Apollo 20
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Apollo 20 was a cancelled flight within the Apollo Program.
Based on the normal crew rotation scheme used by Deke Slayton, the crew would have been:
- Charles Conrad, Commander
- Paul Weitz, Command Module Pilot
- Jack Lousma, Lunar Module Pilot
This crew however had been transferred to the Skylab program and Conrad had already walked on the Moon. So it is thought that the crew would have been:
Before cancellation, (according to "NASA OMSF, Manned Space Flight Weekly Report - July 28, 1969."), Apollo 20 was scheduled to land on the Moon at crater Copernicus in December 1972. Other NASA sources list the landing site as Tycho.
On January 4, 1970 NASA announced it was cancelling the Apollo 20 as its Saturn V rocket was now needed for the Skylab space station and budget restrictions had limited the Saturn V production to 15 flight models.
CSM-115, the Command/Service Module, that would have been used for the mission was never completed and scrapped. LM-14, the Lunar Module was also scrapped before completion, though there are some unconfirmed reports that some parts (in addition to parts from LTA-3) are included in LM on display at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia. The Saturn V that would have launched the mission, SA-515, was unused in the end, after the cancellation of Apollo 18 and 19. Its first stage is found at the Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, Louisiana. Its second stage is part of the Saturn V display at the Johnson Space Center. The third stage was converted to serve as a backup for Skylab and is now at the National Air and Space Museum.
See also
External links
- Apollo 20 entry in Encyclopedia Astronautica (http://www.astronautix.com/flights/apollo20.htm)
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Apollo 18 through 20 - The Cancelled Missions (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_18_20.html)