MOOSE bailout

In the early 1960’s, in the hey-day of the X-20 Dynasoar, it seemed that the US military would naturally keep building military aerospacecraft that would just keep going higher and faster. It was also supposed that the pilot would have to be given the equivalent of an ejection seat - some means of bailing out of the spacecraft in case of catastrophic failure or enemy attack.

So it came to pass that a variety of foaming, inflatable, deployable systems were proposed - among them the famous General Electric MOOSE and the Space General FIRST. These gave the suited pilot the chance to step out into the void from a crippled craft, pull the ripcord, and manually cannonball or glide to the earth’s surface.

In the late 1960’s, when the Air Force ILRV and NASA Shuttle were being studied, these designs were revisited - now upgraded for three or more crew. In the end, they were not adopted - even after the Challenger disaster. Since the payload impact was not great, one can only suppose that the idea just seemed too fantastic to be really credible.

Here is the ultimate adventure awaiting some millionaire thrill seeker. The FAA may not approve, but how about strapping your fanny to some surplus Russian SLBM or developing country space launcher. A quick boost to orbit, a few photo opportunities, then the challenging retrofire and that long free fall or paraglide back to the earth.... As sports become ever more extreme and expensive, surely the next millennium will find the spaceways filled not with government employees but rather daredevils out for their Sunday adrenaline rush....

	1 Crew Lifeboat	One crew lifeboat capsule, separable, not re-entry capable, short duration. Mass per crew 266 kg.
	1 Crew Lifeboat Long Term	One crew lifeboat capsule, separable, not re-entry capable, long duration. For use on Mars/Venus expedition. How the crew member in the coffin-sized was box was to remain sane over a long period was perhaps questionable... Mass per crew 517 kg.
	3 Crew Lifeboat	Three crew bailout lifeboat separable, not re-entry capable, short duration. Mass per crew 239 kg.
	3 Crew Lifeboat Long Term	Three crew lifeboat capsule, separable, not re-entry capable, long duration. For use on Mars/Venus expedition. Mass per crew 511 kg.
	1 Crew Ballistic Re-entry Capsule	One crew ballistic re-entry capsule. Orbital escape - no abort capability. Mass per crew 327 kg.
	3 Crew Lifting Re-Entry Concept	Three crew lifting re-entry capsule. Orbital escape - no abort capability. Mass per crew 434 kg.
	FIRST Re-Entry Glider	FIRST (Fabrication of Inflatable Re-entry Structures for Test) used an inflatable Rogallo wing for emergency return of space crew from orbit.
	Advanced Manned System 1961	Six crew ballistic re-entry capsule. Orbital escape - abort capability. Mass per crew 548 kg.
	5 Crew Lifeboat	Five crew lifeboat capsule, separable, not re-entry capable, short duration. Mass per crew 284 kg.
	10 Crew Shelter	Ten crew emergency shelter capsule, not separable, not re-entry capable, long duration. Mass per crew 301 kg.
	MOOSE	MOOSE was perhaps the most celebrated bail-out from orbit system of the early 1960’s. The suited astronaut would strap the MOOSE to his back, and jump out of the spacecraft or station into free space. Pulling a ripcord would fill an inflatable heat shield with polyurethane. The astronaut would use a small hand-held gas to orient himself for retro-fire, and then fire a solid rocket motor strapped to his chest to return to earth.
	Paracone	The Douglas Paracone was one of the most minimal schemes for bail-out from orbit. The objective was to hit a continental land mass; for such purposes totally manual re-entry operations were used. After separation from the spacecraft, the undeployed Paracone consisted of essentially the pilot in his seat, with a small solid retrorocket motor mounted on struts above the pilot's chest.
	Re-Entry Escape System	One crew lifting re-entry capsule. No abort capability. Mass per crew 1171 kg.
	Re-Entry Glider-Six Crew	A six-man parasail escape system was studied as an elaboration of the single-crew system. It was to provide rescue from manned spacecraft as well as stations. The system would have essentially the same flight characteristics, but a smaller-diameter higher-pressure inflatable structure was proposed. It would be a ‘hotter’ aircraft, with triple the wing loading.
	Umanskiy Space Capsule	Small minimum space capsule for emergency return of crew or urgent payloads from orbit. Proposed by an engineer at Soviet Factory 918 in 1965, but no support from the entrenched space interests.
	GE Life Raft	The GE Life raft was a rigid unpressurized aeroshell. Three crew in space suits with parachutes would strap themselves into the seats. A headup display was provided for manually alligning the raft for retrofire, which was accomplished using a cold gas reaction control system. The aeroshell itself consisted of new non-ablative materials with a foam core. Mass per crew: 80 kg.
	Lockheed EEOED	Lockheed's EEOED was a three-crew Discovery-type re-entry vehicle. Unlike other concepts, it was equipped with a wide 1 m diameter hatch and provided a pressurized shirt-sleeve enivronment for the three crew. New lightweight heat shield technologies would, it was claimed, make possible a total mass for three crew less than that of the original one-crew Mercury capsule. Mass per crew: 413 kg.
	Rescue Gemini	A version of Gemini was proposed for rescue of crews stranded in Earth orbit. This version, launched by a Titan 3C, used a transtage for maneuvering.
	SAVER	The Rockwell SAVER concept provided return of a single crew member in his ejection seat. A nosecap only the size of the seat absorbed most of the re-entry heat. The rest was dissipated through a huge inflatable baloon deployed from the seat. The concept promised a compact, lightweight solution and allowed the possibility to modulate drag and re-entry loads during re-entry by changing the size of the balloon. but requried new materials technology for the nosecap and balloon material.
	AIRMAT	Inflatable; space suits required; ejection seat; requires development of flexible heat shield and new materials. Mass per crew 570 kg.
	Rib Stiffened Expandable Escape System	This Rockwell concept was stowed in a canister. In an emergency, the articulated rib-truss structure would be deployed into a mechanically rigid aeroshell shape. The crew members would be housed in a shirtsleeve environment. Mass per crew 220 kg.
	Apollo Rescue CSM	Influenced by the stranded Skylab crew portrayed in the book and movie 'Marooned', NASA provided a crew rescue capability for the first time in its history. A kit was developed to fit out an Apollo command module with a total of five crew couches. In the event a Skylab crew developed trouble with its Apollo CSM return craft, a rescue CSM would be prepared and launched to rendezvous with the station. It would dock with the spare second side docking port of the Skylab docking module.
	ENCAP	The ENCAP encapsulated bailout-from-orbit concept consisted of of a folded heat shield. The astronaut would exit his stranded spacecraft and strap into the seat. Then a gas-powered deployment system would unfold and rigidize the rib structure of the heat shield. The ENCAP was equipped with a parachute for recovery after re-entry. Mass per crew: 266 kg.
	EGRESS	The EGRESS space escape system was based on the proven Encapsulated Ejection Seat System developed for the B-58 bomber in the 1960's.
	X-38	Lifting body reentry vehicle designed as emergency return spacecraft for International Space Station crew. Configuration based on earlier USAF X-24A but nose shows influence of Soviet Spiral design. The X-38 was designed for indefinite in-orbit storage, using cold nitrogen gas for attitude control. It reached the stage of paraglider drop tests before NASA funding dried up.
	MOSES	The General Electric MOSES space rescue concept of the early 1980's took advantage of large re-entry capsules already developed for classified US military projects. 730 kg (one crew), 1300 kg (two crew), or 2320 kg (four crew) versions were possible. The capsules themselves were Discoverer-type blunt bodies, but much larger than those known to be used to recover film from Keyhole satellites. Space suits would be required, but otherwise all internal systems were 'off the shelf'..... Mass per crew: 580 kg to 720 kg.
	Apollo CM Escape Concept	Escape capsule using Apollo command module studied by Rockwell for NASA for use with the shuttle in the 1970's-80's. Mass per crew: 750 kg.
	Northrop LBEC	Northrop, building on its work on the HL-10 and M2-F3 lifting bodies, proposed a lifting body three-crew lifeboat. The piloted spacecraft would use a parasail for recovery. A crew of three would be accomodated in a pressurized cabin. The pilot would be required to actively control the spacecraft for retrofire, re-entry, and landing. Development of new heat shield materials would be required. In this Northrop proposal can be seen the same approach used in the X-38 a quarter of a century later. Mass per crew 650 kg.
	Rockwell SHS	The Rockwell Spherical Heat Shield escape concept used a return capsule shell like a Vostok capsule cut in half. Two crew could be returned in a pressurized environment. Mass per crew 220 kg.
	Skylab Reboost Module	Module developed for Shuttle to deliver to Skylab to boost it to a higher orbit for use during the Shuttle program. Due to Shuttle development delays, Skylab re-entered and burned up over Australia before the first Shuttle mission, and NASA would have to wait another twenty years for a space station.
	Rescue Ball	The Personal Rescue Enclosure (PRE) Rescue Ball was an 86 cm diameter high-tech beach ball for transport of astronauts from a spacecraft in distress to the space shuttle. Crew members were to climb into the ball, assume a fetal position, and be zipped inside by a space suited crew member.
	NASA ACRV	The early Space Station proposals assumed the facility would be equipped with a 'safe haven' where the crew would wait for a rescue Shuttle in case of emergency. After the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger accident, it became obvious that some sort of 'lifeboat' would have to be added....
	HL-20	The HL-20 was a NASA Langley design for a manned spaceplane as a backup to the space shuttle (in case it was abandoned or grounded) and as a CERV (Crew Emergency Return Vehicle) for the Freedom space station. Also known as the ACRV (Assured Crew Return Vehicle) or PLS (Personnel Launch System). the HL-29 was a lifting body re-entry vehicle based on the Russian BOR-4 design. It was designed for two flight crew, eight passengers, and piloted landing at airfield on landing gear. The HL-20 was studied by contractors and a full size mock-up was built. However the design was not selected for further development. Soyuz was designated as the International Space Station CERV. When doubts about the availability of Soyuz developed in 1995, NASA proceeded with development of the X-38, a NASA Johnson concept - a smaller version of the X-24 lifting body with a parafoil.
	Alpha Lifeboat	1995 joint Energia-Rockwell-Khrunichev design for space station Alpha lifeboat based on the Zarya reentry vehicle with a solid retrofire motor, cold gas thruster package. Five years on-orbit storage. Design rejected in June 1996 in favor of use of a modified Soyuz TMA in short term, US X-38 in long term. Mass per crew 1560 kg.
	IRDT	Inflatable re-entry and descent technology vehicle designed to return payloads from space to the earth or another planet. Tested three times since 2000, with only one partially successful recovery.