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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canceled Apollo missions | 3/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canceled_Apollo_missions | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T12:33:17.921323+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Cancellations === On January 4, 1970, NASA announced the cancellation of Apollo 20 so that its Saturn V launch rocket could be used to launch the Skylab space station as a "dry workshop" (assembled on the ground), instead of constructing it as a "wet workshop" from a spent S-IVB upper stage of a Saturn IB launch vehicle. Also, budget restrictions had limited the Saturn V production to the original 15. After NASA Deputy Administrator George M. Low announced that the final three Moon landings were rescheduled for 1973 and 1974, following the three planned Skylab missions, Chief Astronaut Deke Slayton moved Lind to Apollo Applications, stating that "with the cancellation of 20, I could see I just wasn't going to have a flight for him". Another lunar landing was lost in April 1970 when Apollo 13 had its in-flight failure, and the Fra Mauro landing site was reassigned to Apollo 14. Then on September 2, 1970, NASA announced it was canceling the H4 and J4 missions after more budget cuts. Skylab was postponed to 1973, and the final landing schedule became:
Apollo 14 (H2) Fra Mauro Formation, February 1971 Apollo 15 (J1) Hadley–Apennine, July 1971 Apollo 16 (J2) Descartes Highlands, April 1972 Apollo 17 (J3) Taurus–Littrow valley, December 1972 At the time, 35 of NASA's 49 active astronauts were waiting for a mission. In the final days of the program, Apollo 17 LMP Schmitt aggressively lobbied for a crewed landing on the far side of the Moon, targeting the far side Tsiolkovskiy crater. Schmitt's ambitious proposal included the launch into lunar orbit of special communications satellites based on the existing TIROS satellites to allow contact with the astronauts during their powered descent and lunar surface operations. NASA administrators rejected these plans because of lack of funding and added risk. In August 1971, President Richard Nixon proposed to cancel all remaining lunar landings (Apollo 16 and 17). His Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Caspar Weinberger was opposed to this and persuaded Nixon to keep the remaining Moon missions, but recommended that if such cancellation did happen, it should be "on the ground that Apollo 15 was so successful in gathering needed data that we can now shift, sooner than previously expected, to the Space Shuttle, Grand Tour, NERVA, etc". John Young, who flew on Apollo 10 and 16, believed that fear of losing astronauts was a reason why NASA canceled Apollo 18, 19, and 20.
=== Crew assignments === Slayton was the director of Flight Crew Operations and effectively chose the crews for the flights. He did not intend to give astronauts two lunar landing commands but, according to historian Michael Cassutt, as late as the summer of 1969—when 10 landings were still scheduled—Slayton planned to give Lunar Module pilots Fred Haise, Edgar Mitchell, and James Irwin the opportunity to walk again on the Moon as commanders. During the early Apollo missions he used a rotation system of assigning a crew as backup and then, three missions later, as the prime crew. However, by the later Apollo flights, this system was used less frequently as astronauts left the program, and Slayton wanted to give rookies a chance, and astronauts did not want to take backup positions that no longer could lead to prime-crew spots. Harrison Schmitt was likely to be the first scientist to the Moon on Apollo 18 or 19, with Don L. Lind the second.
In the case of Apollo 18, the crew was probably the Apollo 15 backup crew:
Richard F. Gordon Jr. (commander (CDR)) Vance D. Brand (Command Module pilot (CMP)) Harrison Schmitt (Lunar Module pilot (LMP)) When Apollo 18 was canceled, Schmitt was moved up to Apollo 17 under pressure from the scientific community, replacing Joe Engle. Schmitt, a geologist, became the twelfth man and the only professional scientist to walk on the Moon. Slayton's intention for the Apollo 19 crew (prior to cancellation) was the original Apollo 16 backup crew:
Fred Haise (CDR) William R. Pogue (CMP) Gerald P. Carr (LMP) For Apollo 20 there is even more uncertainty. Based on normal crew rotation, the crew would likely have been:
Stuart Roosa (CDR) (replacing Pete Conrad, already CDR on Apollo 12) Paul J. Weitz (CMP) Jack R. Lousma (LMP) Another possibility would have been:
Stuart Roosa or Edgar Mitchell (CDR) Jack R. Lousma (CMP) Don L. Lind (LMP)
== Skylab ==
=== Skylab Rescue ===
One of the surplus CSMs, CSM-119, was modified to carry two additional crew and kept on standby for a potential rescue mission in case of issues on-board Skylab. During Skylab 3, a malfunction on the Apollo CSM docked to the station caused fears that the crew would not be able to return safely. CSM-119 was rolled out to Launch Complex 39B on Saturn IB SA-209 during the mission and prepared for a possible launch. Two astronauts, Brand (commander) and Lind (Command Module pilot), would have flown the CSM to retrieve the three crew members. The problem was fixed without requiring a rescue flight. CSM-119 was returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building and remained on standby until the Skylab program ended. CSM-119 was also held as a backup CSM for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.
=== Skylab 5 ===
Skylab 5 would have been a short 20-day mission to conduct more scientific experiments and boost Skylab into a higher orbit. Brand, Lind, and William B. Lenoir (science pilot) would have been the crew.
== Surplus hardware ==
Two complete Saturn V rockets went unused after the Apollo program, SA-514 and SA-515, as well as the third stage of the SA-513. SA-513 was the launch vehicle originally planned for the Apollo 18 mission, which was instead used (without its third stage) to launch Skylab.