Project 7969 Avco Credit - © Mark Wade

AVCO's proposal for the Air Force initial manned space project was a 690 kg, 2.1 m diameter sphere launched by a Titan. It was equipped with a unique stainless-steel-cloth parachute instead of the usual reaction control system and retrorockets. The chute's diameter could be controlled by compressed air bellows. This would orient the vehicle in orbit, provide deceleration for re-entry, and control drag during re-entry.

In March 1956 the Air Research and Development Command (ARDC) the Task 27544 Manned Ballistic Rocket Research System research project. In the absence of any funding from headquarters, ARDC had to rely on the contractors to invest their own funds in feasibility studies. Avco, the lead USAF contractor for ICBM re-entry vehicles, produced its first study by November 1956.

On 20 November 1957 Avco issued its second and more detailed study, "Minimum Manned Satellite." Avco's approach was a pure drag reentry vehicle boosted into a 200-km orbit by an Atlas ICBM. The Avco spacecraft was a manned capsule that would reenter the atmosphere on a stainless-steel-cloth parachute. Shaped like a shuttlecock, the parachute was supposed to brake the capsule through reentry. Then air pressure would expand the parachute to a diameter of 11 m, braking the capsule to impact at 11 m/s. Avco would need $500,000 for a further three-month study and to construct a mock-up of the capsule. But the Air Force's Ballistic Missile Division was skeptical about the drag-brake idea, and the ARDC could commit no funding. Nevertheless the Avco began engineering coordination meetings with Convair on interfacing the capsule with the Atlas. Avco had a decided advantage since, as builder of the Atlas missile re-entry vehicle, it already had the necessary security clearances and technical details, whereas other contractor and NACA staff could not be briefed on the characteristics of the still highly-classified missile.

On 20 to 31 January 1958 ARDC held a secret conference at Dayton where eleven airframers briefed their concepts for the first American manned spacecraft. There seemed to be a consensus that the basic Atlas ICBM alone was incapable of boosting sufficient payload to orbit for a manned capsule. Therefore at that briefing Avco proposed that their spacecraft would be boosted by a Titan booster into a 190 km orbit for a one week mission. Despite the aerodynamic control system spacecraft control was automatic and no pilot inputs were required. Maximum G-forces during re-entry were 9 g's and the radiative heat shield was of molybdenum or Inconel. In case of booster failure during ascent to orbit the upper stage would catapult the capsule 1 km from the launch vehicle, followed by a parachute descent to earth. The spacecraft had a ballistic coefficient (m/CdA) of 7.3 kg per square meter. Landing precision was 'within Kansas' (650 x 300 km landing footprint). It was expected that a first manned orbital flight could be achieved 30 months after a go-ahead at a cost of $ 40 million.

On 10-12 March ARDC held a conference of 80 technical and biological specialists. The objective was to reach agreement on a plan to get a man-in-space - soonest - in accordance with General LeMay's orders. Unfortunately for Avco's design, the consensus at the conference was that the "quick and dirty" approach was best. This would consist of a simple ballistic capsule using parachutes for a water landing, weighing around 1300 kg. Furthermore, nobody advocated using the Atlas alone as the booster. The medical specialists concluded that the occupant might be subjected to 20-G's in an abort from the Atlas, believed to be beyond the limit of human tolerance, whereas a two-stage vehicle would limit that to an acceptable 12-G's. Space Technology Laboratories, technical advisor to the Air Force for the ICBM program, believed the Atlas would be too unreliable. They favored using the Thor IRBM with the Nomad fluorine-hydrazine upper stage.

ARDC sent its crash development plan for a manned orbital capsule to Headquarters USAF on 14 March. Based on this, on 19 March, the Air Force requested $133 million from ARPA for the program in FY 1959. By 2 May the USAF's Man-In-Space task force forwarded to Headquarters USAF the detailed designs, operational procedures, and schedule for Man-in-Space-Soonest. The Thor-Agena/WS-117L, Thor-Able, and Thor-Nomad boosters would be used. The first manned flight would be made on the tenth launch of the Thor-Nomad, in October 1960.

But suddenly there was a three-week delay. Avco had gotten back together with Convair, and on 30 April they back-doored to LeMay a convincing and highly detailed proposal for development of their minimum vehicle. This used the Atlas without an upper stage, and the same Avco drag brake design they had been working on for two years. Even the USAF's Ballistic Missile Division, which hated the idea of using the "bare" Atlas, had to admit it would save four months in development time. But ARDC, advised by Faget at NACA, still favored the simple ballistic capsule with a parachute landing. Therefore on 20 May, Lieutenant General Samuel E Anderson, Commander of ARDC, replied to LeMay that he had no confidence in Avco's design, and recommended that the Air Force proceed as per the 2 May plan. LeMay accepted the response, and the program lurched back into gear. It was the end of the road for Avco's innovative manned spacecraft design.

Design Life: 7 days. Typical orbit: 190 km at 28 deg inclination. Length: 2.13 m (6.98 ft). Maximum Diameter: 2.13 m (6.98 ft). Mass: 680 kg (1,490 lb). Associated Launch Vehicle: Titan 1.