Earth Orbit Rendezvous
The Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama developed an Earth Orbit Rendezvous proposal (EOR) for the Apollo program in 1960-1961. The proposal used a series of small rockets half the size of a Saturn V to launch different components of a spacecraft headed to the Moon. These components would be assembled in orbit around the Earth, then sent to the Moon via trans-lunar injection. The mission objectives of Project Gemini involving rendezvous and docking with the Agena target vehicle would test and validate the feasibility of this approach for the Apollo program.
The Saturn C-3 was the primary launch vehicle for Earth Orbit Rendezvous. The booster consisted of a first stage containing two Saturn V F-1 engines, a second stage containing four powerful J-2 engines, and the S-IV stage from a Saturn I booster. All stages for the Saturn C-3, except the S-IV, never flew except for their engines, used on the Saturn V rocket which took men to the moon.
Read more about this topic: Saturn C-3
Famous quotes containing the words earth and/or orbit:
“What potent blood hath modest May;
What fiery force the earth renews,
The wealth of forms, the flush of hues;
Joy shed in rosy waves abroad
Flows from the heart of Love, the Lord.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The Fitchburg Railroad touches the pond about a hundred rods south of where I dwell. I usually go to the village along its causeway, and am, as it were, related to society by this link. The men on the freight trains, who go over the whole length of the road, bow to me as to an old acquaintance, they pass me so often, and apparently they take me for an employee; and so I am. I too would fain be a track-repairer somewhere in the orbit of the earth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)