IMIS-After-Apollo

In 1968, Boeing began a 14 month study to design a space vehicle that could transport humans to Mars. IMIS was the Apollo follow-on program that never was.

Credits: Boeing, NASA, Nick Stevens, William Black, Life Magazine

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Apollo
• Buzz Aldrin
• Neil Armstrong
• Boeing
• Mars
• Saturn V
• NERVA
• Nuclear Thermal Rocket

[Kapindur]

Good job, but you neglect to mention the follow-on Apollo Lunar missions that were de-funded AFTER Apollo 20. Apollo 18,19, and 20 were already paid for and ready to go when they were cancelled at a total loss for the American Taxpayer, similar to the Constellation program that was killed off by Obama for no comprehensible reason. The demise of Apollo had little or nothing to do with the Viet Nam war. Funding "The Great Society" and now the socialist initiatives of the Obama Regime ended both.

[Joe35983]

I blame Nixon for shutting down the apollo program

[Winner8501]

For those interested, this "what if" scenario is wonderfully depicted in Stephen Baxter's novel "Voyage". I was actually surprised when I saw the MEM in this video - it looked exactly the same in the novel. Even the mission profile was similar, only the Venus swing-by occurred on the way in, not out.

The novel is basically an alternate history in which the US decides to go to Mars after the Apollo program ends (with Apollo 14). Three US astronauts land at Mangala Valles in 1985. Great read.

[Weenchit]

@joachim2464 Not sure it was just the money. We kept spending on NASA; we just stopped doing big manned space missions. I've been researching this a little and I think it goes like this: US needed to launch nuclear bombs into Russia, so ballistic missiles were developed. Beating the Russians to the moon was part of the propaganda war: we showed them. As soon as we got there the US no longer need to go back; instead we went on to the next phase of the cold war: more defense/economic pressure

[joachim2464]

I guess the only thinbg stopping it was the money:(