NRO OPROVED FOR 

REN.E.ASE lt.rULY 2015 • . 

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DtaviEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 1963 

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OXford 53201 (Info) 

OXford 73189 (Copies) 

NO. '1556-63 

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Ai R FORGE TO DgYZT.10F 

MANNED ORBITLNG LABORATORY 

Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. today assigned to the 

Air Force a new program for the development of a near earth Manned 

Orbiting Laboratory (MOL). 

The MOL program, which will consist of an orbiting pressurized 

cylinder approximately the size of a small house trailer, will increase 

the Defense Department effort to determine military usefulness of man 

in space. This program, while increasing this effort, will permit 

savings of approximately $100 million over present 19644965 military 

space programmed expenditures, 

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MOL will be designed so that astronauts can move about freely in 

it without a space suit and conduct observations and experiments the 

laboratory over a period of up to a month. The first manned flight of • 

the MOL is expected late in 1967 or early in 1968. 

In initiating the MOL program, it was decided to terminate the 

DYNASOAR (X-20) program because the current requirement is for a 

program aimed directly at the basic question of man's utility 'in space, 

rather than a program. limited to finding means to control the return 

of man from space, The DYNASOAR project was designed to do the 

latter. 

The DYNASOAR -vehicle is a one-man spacecraft, launched from 

a TITAN III booster. It was designed to test the feasibility of maneuverability during reentry, thus allowing the pilot to choose a landing:site 

and land in a manner similar to a conventional aircraft. 

The MOL will be attached to a modified GEMINI capsule and lifted. 

into orbit by a TITAN III booster. The GEMINI capsule is being developed 

by NASA for use in the APOLLO moon shot program.. The TITAN III is 

being developed as a standardized space booster by the Air 1'orce.: 
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Astronauts will be seated in the modified GEMLNI capsule during 

launch, and will move to the laboratory after injection into orbit. After 

completion of their tasks in space, the astronauts will return to the 

apsale, which will then be detached from the laboratory to return to 

earth. 

The design of the MOL vehicle will permit rendezvous in space 

1 between the orbiting laboratory and a second GEMINI capsule, so that. 

relief crews could replace original crews in the laboratory; Such an 

operation would be undertaken itman's utility in a space environment 

were demonstrated and long operations in the space laboratory were 

needed. 

The MOL program will make use of the existing NASA control 

facilities. These include the tracking facilities which have been set 

up for the GEMINI and other space flight programs of NASA and of the 

Department of Defense throughout the world. - • 

The laboratory itself will conduct military experiments involving 

manned use of equipment and instrumentation in orbit and, if desired by 

NASA, for scientific and civilian purposes. Preliminary ground or • ' • 

aircraft simulation will be made in all cases before full commitment' 

to space experimentation. 

The problem of reentry conditions, materials' and techniques 

can be studied at substantially lower costs without actually using a 

manned vehicle like DYNASOAR. The MOL program will permit much 

more.extensive exploration of the in-flight capabilities of the manned 

space vehicle. If results of the MOL.and. the unmanned reentry programs 

warrant, a new and more advanced ferry vehicle 'program may be initiated 

some years in the future.