How sad is it really? It all really ended in '67.
What is sad is that we spent so many decades since thinking that Apollo
was the model for opening space. And that many still do. Artemis is the
Lady Ghostbusters of Apollo.
On 2020-01-04 21:55, Henry Spencer wrote:
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
