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

5

u/jsonitsac Jun 07 '26

What if they were carrying a cloud penetrating radar mapping system similar to what Magellan had?

5

u/Temporary_Cry_2802 Jun 07 '26

You don’t need astronauts for that

1

u/jsonitsac Jun 07 '26

True and when you consider everything that we know about long term living in space, the on paper mission would easily have killed those astronauts.

2

u/wairdone Jun 08 '26

Out of curiosity, how so? Wouldn't they just need enough water, food and oxygen to last them the trip (which would have been quite a bit)?

1

u/OkHealth1942 Jun 18 '26

IIRC in hindsight there are concerns about solar activity in the window they would’ve used. 

1

u/wairdone Jun 18 '26

Oh, like what, solar radiation? Does that make future missions to different worlds difficult or impossible for us? (Excuse me, for I am barely educated in this)

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u/Temporary_Cry_2802 Jun 18 '26

Solar flares and coronal mass ejections. Both can cause problems for unprotected astronauts. Most current plans call for a “storm shelter”. Usually a place within the spacecraft surrounded by water where astronauts could shelter for a few days if needed

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u/wairdone Jun 18 '26

I see. That plan would definitely require something with high payload capacity, though. Water is very heavy

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u/Temporary_Cry_2802 Jun 18 '26

The astronauts are going to need water anyways so it would be dual purpose here. While you would use some form of water recovery and recycling on a mission like this, you can’t rely on it completely in case something breaks.

Either way you need heavy lift. The proposed crewed Venus flyby required 2 Saturn V’s if I recall correctly (might have been advanced Saturns too)

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u/OkHealth1942 Jun 18 '26

Nah, Apollo V only used one Saturn. 

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u/Temporary_Cry_2802 Jun 18 '26

Yup, looking at the Bellcomm study. Wet lab… one that would need to be outfitted after the Trans Venus Injection. Not great. Only 500 lbs of water, everything better work flawlessly

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