Chapter 2: Research and Development
Now for ELA to be the vessel that will set boots on the Moon, a lot of work needed to be done for every part of the newly branded Selene Program named after the Greek Goddess of the Moon Selene. Down in Florida, General Dynamics designers began making mockups of the full ELA stack (the cm and the lander), the standalone capsule, the standalone lander, and mockups for the Space Station Freedom derived Multipurpose Logistics Module Habitation Module (MPLM-H). These were all necessary to visualize how the final hardware would look in action. The Lunar Lander and Command Module were designed to be slim and skinny to fit inside of the shuttle payload bay nice and neatly so all space in the bay could be filled with space for crew excursion and the Canadarm of course. The mission plan on paper was simple: The shuttle would launch an unmanned science package to the Moon on top of the Lunar Excursion Vehicle (LEV or just Lunar Lander) which will house the supplies needed for the habitats, many experiments including a lunar mining experiment, optical telescopes, and solar arrays for extended stays. The next missions which would take place a few weeks or a month after the first one would launch the first MPLM-H module to the cargo/science package sitting idle on the surface. The MPLM-H will house crew food supply and medical gear, radiators, and fuel cells which will be activated upon arrival of crew sometime in the year 2000 or 2001. Then the Crew lands and begins unpacking the science equipment, and stowing MPLM-H equipment to prepare for their 21 days stay on the moon. And from beyond the first three missions, expansion can begin with ideas of arrays of rollout solar panels, lunar construction, and a biological lab habitat. The LEV would be powered by 4 RL-10 engines with extendable nozzles and the ability to throttle either remotely or by crew manually for a soft touchdown. The crew of two would depressurize the Command Module with EVA suits on and would then release the hatch and then make their way onto the ground. Multiple contingency programs were created to combat issues that may arise. These included engine failures, landing leg damage, and in orbit contingencies. In the case of an engine failure, the outcome would be judged by factors such as altitude, and how many engines were lost. If 1 RL-10 engine is lost during descent, then the other 3 can counter the loss of thrust and the landing can be completed. If 2 or more engines are lost and the crew was at a higher altitude, then they could simply abort landing and return home or enter a parking orbit, however if they're too low then there is no chance they can be saved, and their loss will be deemed a loss of crew and vehicle.
Meanwhile as ELA was being sorted out, the mighty Titan IV was in the middle of modification. The Titan IV would be the vehicle that would launch the Centaur-T upper stage. The Centaur-T famously flies onboard the Titan-IV as an optional third stage to boost payloads into final orbits or into interplanetary trajectories. Now it can be modified to serve the purpose of being the booster stage for ELA. Modifications though would need to be made to accommodate for the new payload. The payload adapter was modified with a docking port of sorts so the ELA can mate with it in orbit. The Titan IV itself would need to be modified to carry this large payload into the peculiar orbit necessary for a lunar transfer in the form of Aluminum-Lithium tanks to replace the original material used to make the tanks. The Al-Li tanks made the core stage much lighter which in turn meant it could lift the Centaur-T into the parking orbit necessary. There were ideas of upgrading the SRMs, but it was decided that the current ones were already very capable. Normally, the Centaur-T is powered by two RL-10 engines but for this new payload, it was in need of a more powerful alternative. The RL-10 C-1 was the chosen upgrade for the original dual engines with the C-1 having an abundance of power to launch the payload to its destination without the risk of being underpowered or very long burn times although of course the burn will be long and strenuous.
And finally, the Space Shuttle aka the vehicle that will bring the payload that will make this program possible into orbit. This would be the largest payload the Shuttle will ever launch and for that reason there will need to be upgrades similar to those done on the Titan IV. The original tank design was modified to have the Aluminum-Lithium alloy duo that Titan IV was in the middle of getting fitted into, and the SRBs would be upgraded to have much more thrust in the form of Advanced Solid Rocket Motors (ASRM). Training for the Selene Program for Space Shuttle crews was set to begin in 1993 and the timeline of events of the mission would be done through simulators at the cape. The first simulations followed the events of what will be SLP-001-T (SLP stands for Selene Program, the T stands for Test) with a shuttle crew of 4 and two astronauts on the mid deck who were the lucky few to enter the capsule, one of the Mission Specialists would use the Canadarm to maneuver the Command Module and dock it to the LEV and into the mission configuration, then when the command is given, one by one the two ELA crew will EVA from the shuttle and enter the Command Module after a quick inspection of the docking port, from there they would enter the capsule and go through startup procedures while the shuttle crew waits on standby incase of an error, if no error is found and the mission is clear to continue, the Canadarm would help carefully move the stack out of the payload bay once the LEV is separated from the rest of the ship. In case of an error after separation where the mission would need to be aborted, the stack could be birthed with the shuttle once again, the crew would egress and enter the shuttle once again, the CM would be removed from the LEV, and the crew would return back to KSC or Edwards judging on the conditions. And like anything, this was easier said than done with many criticizing the abort deconstruction as finicky and unnecessary, but the counter argument was that instead of endangering the crew with a return inside a capsule that is unable to finish the mission due to an error, it would be better to collect the equipment, and send it back to the cape for repairs and a reflight at a later date. Even with the critics, the original plan was kept and the original training continued.
And now it was a question of where launches at the cape would occur. Back in the 1960s during the time of Apollo, NASA authorized the construction of pad LC-39C. The pad fell dormant once Apollo became more limited in what could be done and was subsequently closed down in 1973 after Skylab-1. It was never demolished and was kept closed during the early shuttle program as there was no need for shuttles to use it. But now, 39C could be home to launches for the first time in decades now that there was a need for more launches back-to-back. Its first use would be for pad tests with a boilerplate LEV and Command Module in a mockup Shuttle Payload Bay through 1993 and 1995. LC-42 was another pad that was built for glory but was left abandoned but was reopened in 1992 to support the flight of the Titan IV with the modified Centaur-T.
The years between 1990 and 1995 would be years of great accomplishment with many things to do but nothing could prevent General Dynamics from making their dream of “Cheaper, Better, Faster” to the moon real. It was all part of a greater plan and someday the real space shuttles will launch with their own test payloads to prepare the great journey ahead of humanity.