Feb 222012
A July 1964 illustration from NASA-Marshall showing two configurations for the Saturn V with a nuclear upper stage. The first image seems to be a RIFT (Reactor In Flight Test) design. The second design seems to show a direct-landing Apollo… an Apollo Command and Service Module that lands directly on the lunar surface, no need for a separate lunar module. The Saturn V was not capable of launching such a mission, due the the mass of the needed additional stage (shown below the CSM) that would lower the CSM almost to the lunar surface, leaving the SM with enough propellant to get home.
