Project 7969 Designs Project 7969 ballistic designs. From left: Lockheed; Martin; Aeronutronics; Goodyear; McDonnell; Convair Credit: (c) Mark Wade. 6,524 bytes. 640 x 110 pixels.

Lockheed's proposal for the Air Force initial manned space project was a 20 degree semiapex angle cone with a hemispherical tip of 30 cm radius. The pilot was in a sitting position facing rearward. The capsule would be launched by an Atlas-Hustler combination into a 480 km orbit for a 4 hour mission. Tracking would use the Minitrack System and deorbit would be accomplished by retrorocket providing a 60 m/sec braking impulse. Spacecraft attitude control was by rocket thrusters and electrically-powered motors. The spacecraft was automatic and no pilot intervention was required. Maximum G-forces during re-entry were 8 g's and either ablative or beryllium heat shields could be used. In case of booster failure during ascent to orbit the capsule would eject from the booster. The spacecraft had a ballistic coefficient (W/CdA) of 500 kg per square meter. Landing precision was within a 650 x 30 km footprint. It was expected that a first manned orbital flight could be achieved 24 months after a go-ahead at a cost of $ 10-100 million.

Design Life: 5 hours. Total Length: 4.3 m. Maximum Diameter: 2.7 m. Total Mass: 1,400 kg.

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