Manned Orbiting Laboratory

The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was part of the United States Air Force's manned spaceflight program, a successor to the cancelled X-20 Dyna-Soar project. It was announced to the public on the same day that the Dyna-Soar program was cancelled, December 10, 1963. Also codenamed Dorian and given the designation KH-10, the MOL was intended to be a space station used for reconnaissance purposes. It was derived from NASA's Gemini program. The project was cancelled on June 10, 1969 before there were any operational flights. MOL was later superseded by the KH-9 reconnaissance satellite. The contractor for the MOL was the Douglas Aircraft Company.

There was one test flight of an MOL mockup that was constructed from a Titan II propellant tank. The Gemini 2 spacecraft was re-flown on a 33-minute sub-orbital test flight. After the Gemini was separated for its sub-orbital reentry, the MOL mockup continued on into orbit and released three satellites. A hatch was installed in the Gemini 2 heat shield to provide access to the MOL and was tested in the sub-orbital reentry. The test flight was launched by the USAF on November 3, 1966 at 13:50:42 UTC on launch vehicle Titan IIIC-9 from LC-40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Gemini 2-MOL space capsule was recovered near Ascention Island in the South Atlantic by the USS La Salle.

The MOL was going to have a helium-oxygen atmosphere. It used a Gemini B spacecraft as a reentry vehicle. The crew were launched with the Gemini B and MOL and returned to earth in the Gemini B. They would conduct up to 30 days of military reconnaissance using large optics, cameras, and side-looking radar. The optical systems were further developed as the basis for the Kennan KH-11 spy satellites.

When the MOL program was cancelled in June 1969, there were 14 MOL astronauts in the program. NASA offered those under 35 years of age the opportunity to transfer to the NASA astronaut program. Seven of the 14 MOL astronauts were younger than 35 and took the offer. They were Truly, Bobbko, Crippen, Fullerton, Hartsfield, Overmyer and Peterson.

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