On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 21:11:00 GMT, (Henry Spencer)
wrote:

..... The original Apollo concepts envisioned a variety of different modules aft
of the CM, although it was never entirely clear on how you would reach
them (if they needed reaching).

Thanks for that and the information on the TKS.

I think NASA would have to investigate a pressurized SM, or SOMETHING
if they want to use the CEV for a Mars mission. It's one thing to go
to the Moon crammed into something with maybe the same amount of
interior space as my Pontiac Vibe. But I don't see how you could do a
Mars mission without something at least a little bigger; the CEV
capslel could serve as the command module and reentry vehicle for when
you get back to Earth, but you'd have it docked/mated to a larger
habitat module (latter day MOL to deep space!?) where the crew would
live, work, and exercise.

Now that I think about it, I just read in a book I bought on Apollo
(*Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon* by David West Reynolds) that
von Braun had envisioned using the Skylab workshop as the baseline
module for Lunar and Planetary missions. Something like that should
be configured for the core interplanetary vehicle, not the CEV.

If it's an updated CM, that is.