In the wake of the Apollo 11 anniversary, alas, come some less happy ones.
Today (well, okay, yesterday, except for the West Coast guys -- 4 Jan.) is
the 50th anniversary of the cancellation of Apollo 20.
The handwriting had actually been on the wall for Apollo 20 for about six
months. The original Skylab "wet workshop" concept, involving in-orbit
refitting of a spent Saturn IB second stage into a space station, had hit
various difficulties. But the "dry workshop" alternative, launching a
fully-equipped lab, required launching on a Saturn V... and the first
production batch (15) of them were all earmarked for Apollo. Once Apollo
11 was launched and on its way, NASA upper management had finally
committed to providing Saturn V launch(es) for "dry workshop" Skylab(s).
4 Jan. 1970 was when upper management finally conceded that there was
going to be at least a gap in Saturn V production after the first batch,
so all near-term requirements had to be met from that batch. Hence
launching at least one Skylab meant canceling at least one Apollo, and so
Apollo 20 had to go.
Henry
