View source for Lunex Project

{{Short description|US Air Force manned Moon base plan}}
{{No inline citations|date=October 2015}}
{{Infobox Military Structure
|name         = Lunex Project
|location     = [[Moon]]
|image        = 
|caption      = 
|built        = Planned to begin after 1967
|used         = Project canceled
|type         = Underground Air Force base
|controlledby = United States
|garrison     = 21 USAF personnel
|commanders   = 
|battles      = 
}}
The '''Lunex Project''' was a [[US Air Force]] 1958 plan for a crewed lunar landing prior to the [[Apollo Program]]. The final lunar expedition plan in 1961 was for a 21-person underground Air Force base on the Moon by 1968 at a total cost of $7.5 billion.<ref name= Astronautix>{{cite encyclopedia |url= http://astronautix.com/l/lunex.html |url-status= dead |author= Mark Wade |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030625/http://www.astronautix.com/articles/lunex.htm |archive-date= 4 March 2016 |title= Lunex |year= 2019  |encyclopedia= [[Encyclopedia Astronautica]] |accessdate= 21 November 2020}}</ref> The primary distinction between the later Apollo missions and Lunex was the orbital rendezvous maneuver.  The Lunex vehicle, composed of a landing module and a [[lifting body]] return/re-entry module, would land the entire vehicle and all astronauts on the surface, whereas the final Apollo mission involved a separate ascent module leaving the command module and service module connected in lunar orbit with a single astronaut. The original plan for Apollo was for [[direct ascent]], similar to Lunex.

==Design details==
===Associated vehicles (estimates)===
[[Image:LunexSpacecraft.png|thumb|right|Lunex spacecraft concept]]
'''[[Lunex Lunar Lander]]''' 
*Crew Size: 3
*Length: 16.16&nbsp;m (53.01&nbsp;ft)
*Maximum Diameter: 7.62&nbsp;m (24.99&nbsp;ft)
*Span: 7.62&nbsp;m (24.99&nbsp;ft)
*Mass: 61 000&nbsp;kg (134 000&nbsp;lb)
*Agency: USAF

===Location===
Selection of base sites were to be made by automated probes, with [[Kepler (lunar crater)|Kepler crater]] being a studied location.

==Background==
Lunex planned to make its first lunar landing and return in 1967, in order to beat the Soviets and demonstrate conclusively that America could win future international competition in technology with the USSR. The Air Force felt that no achievement short of a lunar landing would have the required historical significance.

The use of the [[direct ascent]] profile was considered to be the most promising because it eliminated some of the complexities of the [[Lunar orbit rendezvous]] that would later be used by Apollo: in particular there would be no need to develop rendezvous techniques in space. The down side was that the Lunex spacecraft would be much heavier than Apollo to carry the extra fuel required to land the entire spacecraft on the Moon and return it to lunar orbit, and consequently a larger rocket would be required to send it to the Moon.

===Major "Prestige" milestones<ref name= LunexPlan/>{{rp|3.6}}===


{|
! scope="col" width="130" | Date
! scope="col" width="330" | Milestone
|-
| April 1965
| First Manned Orbital Flight (3 Man Space Vehicle)
|-
| July 1966
| First Lunar landing (Cargo) 
|-
| September 1966
| Manned Circumlunar Flight
|-
| August 1967
| Manned lunar landing and Return
|-
| January 1968
| Permanently Manned Lunar Expedition
|}

===Problems===
The main problems to be solved were:<ref name= LunexPlan>{{cite web |url= http://www.astronautix.com/data/lunex.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060614174558/http://astronautix.com/data/lunex.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= June 14, 2006 |title= Lunar Expedition Plan: Lunex |date= May 1961 |work= Space Systems Division, [[Air Force Systems Command]] |accessdate= 21 November 2020}}</ref>{{rp|1.7}}
* Re-entry at 37,000 feet per second, with the flight path within a two-degree angle to avoid overheating or skipping out of the Earth's atmosphere. The latter would not kill the crew directly, but would leave the Earth-return spacecraft in an elliptical orbit where they might be exposed to excessive radiation in the [[Van Allen belts]] before the next re-entry opportunity.
* Development of the lunar landing stage, which would have to make a precision landing tail-first on rocket thrust: something never previously tested.
* Development of the lunar launching stage, which had no backup capability, so must be extremely reliable and capable of automated checkout on the lunar surface, and capable of putting the crew into the correct orbit to return to Earth.

==See also==
*[[Moonbase]]
*[[Project Horizon]]
*[[Colonization of the Moon]]
*[[Project A119]]
*[[Space Launching System]]
*[[Zvezda (moonbase)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
* {{cite web |url= http://www.astronautix.com/data/lunex.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060614174558/http://astronautix.com/data/lunex.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= June 14, 2006 |title= Lunar Expedition Plan: Lunex |date= May 1961 |work= Space Systems Division, [[Air Force Systems Command]] |accessdate= 21 November 2020}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |url= http://astronautix.com/l/lunex.html |url-status= dead |author= Mark Wade |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030625/http://www.astronautix.com/articles/lunex.htm |archive-date= 4 March 2016 |title= Lunex |year= 2019  |encyclopedia= [[Encyclopedia Astronautica]] |accessdate= 21 November 2020}}
* [http://www.mmsseiten.de/wt-001.htm  Projekt "Lunex" (in German)]
* {{cite web |url= http://www.mmsseiten.de/wt-001.htm  |title= Projekt "Lunex" Das geheime Mondflugprogramm der US Airforce in den 1960er Jahren. |author= Martin Marheinecke |work= mmsseiten.de |language= German |trans-title= Project "Lunex" The US Air Force's secret moon flight program in the 1960s |date= June 2000 |accessdate= 21 November 2020}} 
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktV0BU6T-Zg When the US Air Force Planned a Moon Landing]

{{Moon colonization}}

[[Category:Abandoned military projects of the United States]]
[[Category:Human spaceflight programs]]