Saturn V ELV · Lablypedia

In a nutshell

The Saturn V-ELV (Earth Launch Vehicle) was to be an enlarged Saturn V with the addition of four UA1207 solid rocket boosters derived from the Titan IV launch vehicle and liquid propellant stages derived from the conceptual Saturn MLV-V-4(S)-A* and MLV-V-1A. Had it been built it would have been able to put a 200,000 kg payload into low Earth orbit or a 67,000 kg payload into a translunar trajectory. The ELV was intended to serve as part of a crewed NASA mission to Mars, though that idea eventually fell out of favor largely due to political and financial concerns. A Mars mission would have used a total of 10 ELV's - 6 for the space vehicle and 4 for the logistics vehicles. In addition to Mars, the ELV was intended to serve as a platform for unmanned exploratory missions to Venus.

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At the time, it appears ELV was also a generic catch-all term for any large crewed rocket. There are references to both the Saturn I and Saturn V as an ELV.

Plans for ELV Usage

According to the 1968 NASA document "Integrated Manned Interplanetary Spacecraft Concept Definition", there was a planned schedule for exploration under the ELV program. After the first crewed Apollo lunar landing, NASA was hoping to progress through the following list:

First uncrewed hyperbolic reentry at 65k feet per second.
First nuclear engine ground firing.
First nuclear engine and nuclear stage space firing.
First launch of an uprated Saturn V-ELV.
First crewed hyperbolic reentry at 65k feet per second.
First long-time space soak and firing of a nuclear propulsion module. (Note: In this context, "space soak" means “to leave in space for an extended period of time”)
First long-time simulated crewed planetary mission operation.
First full planetary simulated mission in Earth orbit.
First crewed planet reentry simulation.
First crewed planetary capture mission.
First crewed planetary landing mission.

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Plans for ELV Usage

Vehicle Layout

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