LM Langley Lightest

Extremely light-weight open-cab lunar module design considered in early Langley studies. This version used cryogenic propellants to get a single crewman from lunar orbit, to the lunar surface, and back, at an all up mass of only 1,460 kg.

Earliest lunar orbit rendezvous schemes involved use of one or more extremely lightweight, unpressurized lunar landers to each take a single astronaut to the lunar surface. This Langley design was the absolute minimum considered. Others ranged from 3,284 kg to 4,372 kg - to be compared with the 15,000 kg design that eventually was selected.

Crew Size: 1. Design Life: 1 days. Length: 2.90 m (9.50 ft). Maximum Diameter: 2.40 m (7.80 ft). Mass: 1,460 kg (3,210 lb). Payload: 100 kg (220 lb). Main Engine Propellants: Lox/LH2. Main Engine Propellants: 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). Main Engine Isp: 433 sec.

• Baker, David, The History of Manned Spaceflight, Crown, New York, 1981. The best overview of America's manned space programs up to Skylab. Information and details not available anywhere else. Unfortunately out of print and difficult to locate.

• Brooks, Courtney G, Grimwood, Hames M, Swenson, Lloyd S, Chariots for Apollo, Government Printing Office, 1989. The official version - NASA's history of the Apollo program. Accessed at: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/cover.html.