LARGE SIZE CONCEPTUAL MODELS FOR A LUNAR GEMINI AND A PROTOTYPE LUNAR MODULE

Together two large models, likely contractor's models, perhaps by McDonnell Aircraft Company, in wood, composite materials, and metal. Gemini model 29 inches tall, and in 4 parts (Adapter section with both Retrograde and Equipment sections; Cabin section; and Rendezvous & Recovery/Re-entry Control System). LOR Lunar Module model 22 inches tall, in metal, wood, & composite material, and in 2 sections (Ascent & Descent stages).

LARGE SIZE CONCEPTUAL MODELS DEMONSTRATING THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RIVAL SYSTEMS FOR LUNAR LANDING; DIRECT ASCENT & LUNAR ORBIT RENDEZVOUS (LOR).  In 1962, NASA Administrator James Webb announced that NASA had chosen the LOR mode over the direct ascent mode. In direct ascent, an enormous launch vehicle would have been needed in order to send a single spacecraft to land and then relaunch from the lunar surface. The LOR mode, which was the strategy successfully used in the Apollo missions, involved launching the main Apollo spacecraft, consisting of the Apollo CSM along with a separate smaller Lunar lander, the Apollo LM.  Once in lunar orbit, the LM would separate from the rest of the spacecraft and descend to the lunar surface. Upon re-ascent, the descent stage would stay on the lunar surface, and the ascent stage would rendezvous with the Apollo CSM to allow the astronauts to reboard the spacecraft.