From The Archives: Space Stations Require Radical Design, Structures

In this article, we explore how space stations need a radical design and structure. The third-generation manned space vehicles were scheduled to be relatively spacious and to operate for years without major repair. 

A design overhaul was required as our writer J.S. Butz, Jr. explained that design concepts and construction materials would be radically different from those used in the cramped, short-lived Mercury vehicle and the second-generation multiman capsule. 

The nature of the radiation environment in space, was, at the time, just beginning to be understood. Butz wrote: "If the level of background radiation beyond the Van Allen belts is too high, space travel there may be impossible until completely new shielding techniques and materials are developed."

Read the full article and see images on page 54. 

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