Eye in the Sky: USAF's Manned Orbiting Laboratory
- Aeryn Avilla
- Apr 15, 2020
- 11 min read
Updated: Mar 28
This post is being revised. Please come back later.
It was December 1963 and the Space Race was in full gear. The United States had launched its first four manned orbital missions to catch up with the Soviet Union and both the Mercury and Vostok programs had successfully sent twelve human beings into space. Development of the two-man Gemini spacecraft was underway. On December 10, the US Air Force canceled its X-20 Dyna-Soar program, a manned reconnaissance and satellite interception spaceplane, and announced plans for a space station it called the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, or MOL.
MOL's foundations are in the early reconnaissance satellite programs first studied by the post-war think-tank Project RAND and outlined by the Douglas Aircraft Company in its 1946 2500-page report titled "Preliminary Design of an Experimental World-Circling Spaceship". Beginning in 1947 under contract to the US Air Force, formerly the US Army Air Forces, and into the 1950s RAND continued studying how satellites could be used for military purposes, including reconnaissance, as well as communications and meteorology. 1954's Project Feed Back conceptualized a reconnaissance satellite capturing photos of Soviet military installations. By 1956, the Air Force instigated the Advanced Reconnaissance System, or Weapon System (WS) 177L, satellite project. The WS 117L began as "a family of separate subsystems that could carry out different missions" (USSF) and by the end of 1959, branched out into three distinct satellite programs: The Discoverer Program (later the clandestine Corona Program) and the Satellite and Missile Observation System (SAMOS) photographic reconnaissance spacecraft and the Missile Defense Alarm System (MIDAS) early warning satellite.
Orbital spaceflight became a reality on October 4, 1957 with the Soviets' launch of Sputnik, and while the 23-inch sphere could do nothing more than beep as it passed overhead, it "established the customary norm of free passage in space even when that passage transits over the territory of sovereign nations" (Listner, 2011). No government objected to Sputnik flying over its territory and the Soviet Union would be hypocritical if it objected to other nations' satellites flying over its territory.
At the time, American space efforts were under the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency, but the Eisenhower Administration felt it necessary to split civil and military space operations. The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 was signed on July 29, 1958 and established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which began operations on October 1 and absorbed parts of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (the body responsible for the first American satellite, Explorer 1, and Redstone launch vehicle family), parts of the Naval Research Laboratory's Project Vanguard, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. President Eisenhower decided NASA would be primarily responsible for sending humans into space, but that did not mean the Air Force had to shut the door on its crewed space efforts.
The Military Orbital Development System, or MODS, was the Air Force's Space System Division's proposal for a long-duration military space station. The orbiting laboratory would be cylindrical in shape, launched atop a Titan III rocket, operated by a crew of four, and serviced by the Gemini spacecraft. MODS was formally approved in July 1962 and expected to be operational by 1966. In the meantime, Air Force astronauts would gain spaceflight experience during an initiative called Blue Gemini, a series of seven flights using off-the-shelf Gemini hardware. The first two missions would have an Air Force astronaut serve as pilot on a NASA mission with a NASA command pilot carrying out NASA objectives. The next two flights would have all-Air Force crews continuing to fly NASA missions. The final three flights would be dedicated to Air Force objectives and would finish qualifying Air Force astronauts for long-duration military spaceflight as well as develop rendezvous and docking procedures for future space station missions. In January 1963, after determining some of the military experiments planned for Blue Gemini could be flown on NASA Gemini missions, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara canceled Blue Gemini and MODS. On December 10, he announced the cancelation of the X-20 Dyna-Soar and the creation of its replacements, a revived MODS project called the Manned Orbiting Laboratory.
The Aerospace Research Pilot Course at the US Air Force Test Pilot School (formerly the Aerospace Research Pilot School) at Edwards Air Force Base in California was established to teach prospective astronauts for the X-15 hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft, Dyna-Soar, and MOL programs. Unlike NASA astronaut candidacy, for which pilots applied to the program themselves, potential MOL candidates were selected by their superiors. Candidates could not be taller than 6 feet and had to be US citizens by birth, serving officers and qualified military pilots, and specifically, graduates of the Aerospace Research Pilot School. On November 12, 1965, a Friday night, the first group of MOL spacemen called “MOL Aerospace Research Pilots” and not astronauts, were announced, six Air Force officers and two naval officers for a total of eight pilots: Majors Mike Adams, Albert Crews, and James Taylor, and captains Richard Lawyer, Lachlan Macleay, and Francis Neubeck of the US Air Force and Lieutenants John Finley and Richard Truly of the US Navy.
Applications were accepted for the second and third groups of MOL pilots. Some applied to both MOL and NASA, as the agency was in the process of selecting candidates for its fifth group of astronauts. On June 17, 1966, the five pilots of MOL’s second group were Air Force captains Karol Bobko, Gordon Fullerton, and Henry Hartsfield, Navy Lieutenant Robert Crippen, and Marine Corps Captain Robert Overmyer. On June 30, 1967, the final four MOL pilots were announced, this time all from the Air Force—Majors James Abrahamson, Robert Lawrence, and Donald Peterson, and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Herres. Major Lawrence was the first African-American chosen to be an astronaut [1].
The pilots were not made aware of MOL’s reconnaissance objectives until after their selections were confirmed, and those who applied knew only that the Air Force was planning a space laboratory to carry out military experiments. Training included briefings from contractors, classroom modules, and simulators of MOL’s systems. The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker was used for zero-G training, the same aircraft used by NASA to train its astronauts until 2004 [2]. Like their NASA counterparts, the pilots also underwent jungle survival training, water survival training, and scuba certification, as well as neutral buoyancy training, which NASA had pioneered during the Gemini program.
[1] Air Force Captain Ed Dwight was the first African-American astronaut candidate but was ultimately not chosen by NASA.
[2] The C-131 Samaritan was the reduced-gravity aircraft trainer used during Project Mercury.
Bibliography
Day, Dwane A. "A Darker Shade of Blue: The Unknown Air Force Manned Space Program." The Space Review, September 12, 2022. https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4448/1
Listner, Michael. "The Moon Treaty: Failed International Law or Waiting in the Shadows?" The Space Review, October 24, 2011. https://www.thespacereview.com/article/1954/1
"We did have a joke in the program that one day, there was gonna be a little article back on page fifty of the newspaper that said, 'An unidentified spacecraft launched from an unidentified launch pad with unidentified astronauts to do an unidentified mission.' That's the way it was." -Dick Truly
When President Lyndon B. Johnson first announced MOL to the public in 1964, he claimed it was primarily for science experiments and to “prove the utility of man in space for military missions.” While NASA Gemini missions did perform some experiments, its primary goal was preparation for manned lunar flights. It was important to hide the actual purpose of MOL for two reasons: First, public support. People were already protesting the Vietnam War and if it was discovered the military was planning on sending spies into space, the public might turn on the government and even become suspicious of NASA operations. Second, if the Soviet Union was aware their enemy would be spying on them from space, what was to stop them from doing the same. The USSR actually did have their own military space station named Almaz in the 1970's. In fact, the secrecy of MOL was so extreme that each class of astronauts participated in exactly one press conference before training began and disappeared into the darkness.
The spacecraft itself consisted of two parts—a capsule and a space station. The capsule was a modified version of NASA’s Gemini capsule called Gemini B. Although it looked similar to NASA’s many of the systems were changed for its missions. For example, the systems were upgraded for thirty days of orbital storage since the longest NASA flight would be only fourteen days. Another critical change to the Gemini was its heat shield. In order for astronauts to exit the capsule and enter the space station attached to it (and vice versa), they would have to crawl through a hatch. But in order to do this, a hole needed to be cut in the bottom of the spacecraft where the heat shield is located. If the hatch/heat shield was not in place during reentry, the crew would burn up and perish. The OPS 0855, also designated OV4-3, was the boilerplate used to test this method. It was attached to NASA’s old unmanned Gemini 2 spacecraft, which had already flown in space, as well as a MOL mockup built from a Titan II rocket propellant tank. To distinguish it from other Gemini spacecraft, the name “US Air Force” was painted on its side. The Gemini 2 and OPS 0855 would together be a prototype of the Gemini B. It launched on November 3, 1966 from Cape Kennedy's Launch Complex 40 on a Titan IIIC-9 rocket on a thirty-three minute suborbital flight. Fortunately for the program, the test flight was a success and the capsule survived reentry, becoming the first capsule to fly in space twice. Despite its success, it was the only flight of the MOL program. The Gemini B capsule is now on display at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum in Florida.
Another important aspect of MOL was the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit, or AMU. It was a backpack worn during an EVA that used two hand controllers for steering and propulsion. It was to be tested on Gemini 9A but astronaut Gene Cernan had difficulty getting to it (due to its size, it was not stowed in the spacecraft but rather at the back of the spacecraft on the outside). Another attempt was to be made on Gemini 12 and flown untethered, but was scrubbed two months before launch. Some people, however, thought the Air Force had plans in mind other than repairs on the outside of the spacecraft. NASA astronaut Deke Slayton stated in his autobiography Deke!, "I guess they thought they might have the chance to inspect somebody else's satellites."
Since MOL was a military reconnaissance program, it needed an optical system. The first spy satellite was the KH-4 Corona, which launched in 1960. It and others like it were highly successful…when there was no cloud coverage. The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) developed the KH-10 Dorian specifically for MOL. Unlike the KH-4 Corona and those like it, Dorian was not a satellite but rather a system installed within the space station for the astronauts to use. It was determined that astronauts were better at finding and capturing targets of interest than unmanned spy satellites. However, MOL was cancelled before any operational flights of Dorian took place. The KH-10 was succeeded by the infamous KH-11 Kennan, which is said to have had a 3-inch imaging resolution and could digitally send pictures back to Earth.
While the NRO gave MOL its KH-10 Dorian, it actually advocated for its KH-9 Hexagon satellite, also known as Big Bird. Between 1965 and 1969, MOL’s budget doubled from $1.5 billion to $3 billion, and the Department of Defense was not too sure if it could support it anymore. Manned flight is much much more expensive than unmanned flight and the necessities for manned flight, such as the basic food, water, and life support systems, were not required with traditional spy satellites. Furthermore, the NRO was certain its Hexagon was better than MOL ever could be, even without the intuition of man.
On June 10, 1969, just under six years after its conception, the Manned Orbiting Laboratory Program was cancelled. NASA was a little more than a month away from landing men on the moon and MOL was still three years away from its first scheduled manned flight. Though it had support within Congress, its cost and risk were too high. CIA head Richard Helms did not support the program because he feared the death of a MOL astronaut might ground further launches and jeopardize the entire satellite reconnaissance program. Additionally, the Vietnam War was still going on and Congress was already making cuts to NASA’s budget. It was determined that unmanned spy satellites, such as the Hexagon, could do just as well or even better than MOL.
But what about the would-be astronauts? NASA accepted applications from those still with the MOL program who were interested in flying for them instead. Since the astronaut office was quite full, the agency decided to take only those who were under the age of thirty-five since it would be at least a decade before any of them made it into space. Seven were accepted and became NASA’s seventh class of astronauts, the MOL Seven. These men were Bo Bobko, Bob Crippen, Gordon Fullerton, Hank Hartsfield, Bob Overmyer, Donald Peterson, and Dick Truly. It would be twelve years before any of the MOL Seven flew in space, and the first to do so was Bob Crippen when he served as pilot of the first Space Shuttle Mission in 1981. Dick Truly flew as the pilot of the second Space Shuttle mission and even served as NASA Administrator from 1989 to 1992. Bo Bobko commanded the first flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1985. The remaining eight MOL pilots all went on to have successful careers in the military or as NASA research pilots. MOL would be the Air Force’s final attempt at sending its own men into space.
MOL remained in the dark for forty years. Those who were part of it did not talk about it much. Little was publicly known about the program. In fact, at the time, there was not much evidence it even existed. In 2005 while inside the blockhouse of Launch Complex 5/6 on Cape Canaveral, the site of the first two manned American launches, NASA Special Agent Dann Oakland came across a locked room. The lock was so old it could only be unlocked by a master key. He and Delaware North security manager Henry Butler came across peculiar cases with ever more peculiar contents— two blue MH-7 training suits that turned out to be from MOL. They both had three-digit numbers, 007 and 008, on the torsos. 008 also had the name “Lawyer”. We know now that 008 is Richard Lawyer of the Magnificent Eight and legend has it 007 may have belonged to Dick Truly. Ten years later in July 2015, the NRO declassified more than 800 files and photos pertaining to the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program.
The Manned Orbiting Laboratory was a secret Air Force program that called for a manned military reconnaissance space station during the height of the Cold War. It influenced the development of a Soviet counterpart but was ultimately cancelled due to budget cuts faced by the entire space program. Would its continuation into the 1970s as an active station been an effective anti-Soviet strategy for the Air Force or would it have put more lives in danger? Let me know your thoughts in the comments and please like and share this post. Thanks for reading!
Bibliography
Bamford, James. “Astrospies.” NOVA, season 35, episode 4, PBS, 2008.
David, Leonard. “Declassified: US Military's Secret Cold War Space Project Revealed.” Space.com, Space, 30 Dec. 2015, www.space.com/31470-manned-orbiting-laboratory-military-space-station.html.
White, Rowland. Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her. Touchstone, 2017.