In the early 1980s, General Dynamics planned to use a
Space Shuttle to lift a Lunar Module into orbit and then launch a Titan IV rocket with an
Apollo-type Service Module to rendezvous and dock – making a moonship for a lunar landing. The plan required the Space Shuttle and Titan IV to use aluminum-lithium fuel tanks instead of aluminum to make a greater payload weight for takeoff. The original plan never came to fruition but in the 1990s both the Shuttle and the Titan IV were converted to aluminum-lithium tanks to rendezvous with the highly inclined orbit of the Russian
Mir Space Station. The Titan IVB became obsolete with the advent of the
Atlas V rocket and the
Delta IV heavy rocket booster launch vehicles in 2005.