Manned Orbiting Laboratory
Gemini B reentry module separates from the MOL Laboratory. (USAF)
The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was part of the United States Air Force's manned spaceflight program, a successor to the cancelled X-20 Dyna-Soar project. It was announced to the public on the same day that the Dyna-Soar program was cancelled, December 10, 1963. Also codenamed Dorian and given the designation KH-10, the MOL was intended to be a space station used for reconnaissance purposes. It was derived from NASA's Gemini program. The project was cancelled on June 10, 1969 before there were any operational flights. MOL was later superseded by the KH-9 spy satellite. The contractor for the MOL was the Douglas Aircraft Company.
There was one test flight of an MOL mockup that was constructed from a Titan II propellant tank. The Gemini 2 spacecraft was re-flown on a 33-minute sub-orbital test flight. After the Gemini was separated for its sub-orbital reentry, the MOL mockup continued on into orbit and released three satellites. A hatch was installed in the Gemini 2 heat shield to provide access to the MOL and was tested in the sub-orbital reentry. The test flight was launched by the USAF on November 3, 1966 at 13:50:42 UTC on launch vehicle Titan IIIC-9 from LC-40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The MOL was going to have a helium-oxygen atmosphere. It used a Gemini B spacecraft as a reentry vehicle. The crew were launched with the Gemini B and MOL and returned to earth in the Gemini B. They would conduct up to 30 days of military reconnaissance using large optics, cameras, and side-looking radar.
MOL test launch Nov. 3, 1966 from Cape Canaveral, FL. (USAF)
Specifications
Operational MOLs were to be launched on Titan IIIM rockets from SLC-6 at Vandenberg AFB, California and LC-40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
14 of 17 MOL astronauts: James Abrahamson - top right; Robert Herres - top left; Richard Truly - bottom right (USAF)
Proposed MOL Flight Schedule
MOL Astronauts
See also
References