The spacecraft's twin, Mariner 7, had left Earth on 26 March. It flew over Mars' southern hemisphere on 5 August 1969, snapping 126 images of the smooth-floored Hellas basin, the heavily cratered Hellespontus region, and the south pole ice cap. The probes seemed to confirm the pessimistic picture painted by Mariner 4 in 1965. The New York Times noted that NASA had "begun drumming up pressure to spend huge sums required to send men to Mars in the early 1980s . . . . But the latest Mariner information makes the possibility of life on Mars much less than it seemed even a week ago, thus removing much of the original motivation for such a project." 48
NASA's 4 August STG presentation had three parts, lasted 55 minutes, and took into account neither the opinion polls nor the new Mars data. In the first part, Paine spent 20 minutes describing the "mystery, challenge, rich potential, and importance to man of the solar system" and "how the United States can move from [the] start represented by Apollo to exploration of the entire solar system with a program requiring only a modest investment of our national resources." 49
Von Braun followed Paine and spent 30 minutes describing a piloted Mars expedition in 1982. His presentation formed the heart and soul of NASA's STG pitch. 50 In retrospect, it also marked the apogee of von Braun's career.
Von Braun drew on a sizable library of conceptual Mars spacecraft art generated in the Marshall Future Projects Office to show Mayo, Dubridge, Seamans, Johnson, Seaborg, and Agnew vehicles similar to the Boeing Mars cruiser and the NAR MEM. In his IPP-based plan, the MEM was the only piece of hardware applicable only to Mars flight. All other vehicle elements would, he explained, be developed for cislunar roles. MEM go-ahead in 1974 would mark de facto commitment to a 1982 Mars expedition. The first space station module, the design of which would provide the basis for the Mars ship Mission Module, would fly in 1975, as would the first Earth-orbital Space Shuttle. The year 1978 would see the MEM test flight; then, in 1981, the first Mars mission would depart Earth orbit for a Mars landing in 1982.
The Mars mission would employ two Mars spacecraft consisting of three Nuclear Shuttles arranged side by side and a Mission Module. The complete spacecraft would measure 100 feet across the Nuclear Shuttles and 270 feet long. All modules would reach orbit on upgraded Saturn V rockets. After the twin expedition ships were assembled, reusable Space Shuttles would launch water, food, some propellant, and two six-person crews to the waiting Mars ships. At Earth-orbit launch, each ship would mass 800 tons, of which 75 percent was hydrogen propellant.
Figure 15—Twin Mars ships blast their all-male crews from Earth orbit using NERVA nuclear rocket stages. In August 1969, Wernher von Braun used images such as this to present NASA's vision of a Mars expedition in the 1980s to the Space Task Group and to Congress. (NASA Photo MSFC69-PD-SA-176)
<!-- image -->Von Braun targeted Mars expedition departure for 12 November 1981. The port and starboard Nuclear Shuttles would then fire their NERVA engines, achieve Trans-Mars Injection, and shut down and separate from the center Nuclear Shuttle and Mission Module. They would turn around and fire their engines again to slow down and enter elliptical Earth orbit. A few days later they would reach perigee (lowest point above the Earth) at the original assembly orbit altitude, fire their engines to circularize their orbits, and rendezvous with the Space Station for refurbishment and re-use. The ships would weigh 337.5 tons each after port and starboard Nuclear Shuttle separation.
As in the Planetary JAG piloted flyby missions, the nine-month coast to Mars would be "by no means an idle phase." The ships each would serve as "a manned laboratory in space, free of the disturbing influences of the Earth." According to von Braun, "[t]he fact that there will be two observation points, Earth and spacecraft, permits several possible experiments." In addition, "as yet unidentified comets might be observed for the first time." 51
Von Braun had the twin Mars ships reaching Mars on 9 August 1982. Each would fire the NERVA engine on its remaining Nuclear Shuttle to slow down and enter Mars orbit. At Mars Orbit Insertion each spacecraft would weigh 325 tons. The crews would then spend two days selecting landing sites for the expedition's 12 automated Sample Return Probes. The probes would land, retrieve samples uncontaminated by human contact, and lift off, then deliver the samples automatically to sterilized bio-labs on the ships for study.
If the samples contained no hazards, a three-man landing party would descend to the surface in one of the 47.5-ton MEMs. The other would be held in reserve—von Braun explained that "capability is provided for one man to land a MEM and bring a stranded crew back to the ship." He promised that "Man's first step on Mars will be no less exciting than Neil Armstrong's first step on the Moon." 52
The astronauts would then spend between 30 and 60 days on Mars. Von Braun listed objectives for Martian exploration, including the following:
- Understand Martian geology "because Mars probably closely paralleled the earth in origin and . . . development."
- Search for life—von Braun stated that "preliminary data indicate that some lower forms of life can survive in the Martian environment . . . in isolated areas higher forms . . . may exist. Man on Mars will [also] be able to study . . . the behavior of terrestrial life forms transplanted to the Martian environment."
- "Drilling for . . . water will be an early objective . . . and its discovery would open many possibilities . . . . For example, it might become possible to produce rocket fuel for the return trip on later missions." 53
The landing party would lift off in the MEM ascent stage using the descent stage as a launch pad. The ascent stage would dock with the orbiting ship and the crew would transfer 900 pounds of samples and equipment, then would discard the expended ascent stage. The ships would ignite their center Nuclear Shuttles to leave Mars on 28 October 1982, after 80 days near the planet. The ships would weigh 190 tons each prior to Mars orbit departure.
Von Braun told the STG that the twin Mars ships would fly by Venus on 28 February 1983, to use the planet's gravity to slow their approach to Earth, thereby reducing the amount of braking propellant needed to enter Earth orbit. During swingby the astronauts would map Venus' cloud-shrouded surface with radar and deploy four automated probes.
Von Braun scheduled return to Earth for 14 August 1983. He noted that an Apollo-style direct reentry was possible; however, until "a better assessment can be made of the back contamination hazard (the return by man of pathogens that might prove harmful to earth inhabitants), a more conservative approach has been planned, i.e., the return of the crew to earth orbit for a quarantine period." 54 The center Nuclear Shuttles would place the Mission Modules in Earth orbit and perform rendezvous with the Space Station, where doctors would examine the astronauts. The Mars ships would weigh 80 tons each at mission's end, one-tenth of their Earth-departure weight. Following their quarantine period, the crew would return to Earth aboard a Space Shuttle. The center Nuclear Shuttles, meanwhile, would be refurbished and reused.
He then looked beyond the first expedition, stating that additional flights to Mars could occur during the periods 1983-84, 1986-87, and 1988-89. The 50-person Mars Base might be established in 1989, in time for the 20th anniversary of von Braun's presentation.
Figure 16—Compared with cramped Apollo spacecraft, the lodgings proposed for NASA's 1980s Mars ships were palatial. In this cutaway, note the four-deck Mission Module (center) and large conical Mars lander (right). (NASA Photo S-69-56295)
<!-- image -->Von Braun told the STG that NASA's budget would peak at $7 billion per year in 1975, or about 0.6 percent of GNP, and that it would level out at $5 billion in 1989, at which time its share of GNP would be 0.3 percent. 55 This assumed steady 4 percent annual growth in the U.S. economy. In his closing remarks, Paine put the cost a little higher than had von Braun; he told the other STG members that "[t]his kind of program would be possible for the United States with a budget rising to about $9 billion [per year] in the last half of the decade." 56
“Now Is Not the Time . . .”
NASA's vision was breathtaking, but stood little chance of acceptance in 1969 America. Robert Seamans appears to have been generally sympathetic to Paine's vision, yet cognizant of political and economic realities. He arrived at the 4 August meeting with a letter for Agnew laying out a less expansive view of America's future in space—one similar to the recommendations made by the transition Task Force in January. Seamans wrote, "I don't believe we should commit this Nation to a manned planetary mission, at least until the feasibility and need are more firmly established. Experience must be gained in an orbiting space station before manned planetary missions can be planned." Then he recommended against early commitment to a space station.
Seamans advised instead that NASA should expand AAP and continue lunar exploration "on a careful step-by-step basis reviewing scientific data from one flight before going to the next." He differed from the transition Task Force by recommending "a program to study by experimental means including orbital tests the possibility of a Space Transportation System that would permit the cost per pound in orbit to be reduced by a substantial factor (ten times or more)." 57 Aviation Week & Space Technology had by this time already predicted that the STG would recommend a reusable Space Shuttle as NASA's post-Apollo focus. 58
On 5 August, the day Mariner 7 flew past Mars, Paine and von Braun presented their pitch to the Senate Space Committee. Clinton Anderson, its chair, had in effect already responded to the presentation; on 29 July 1969, he said that "now is not the time to commit ourselves to the goal of a manned mission to Mars." 59 Coming from Anderson, this was ominous and somewhat puzzling. The New Mexico Senator had backed NASA since its birth, in large part because the Agency gave the nuclear rocket program he supported funding and a raison d'être. His rejection of Mars placed him in a dilemma—how could he back nuclear propulsion yet not support what was widely seen as its chief mission? Other Space Committee members had similar reactions to NASA's presentation. Senator Mark Hatfield (Republican-Oregon) told Paine and von Braun that he supported the space program, but was "not really ready, at this point . . . to make commitments . . . to meet a deadline to get a man to Mars." Senator Margaret Chase Smith (Republican-Maine) named Paine's game, saying that the government "should avoid making long-range plans during this emotional period [following Apollo 11] . . . otherwise we may become involved in a crash program without the justification we had for Apollo—and therefore without the full support of Congress." 60
Despite the clear signals from Congress, the STG remained split between Washington neophytes and old hands, with the former stubbornly preaching Mars and the latter counseling something less expansive. Robert Mayo broke the deadlock when he proposed that the group offer the President several pacing options contingent on available funds. 61
Paine and Mueller then took their case to the public with a presentation to the National Press Club. Mueller painted a picture of NASA's space activities in 1979, when, he said, more than 200 people would work in space at one time. Most would be scattered in facilities between Earth orbit and the lunar surface; however, 12 would be en route to Mars in two ships. 62 Aviation Week & Space Technology editor Robert Hotz attended the Press Club talks and became swept up in NASA's vision. In his editorial following the talks he took a page from Paine's book, writing that the Apollo 11 mission has opened an endless frontier which mankind must explore. Man is extending his domain from the 8,000-mile diameter of his home planet earth to the 8-billion-mile diameter of the solar system . . . . Hopefully [the President] will note that only by setting extremely high goals have extraordinary results been achieved . . . . We think Dr. Paine made a telling point when he warned against establishing future goals too low. 63