In 1978 the Italian Space Agency (ASI), NASA and McDonnell Douglas had an agreement over the Multi-Purpose Logistic Module (MPLM).
The MPLM was a truncated Big Gemini cargo module, light enough to be boosted by an Ariane 3 rocket. The MPLM was to give the Agena a pressurised module. That way the Liberty space station would have another pressurised logistic vehicle beside Big Gemini.
President Carter had just cancelled the Apollo Rescue Vehicle (ARV). This meant that mission duration to Liberty was limited to Big Gemini in orbit endurance, that is, two months when docked to Liberty. In order to cover an entire year, seven Big Gemini would have to be launched every year, but that bursted Titan III safe flight rate. NASA found itself in a quandary, since the Soviets had no such issue with Soyuz. They were breaking flight duration records on Salyut. With the Apollo rescue vehicle canned, NASA sought alternatives to keep Liberty permanently occupied. One of these alternative used the MPLM as an "on orbit lifeboat".
If Liberty was to fail, the crew would jump into the MPLM, detach it from Liberty and sail into orbit. Then they would have to wait for a Big Gemini rescue flight.
Whatever, the MPLM initiative come from the ASI alone, and not from ESA. It was cheap enough that the ASI could fund it by themselve. That avoided the extremely cumbersome ESA funding process where the agreement of every country had to be bargained.
The NASA-ASI deal gave Rockwell ideas. They tried to negociate a similar agreement with Germany DLR (again, not ESA) and the French CNES. Rockwell tried to sell these space agencies its Apollo lifeboat, a capsule that could also be used as a return vehicle for automated platforms.
The MPLM was in fact part of the so-called Space Tug Follow-On Development (FOD). Because that was considered a mere extension of the tug, funding was easier to obtain than for a new start program. Among FOD considered the main two evolutions were
- adjunction of a pressurised module to the space tug
- turning the tug into a robotic platform
Rockwell in fact hoped for a third possible extension of the tug capabilities, that was the addition of a return vehicle. Could Europe takeover from the U.S government, fund and build the Apollo lifeboat ? Rockwell was ready to transfer CSM-119, the very last Apollo build. Rockwell offer was heard with enthusiasm by the French space agency, the CNES.