Image credit: Department of Defense
Image source: National Archives
Tag: Gemini Spacecraft
A MOL and a MOL
Above: A beautiful rendering of a Gemini B / MOL by Numbers Station favourite John Sentovic found in the Krafft Ehricke Papers. Below: Gorgeous artwork of the same by Lockheed artist Ludwik Źiemba. At first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking they were the same image, I certainly did. My guess is that both are based on the same cutaway by a McDonnell draughtsman. The industry term for this is, “heavily referenced.”
Image credit: Krafft Ehricke Papers / Lockheed
Image source(s):
Biiiiiiiiig G!
S-66-50809
S-66-32020
Gemini IV
Gemini/Agena
Vehicle Comparison
The Apollo Family Tree
Gemini by Gorsuch
GEMINI spacecraft orbits Earth after launched into space by an Air Force TITAN II launch vehicle. The two-man vehicle could be headed for a rendezvous attempt with another spacecraft or it could be on an extended flight of a week or more giving the crew experience in flight through outer space.
The Next Fifty Years in Space
by Erik Bergaust
Macmillan, 1964
Image credit: Martin
Image source: Numbers Station
MORL
- CONCEPT OF A MANNED ORBITING RESEARCH LABORATORY, which has been under research study by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is illustrated in this artist’s rendering. The concept evolved from by the Douglas Missile & Space Administration under contract to the NASA Langley Research Center. Douglas engineers believe the concept could be operational within a five-year period. A Gemini-type ferry-craft approaches the orbiting laboratory, which is designed to remain in a 200 nautical-mile earth orbit for a period of a year or more.
- One concept of a Manned Orbiting Research Laboratory (MORL), which has been under research study for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, would occupy a cylinder 260 inches in diameter. Inside the cylinder, a spherical vessel might house living and work spaces and an on-board centrifuge for maintaining crew fitness. In this artist’s concept, evolved by Douglas Aircraft Company’s Missile & Space Systems Division under NASA contract, living quarters are shown on the upper left, a centrifuge in the center, and working area at the right. The Douglas concept is based on the Saturn IB launch vehicle.
- MANNED ORBITING RESEARCH LABORATORY (MORL) concept, which has been under research study by National Aeronautical and Space Administration, is pictured in a 200 nautical-mile earth orbit in this artist’s rendering. The concept evolved from studies made by Douglas Aircraft Company’s Missile & Space Division under contract to the NASA Langley Research Center. A Gemini-type ferry craft which might transport crew and supplies from Earth is docked in a hangar in the laboratory’s nose cone. Once rendezvous and docking are complete, the hangar can be sealed and pressurized and the astronauts can enter the MORL. Paddle-like devices attached to the orbiting laboratory are solar cell arrays to convert energy from the sun. They would be unfolded after MORL was in orbit.
Space World
November 1964, VOL. A-13
MORL at Astronautix
Image credit: Douglas
Image source: SDASM Archives
Orbiting Laboratory
Medium-sized orbiting lab is this Manned Orbital Research Laboratory (MORL) developed for NASA’s Langley Lab by Douglas Missiles & Spacecraft Division. The lab which weighs about 35,000 pounds, could maintain 3 to 6 men in orbit for a year.
Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel
Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965
MORL at Astronautix
Image credit: Douglas
Image source: SDASM Archives
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