedule to take advantage of planned Titan III R&D
test launchings in order to provide for “qualification
of components of the MOL system.” To preserve the
option for proceeding with development, he advised Dr.
McMillan that certain fiscal year 1965 funds would be
released for studies and work on the Titan booster and
Gemini B. 2
On 8 January Dr. McMillan forwarded these DDR&E
instructions to General Schriever and directed their
implementation. Concerning the lab vehicle preliminary
design studies, he advised General Schriever to consider
only the Titan IIIC/Gemini B configuration, but with the
understanding that it was being used “solely for illustrative
purposes and is not intended to prejudice the final
decision on booster or personnel carrier subsystems.”
The three contractors selected to do the studies should
be able to develop end build their proposed laboratory
for integration with either Saturn IB/Apollo or Titan
IIIC/Gemini B. He also asked the AFSC commander
to prepare a work statement for NASA defining MOL
requirements, to enable the space agency to determine
whether any of its proposed Apollo configurations could
accommodate the planned equipment and experiments. 3
Almost simultaneously, Dr. McMillan sent instructions
to Maj Gen Robert E. Greer which were somewhat
similar to those dispatched to General Schriever. That
is, he directed General Greer to initiate certain “black”
studies to define the technical characteristics of large
optical system payloads and large antennas for use in
achieving “improved military observational capability for
manned or unmanned operations.” Study results were to
be submitted by 15 May. 4
Figure 35. Robert E. Greer
Source: CSNR Reference Collection