Lunex Project
USAF plan for a crewed lunar landing and Moon base.
Before Apollo, the US Air Force had its own plan for a crewed Moon landing: the Lunex Project, initiated in 1958. By 1961, the final plan envisioned a 21-person underground Air Force base on the Moon, operational by 1968, with a total price tag of $7.5 billion. The goal was to beat the Soviet Union and prove America’s technological leadership.
The key difference between Lunex and the later Apollo missions was the rendezvous method. Lunex used a direct ascent approach: the entire spacecraft—a combined landing module and lifting-body return module—would land on the Moon as one unit, then launch the whole vehicle back to Earth. In contrast, Apollo’s final design used lunar orbit rendezvous, where a separate ascent module left the command and service modules orbiting the Moon with one astronaut aboard. (Apollo’s original plan had also called for direct ascent, similar to Lunex.)
The Lunex lander was designed for a crew of three. It measured 16.16 meters (53.01 feet) long, with a maximum diameter and span of 7.62 meters (24.99 feet), and a mass of 61,000 kilograms (134,000 pounds). The agency behind it was the USAF.
Base locations were to be chosen by automated probes; one studied site was Kepler crater. The first lunar landing and return was planned for 1967, timed to beat the Soviets. The Air Force believed only a lunar landing would carry enough historical weight to win the technology race.
Direct ascent was seen as promising because it avoided the complexities of lunar orbit rendezvous—no need to develop space rendezvous techniques. The downside was that the Lunex spacecraft had to carry extra fuel to land the entire vehicle on the Moon and return it to orbit, making it much heavier than Apollo and requiring a larger rocket.
Major challenges included: re-entry at 11,000 m/s (37,000 ft/s) within a two-degree flight path to avoid overheating or skipping out of the atmosphere (which would expose the crew to Van Allen belt radiation); developing a lunar landing stage that could make a precision, tail-first rocket landing (never tested before); and building a lunar launch stage with no backup, requiring extreme reliability and automated checkout on the Moon’s surface to put the crew on the correct return orbit.
- field
- Space exploration
- nationality
- United States
- known_for
- US Air Force plan for a crewed lunar landing and Moon base before Apollo
- agency
- USAF
- planned_first_landing
- 1967
- planned_base_completion
- 1968
- estimated_cost
- $7.5 billion
Lore & Background
The Lunex Project was initiated by the US Air Force in 1958 as a plan for a crewed lunar landing, preceding the Apollo Program. The final expedition plan, detailed in May 1961, envisioned a 21-person underground Air Force base on the Moon by 1968, with a total cost of $7.5 billion. The primary distinction between Lunex and the later Apollo missions was the orbital rendezvous maneuver: Lunex would land the entire vehicle and all astronauts on the lunar surface, while Apollo used a separate ascent module leaving the command and service modules in lunar orbit. The original Apollo plan also called for direct ascent, similar to Lunex.
The Lunex vehicle consisted of a landing module and a lifting body return/re-entry module. The lunar lander was designed for a crew of three, with a length of 16.16 meters, a maximum diameter and span of 7.62 meters, and a mass of 61,000 kilograms. Selection of base sites was to be made by automated probes, with Kepler crater being a studied location. The first lunar landing and return was planned for 1967, in order to beat the Soviets and demonstrate American technological leadership.
Reader's Guide
The Lunex Project represents a significant but ultimately unrealized early US effort to achieve a crewed lunar landing, predating the Apollo Program. Its direct ascent profile, while eliminating the need for orbital rendezvous techniques, required a much heavier spacecraft and a larger rocket than Apollo. The project faced major technical challenges, including re-entry at 11,000 m/s within a narrow two-degree flight path to avoid overheating or skipping out of the atmosphere, development of a precision tail-first landing stage, and a highly reliable lunar launching stage with no backup capability. Although never executed, Lunex influenced early space planning and highlighted the competing approaches within the US space program before NASA's Apollo missions adopted lunar orbit rendezvous. Its legacy lies in demonstrating the ambitious scope of Cold War-era space competition and the technical trade-offs inherent in lunar mission design.
Did You Know?
- The Lunex Project was a US Air Force plan initiated in 1958 for a crewed lunar landing before the Apollo Program.
- The final Lunex plan in 1961 called for a 21-person underground Air Force base on the Moon by 1968 at a cost of $7.5 billion.
- Lunex used a direct ascent profile, landing the entire vehicle on the Moon, unlike Apollo's lunar orbit rendezvous.
- The Lunex lunar lander had a mass of 61,000 kg and was designed for a crew of three.
More in Human spaceflight programs 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record