# Ch.2 A Solid Foundation
# July-December, 1961
"Crash programs fail because they are based on the theory that with nine women pregnant, you can get a baby a month."
- Wernher von Braun
The selection of solid rockets for Nova shocked the spaceflight industry, not least the rank-and-file of the Marshall Space Flight Center. After years of developing the liquid-fueled Saturn rocket, including a nasty fight with ARPA to ensure the vehicle's survival, it felt like a betrayal. On the other hand, it could be worse: there were some rumors that JPL had nearly been given complete control of the Nova program. In the end, though, MSFC kept control of Nova, acting as the key center for engineering and testing. The Manned Spacecraft Center, currently directing the Mercury program out of Langley Research Center, would be relocated to JPL to direct the design of the Apollo spacecraft and train the astronauts [1]. Meanwhile, a large plot of land in the Clear Lake suburb of Houston had been donated to NASA by Rice University (through the work of VP LBJ) [2]. NASA HQ decided this would be the production facility for the solid rockets. The Clear Lake Assembly and Testing Facility (CLATF) would be run as a semi-autonomous annex of MSFC, allowing for tight cooperation between the engineering and assembly sides [3]. CLATF would house government-owned, contractor-operated facilities to construct the stages, before loading them on barges bound for Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The Nova itself was built of two sizes of solid rockets grouped into four stages. The "Type A" rocket had diameter of 300 inches and a thrust of 6.4 million pounds (28 MN) each [4]. Seven of these behemoths would consist the first stage, while three would make up the second stage. The "Type B" rocket had a diameter of 216 inches, was much shorter, and had a thrust of 0.74 million pounds (3.3 MN). Six Type B rockets would form the third stage, while a single Type B would serve as the final stage, propelling the Apollo spacecraft from a parking orbit around Earth to a Lunar intercept trajectory. Despite its much smaller size, even the Type B rocket was far larger than any solid rocket ever built [5]. There was clearly much work ahead for the MSFC/CLATF team, but once the mental barrier had been broken, von Braun's team fell into their old standby of incremental development.
The first step in this was to design a scaled-down version of Nova, consisting of the second and fourth stages of the full lunar Nova, designated SN-2 and SN-4. This was be "Nova I", and would be used initially to test the Type A and Type B boosters, and launch crew on Earth orbital missions. Next was be "Nova II", which would insert the SN-3 stage between the SN-2 and SN-4 stages to make a vehicle powerful enough to propel Apollo on a circumlunar trajectory. Finally, "Nova III" would add the enormous SN-1 stage to allow Apollo to land on the Moon. The first Nova I launch was planned for the fall of 1964, with the first manned flight in the following year. Three short years did not seem like much to get an entirely new rocket flying, and even Nova I was larger than any rocket ever built. But, with an organized, methodical approach, it could be accomplished.
Meanwhile, the selection of solid Nova had caused no end of consternation for the contractors bidding to build the Apollo spacecraft. They had designed their craft around the much gentler Saturn C-2, and would need to make changes for Nova. Martin and North American Aviation asked for the decision date to be moved back a few months, but to no avail. The Convair Astronautics division of General Dynamics had been working most closely with JPL during the proposal process, and thus barely squeaked by ahead of Martin in the proposal ranking. After several days (and nights) of phone calls, NASA Administrator James Webb announced at a press conference in Washington that Convair would build the main Apollo spacecraft, and Martin would build a lunar landing/ascent stage (based loosely on the second stage of their Titan II). More quietly, Aerojet was given lead on development of the Nova Type A motor, while Thiokol would be lead for the Type B. Thus, all the key contractors were set, and the work of Project Apollo-Nova could begin in earnest.
[1] The MSC/STG had to move at the time, as they were just too close to DC for comfort. Pasadena, in the heart of Southern California's aviation country, was frankly a far better choice than remote Houston. The trigger for the move, though, is JPL's greater influence after the selection of solid Nova.
[2] OTL home of MSC cum JSC
[3] Much like the Michoud Facility in OTL
[4] Compare to the F-1's thrust of 1.5 million pounds
[5] The closest in OTL was a 260-inch rocket built by Aerojet