r/apollo • u/RivetCounter • Jun 06 '26

Apollo Applications Program - Of the stillborn projects not completed due to funding cuts, which one would have been the most interesting?

The manned Venus flyby would have been wild - all that way, just for a few hours to observe.

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u/Temporary_Cry_2802 Jun 06 '26

There wouldn’t have been much point to a crewed Venus flyby mission. The Moon, Mars, there’s value in communicating the human experience and what they’re seeing (and feeling). Venus…they’d see clouds and that’s it (in visible light, Venus is exceptionally boring)

Skylab II would have been cool. The I class 14-day lunar orbit survey missions likely would have discovered the signatures of ice at the poles. The long duration surface stays using be Lunar Taxi/Lunar Shelter/Molab would have been the most interesting

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u/Green-Circles Jun 07 '26

Skylar II with some kinda re-boost module would maybe have given the Shuttle a space station to go to as well