Encyclopedia Astronautica Lunex Lunar Lander  Lunex Spacecraft
Credit: © Mark Wade American manned lunar lander. Studied
1958-1961. The largest single development objective for the
Lunex program was to provide a spacecraft capable of
transporting men and equipment to the lunar surface and
returning them to a selected earth base.  This payload would
consist of a Lunar Landing Stage, Lunar Launch Stage and a 3-man
Lunex Re-entry Vehicle.  This payload was 16.1 m long, and the
interface diameter with the Space Launching System was 7.62 m.
The complete payload weighed 61,000 kg at escape velocity, and a
9,163 kg Manned Re-entry Vehicle was returned to the earth.  The
Lunex Re-entry Vehicle had to be capable of entering the earth's
atmosphere with a velocity of approximately 11.3 km/sec. At that
time, basic re-entry information for velocities of this
magnitude did not exist. Therefore, engineering design effort
for this re-entry vehicle would have to be accomplished
concurrently with other major sub-systems develo