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Big Gemini 1975: Transition to a new manned space program
ISS: the interim space station
Salyut rapid progresses have forced NASA to try and bridge the gap between Skylab and the coming space station which will be launched in 1979 at best. That leave a five year gap between the two space stations. NASA explored three possible options.
Option A was docking a Big Gemini to Skylab A; but that option was rejected since Skylab A is too battered, his internal systems a generation backward when compared to Big Gemini. The atmospheres are not even the same; somewhat ironically Big Gemini will use a mixture similar to Soyuz, that is, air instead of pure oxygen. Hence docking a Big G to Skylab would have issues similar to Apollo-Soyuz. A docking module would be necessary – in fact such module already exists since a backup system was build for ASTP. The backup Apollo-Soyuz docking module would be added to Big Gemini cargo section permitting a docking to Skylab.
Option B consisted of an upgrade of Skylab B, launching it as an intermediate space station in the 1976 – 78 era. Once again that option was discarded per lack of funds. Skylab B is instead being turned into a ground-based mockup of the future modules. Its Apollo Telescope Mount has been detached and mothballed; it will probably be integrated to either a Big Gemini mission or even to the future space station.
Instead Option C was imagined. It happens that the space station modules are being build faster than the more complex core. So it was proposed to fly one module ahead of the core as a semi-autonomous space station. Once the core in orbit the module would be docked to it. That solution is called the ISS – Interim Space Station. 1975 will be a busy year for NASA. The last Saturn IB and the last Apollo are being readied on the VAB and LC-39B; in July they will fly the joint mission with the soviets. Another Saturn IB stands in alert with CSM-119; it is the rescue vehicle. On the other side of Cape Canaveral a pair of Titan III is prepared for flight. Those are Big Gemini EFT-1 and EFT-2 unmanned test flights. Back in 1973 a Titan II has lofted a MOL Gemini-B capsule into a suborbital trajectory for the first test of the hatch-through-the-heatshield, a critical aspect of Big Gemini. EFT-1 and EFT-2 will test the definitive variant of NASA new manned spacecraft.
Spring 1976 will see the first manned test, followed by the so-called bicentennial mission in July. The next year will start with the Skylab revisit flight. Big Gemini will fly around the old workshop without any docking. Later in the year 1977 the second joint flight with the Soviets will happen. It will be a little less difficult than Apollo-Soyuz since both ships will feature similar atmospheres. The crews will no longer prebreath pure oxygen or atmospheric air when going from one ship to another. Big Gemini cargo hold, which is nearly as big as a Salyut, will be turned into an international space laboratory crammed with experiments borrowed from both Skylab and the future space station. It is planned the two ship will remain linked for a whole week.
1978 will see the autonomous module fly in orbit. It will be outfitted during a 28 day mission. Later in the year Skylab B Apollo Telescope Mount might be added to the Interim Space Station. From this moment one-month missions will be performed three times a year until, hopefully in late 1979 the new space station core become available.