1956 vB Cargo Ship Credit - © Mark Wade

Using the same basic systems as the Passenger Ship, the Cargo Ship would substitute a 177 metric ton Landing Boat for the surface expedition in place of the Passenger Sphere and propellant for the return home. The Cargo Ships would be left behind in Mars orbit.

Design Life: 1000. Length: 62.00 m (203.00 ft). Basic Diameter: 7.90 m (25.90 ft). Maximum Diameter: 16.00 m (52.00 ft). Mass: 1,700,000 kg (3,700,000 lb). Payload: 177,000 kg (390,000 lb). Main Engine Thrust: 3,530.000 kN (793,570 lbf). Main Engine Propellants: nitric acid/hydrazine. Main Engine Propellants: 1,245,500 kg (2,745,800 lb). Main Engine Isp: 297 sec. Spacecraft delta v: 5,600 m/s (18,300 ft/sec).

• Miller, Ron, The Dream Machines, Krieger, Malabar, Florida, 1993. ISBN: 0894640399. Sensational chronological roundup of text, photos, and sketches of virtually every spacecraft and launch vehicle design every conceived but never built. A gold mine for space-struck baby boomers. More at amazon.com...

• Portree, David S. F., Humans to Mars: Fifty Years of Mission Planning, 1950 - 2000, NASA Monographs in Aerospace History Series, Number 21, February 2001. Excellent overview of American plans for sending men to Mars.