A Shuttle-Launched Space Station?

In the first half of 1970, an alternative approach to developing a space sta­tion emerged. The Aerospace Corporation, the national-security-oriented engineering and systems analysis organization that had done most of the work on a joint Department of Defense-NASA study of the space shuttle submitted to the STG in June 1969, had continued to examine possible uses of the space shuttle. One of those options was using the shuttle to launch a number of smaller modules that could be assembled in orbit to create a space station with capabilities similar to the Saturn V-launched version. Some in NASA found this approach intriguing, and by April were suggesting that NASA’s space station study contractors begin to examine “Shuttle-sized modules” as the basis for a station. By mid-May, NASA at the engineering level had made its decision; a directive to the study contractors said that “additional work on the 33-ft. diameter space station will be deferred” and that further study effort would focus on “modular station concepts 15-ft. in diameter.” (That diameter was based on the width of the payload bay of the shuttle design NASA was studying.) After some additional in-house study, this decision was formally announced on July 29, 1970; that was the day that the Congress passed the NASA appropriations bill, which included no funds for the Saturn V. (There had been some faint hope that the Congress would reverse the Nixon administration decision to suspend production.) Henceforth, NASA’s industry partners would study only a shuttle-launched station.3