Fifty Years Ago, The USAF Considered A Manned Space Program | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-05.12.25

Airborne-NextGen-05.13.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.14.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-05.15.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.16.25

Tue, Nov 08, 2016

Fifty Years Ago, The USAF Considered A Manned Space Program

But Manned Orbiting Laboratory Was A Short-Lived Idea

Last week, the U.S. Air Force celebrated the 50th anniversary of the only launch in the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program. The November 3 flight would determine if a modified Gemini capsule could survive re-entry after a hatch had been cut into its heat shield.

The hatch would have allowed astronauts to move between the capsule and a planned laboratory situated below.

While the capsule survived the 33 minute suborbital flight, the program did not.

Florida today reports that the program was cancelled less than three years later in 1969.

But the capsule is a one-of-a-kind artifact. It is the only Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo capsule ever to fly into space twice. It was also the only capsule to fly in space carrying U.S. Air Force markings.

According to the National Reconnaissance Office, The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was a 1960s Air Force program with the ostensible mission to place military personnel in orbit to conduct scientific experiments to determine the “military usefulness” of placing man into space and the techniques and procedures for doing so if the need ever arose. The actual, classified, mission of the MOL program was to place a manned surveillance satellite into orbit. At the time, several military and contractor studies estimated that manned surveillance satellites could acquire photographic coverage of the Soviet Union with resolution better than the best system at the time (the first generation Gambit satellite). Additionally, the Air Force billed the MOL as a reconnaissance system that could more efficiently and quickly adjust coverage for crises and targets of opportunity than unmanned systems. The Air Force controlled development of the satellite, which was consistent with MOL’s unclassified mission, while the NRO ran development of the covert reconnaissance mission of the program, including the camera system and other subsystems.

The MOL-B test flight came less than 10 years after the Soviets launched Sputnik and sparked the space race. But satellite technology advanced quickly, and made a manned program unnecessary.

(NASA Image)

FMI: www.nro.gov/foia/declass/MOL.html

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.19.25): Fuel Remaining

Fuel Remaining A phrase used by either pilots or controllers when relating to the fuel remaining on board until actual fuel exhaustion. When transmitting such information in respon>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (05.19.25)

Aero Linx: Piper Aviation Museum Preserving the history and legacy of the Piper Aircraft Corporation and its founding family. In the past three years, the Piper Aviation Museum has>[...]

Klyde Morris (05.16.25)

Klyde Has No Patience... FMI: www.klydemorris.com>[...]

Airborne 05.19.25: Kolb v Tornados, Philippine Mars, Blackhawk Antler Theft

Also: Tentative AirVenture Airshow Lineup, Supersonic Flight Regs, Private Pilot Oral Exam Guide, Boeing Deal The sport aircraft business can be a tough one... especially when Moth>[...]

Airborne-Flight Training 05.15.25: Ray Scholarship, Alto NG, Fighter Training

Also: FedEx Pilots, Army Restructuring, Alaska ANG, Incentive for ATC Hiring EAA Chapter 534 in Leesburg, Florida announced that the 2025 Ray Aviation Scholarship winner is Abdiel >[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC