 | LESA Shelter
Credit - © Mark Wade
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Other Designations: Lunar Exploration System for Apollo. Class: Manned. Type: Lunar Habitat. Destination: Moon. Nation: USA. LESA (Lunar Exploration System for Apollo) was an advanced lunar surface shelter. It would provide the maximum Saturn V-launched lunar base module by using a high efficiency LLV Lunar Landing Vehicle which used RL10 Lox/LH2 engines for the direct landing on the lunar surface. The LESA consisted of a circular inner cabin and annular outer cabin with control stations, bunks, and an airlock.
The LLV would deliver the LESA together with a Molab lunar rover on the surface of the moon. Crews to man the base would be landed in 3-man LM Taxis. The crews would use the LESA Shelter for quarters, and the pressurized Molab for mobility. Initially the shelter would be manned by 3 crew members for 90 days. Follow-on flights would build up the base to six residents for indefinite lunar operations.
Crew Size: 6. Design Life: 90 days. Length: 4.30 m (14.10 ft). Maximum Diameter: 6.70 m (21.90 ft). Habitable Volume: 80.00 m3. Mass: 9,700 kg (21,300 lb).
LESA Shelter Chronology - 1969 September 1 - Soviets study NASA's ambitious plans -
NASA gave the US President a 130-page programme outlining plans for America's future space programme. The thing read to the Soviets like a science fiction novel, with reusable space ferries, huge orbital stations and lunar bases, nuclear rocket stages, and manned Mars expeditions. There was no way the Soviet Union could compete with such a programme -- and that was leaving unconsidered the massive American military space progamme.
Additional Details: Soviets study NASA's ambitious plans.
Bibliography:- Baker, David, The History of Manned Spaceflight, Crown, New York, 1981.
- Henderson, C William, Advanced in the Astronautical Sciences, Vol 18, "Extended Lunar Exploration", 1964, p 615.
- National Space Goals for Post-Apollo Period, House of Representatives Hearings, 1965.
- Arthur, George R, Advanced in the Astronautical Sciences, Volume 10, "Lunar Spacecraft Designs", 1963, p. 52.
- Salter, Thomas R, Advanced in the Astronautical Sciences, Vol 18, "Advanced Lunar Transportation Systems", 1964 / NASA Contract NAS8-5027.
- Evans, Thomas C, Advanced in the Astronautical Sciences, Vol 18, "Extended Lunar Exploration", 1964, p 480.
- Chertok, Boris Yevseyevich, Raketi i lyudi, Mashinostroenie, Moscow, 1994-1999.. Web Address when accessed: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20050010181_2005010059.pdf.
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© Mark Wade, 1997 - 2008 except where otherwise noted.
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Comparison of American post-Apollo lunar spacecraft....
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Comparison of American post-Apollo lunar spacecraft. |
 | LESA Lunar Base
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