Re: Manned Venus Flyby

In article <1d1d7$45e48623$927a2cda$26334@xxxxxxxx>,
Jeff Findley <jeff.findley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Looks similar to a Skylab Wet Workshop to me, but minus the ASTP and a few
other bits.

(You presumably mean the ATM...)

There were a bunch of ideas for wet workshops at the time, many of them
based on the idea -- which proved a bit over-optimistic in the end -- that
you could build a docking/airlock module into the top of an S-IVB without
penalizing its performance much.

For example, Douglas came up with the notion that a somewhat-improved
S-IVB could put itself into lunar orbit, with substantial cargo. So it
carries the docking/airlock module, two spare LM descent stages, and tanks
for refilling an LM ascent stage... and a manned Apollo using it as a base
gets to make three landings instead of one, plus bigger orbital living
quarters and a chunk of orbital-science payload. (Or, still better, add
some further upgrades to the S-IVB and it can land itself plus 12t of
cargo on the Moon.)
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