Apollo 2 Fictional Mission Now Available!

[rcflyinghokie]

Thanks to @Max-Q and @indy91 we have an "historical fiction" mission based on the plans for an Apollo 2 flight!

"After Gus Grissom and his crew successfully took the Apollo CSM aloft for the first time on Apollo 1, the next step on the road to the Moon is a manned test of the LM.
Apollo 2 will be an ambitious test mission, using a Saturn 1B to launch the first Block II CSM to fly, CSM-101, followed a day later by LM-2 on a second Saturn 1B."

• Launch date: 28 July, 1968
• Flight crew: Jim McDivitt (CDR), Dave Scott (CMP), Rusty Schweickart (LMP)
• Spacecraft: CSM-101 "Gumdrop", LM-2 "Spider"
• Launch vehicles: AS-205 (CSM), AS-208 (LM)

This mission is based on a document dated 4 January, 1967, titled "AS 258 Launch Operation Constraints" and Apollo 9's SCOT and flight plan.
The procedures and flight plan are educated guesses, as there is not a lot of info on the actual mission profile.


If you wish to fly this mission, the files are available to drag and drop into your NASSP install here.

Additionally, you can check out this GitHub branch which includes the latest NASSP repo as well as the added files above.

 

[Graham2001]

A minor nitpick.

The actual NASA plan for Apollo prior to the Apollo 1 fire was.

Apollo 1 (AS-204): A manned CSM launch
Apollo 2 (AS-206): An unmanned LM launch (LM-1 Test like the historic Apollo 5 mission)
Apollo 3 (AS-205/AS-208) Dual launch manned CSM+LM test.

Thereafter it get's a bit hazy, aside from that it looks to be an excellent exploration of 'what should have been'...

 

[rcflyinghokie]

@Max-Q

 

[Max-Q]

Hm, I'll have do do some research on this one. I was following the convention of unmanned missions not getting numbers as was the case before the fire such as AS-202. These types of missions were assigned numbers starting with Apollo 4 in November 1967. If I'm wrong on this, please tell me.

 

[Graham2001]

Hm, I'll have do do some research on this one. I was following the convention of unmanned missions not getting numbers as was the case before the fire such as AS-202. These types of missions were assigned numbers starting with Apollo 4 in November 1967. If I'm wrong on this, please tell me.

I've got some of the actual mission assignment documents from the NTRS I'll double check those.

 

[Graham2001]

Max-Q, I've gone through my notes and please accept my apology you were right. I've messaged you a copy of the launch trajectory of the cancelled manned 'Apollo 2' (AS-205) that was intended as a second manned CSM-only test flight before being cancelled in favour of only flying Apollo 1 (AS-204).

 

[Max-Q]

No problem, you were trying to help!