Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in ... - The Black Vault

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Project Apollo: Americans to the Moon
MAJOR ITEMS IN THE ACCELERATED PROGRAM REQUIRING THE
ADDITIONAL FUNDS SHOWN IN TABLE E-1 FOR FISCAL YEAR 1962
1. Increase number of Mercury capsule flights to accelerate acquisition of
knowledge on man’s behavior under space flight conditions.
2. Initiate possible additions to Mercury capsules for longer duration flights
with intermediate launch vehicles.
3. Accelerate unmanned lunar exploration to provide fundamental
scientific data for manned flight to moon.
4. Accelerate developments which will provide us with the essential
knowledge and information to design spacecraft which can survive a
return from the moon into the earth’s atmosphere.
5. Initiate developments of solid propellant rockets which can be used as
a first or second stage of a launch vehicle for manned lunar landing
missions (Nova).
6. Initiate engineering design work and experimental development of a
cluster of F-I engines for Nova.*
7. Initiate design and engineering of a Nova vehicle using a cluster of F-1
liquid rocket engines as a first stage.*
8. Initiate development of the tankage and engines required for a second
stage of Nova.
9. Accelerate supporting technology essential to the attainment of the goals
of the program.
10. Initiate construction of launch pads and other necessary facilities.
11 Provide additional vehicles and spacecraft for accelerating the TIROS
meteorological program.
[10]
*The F-1 is the liquid rocket engine now under development which will
have 1,500,000 pounds thrust in a single chamber.
3. “Are we working 24 hours a day and, if not, why not?”
There is not a 24 hour a day work schedule on existing NASA space
programs, except for selected areas in Project Mercury, the Saturn C-1 booster,
the Centaur engines, and the final launching phases of most flight missions.
a. Project Mercury at Cape Canaveral has been since October 1960
on a three-shift, seven-day- a-week basis plus shift overtime for
all phases of capsule checkout and launch preparations. The
McDonnell St. Louis plant, where the capsules are made, has
averaged a 54-hour week on Mercury from the beginning, but
also employs two or three shifts as needed in bottleneck areas. It
now runs three shifts in the capsule test and checkout areas.
b. SATURN C-1 project operates at Huntsville around-the-clock
throughout any critical test periods for the first-stage booster;
the remaining Saturn work is on a one-shift basis plus overtime
which results in an average 47 hour week.