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a weightless, airless environment ultimately became the model for the construction of both the Russian Mir and American freedom space stations. While the construction of the permanent subsurface structure was under way, other members of the crew would lay out the multiantenna communications system that would rely on geosynchronous Earth satellites to relay transmissions back and forth from Earth ground stations. Lunar based tracking and surveillance radar equipment would also maintain a constant vigilance of the earth and be able to track any orbital vehicles from the earth's surface as well as space vehicles entering the planet's atmosphere from outer space. Members of the crew would communicate with each other : and with the outpost itself by radios mounted in the helmets of their space suits. By the time the army was proposing Project Horizon, army engineers had already selected a number of launch sites. Instead of Cape Canaveral, the army chose an equatorial location because the earth spins fastest at the equator and this would provide added thrust to any rocket with an especially heavy payload. The army chose a secret location in Brazil where it wanted to start construction on an eight launchpad facility that would house the entire project. The spacecraft would be monitored and controlled from the facilities at Cocoa Beach, where the army and navy were already launching their satellites. We broke the program into six separate phases beginning with the June 1959 initial feasibility, which was written in response to General Trudeau's first proposal and became Phase | of the entire plan. Phase II, scheduled to be completed in early 1960, when | was to take over the project, called for a detailed development and funding plan in conjunction with preliminary experimentation on some of the essential components. During this phase, | had planned to use our regular Army R&D procedures to manage and review the testing and make sure that we could do what we said we could do under the initial feasibility study. In Phase Ill, we scheduled the complete development of the hardware and the system integration for the entire project. This included the rockets, the space capsules, all of the lunar transportation and construction vehicles, the launch facilities at the proposed site in Brazil, and the lunar outpost components for both the temporary and the permanent bases. Also included in this phase was the development of all of the communications systems, including relay stations, surveillance systems, and the personal protective and communications gear that the astronauts would use. And finally, Phase Ill called for the engineering of all the actual procedures needed for Horizon to be successful such as the orbital rendezvous, orbital fueling of lunar transportation vehicles, transfer of cargo in orbit, and launching and testing of cargo rockets. Under Phase IV, scheduled for 1965, the first lunar landing was to take place. The establishment of the first two man lunar observation outpost and the construction of the preliminary living and working quarters for the first detachment of the crew were all slated for completion. The plans stated that by the end of this phase, "a manned lunar outpost will have been established. " Phases V and VI were the operational phases of the project and were scheduled to be completed over a two year period beginning in December 1966 and winding up in January 1968. Under these phases, the lunar outpost would progress from the preliminary construction phases to the construction of the permanent facilities. These facilities begin the surveillance of Earth, establish our military presence by the emplacement of fortified positions on the moon, and begin the first scientific experiments and exploration. In Phase VI, based upon the success of the permanent outpost and the exploration of the lunar terrain, the army planned to expand the outpost with more landings and additional facilities and report on the results of biological and chemical testing and the first attempts to exploit the moon as a commercial entity. The army also believed, because that was the way we in R&D believed we could pay back the enormous development overhead we incurred, that by commercially exploiting the moon, perhaps through the same kind of federal land leasing deals the Department of the Interior currently grants for oil and mineral exploration, we could put the billions of dollars spent back into the federal coffers. Project Horizon also outlined the development of an Earth orbiting station as an ancillary project to support the lunar landing missions. Under the "Orbital Station" specifications, the Army Ordnance project developers suggested the launching and assembly of an "austere, basic" orbital platform that would provide astronaut crews on their way to the moon with a rendezvous point for exchanging and increasing their payloads, refueling, and relaunching their spacecraft. The orbiting station would also be important in the early cargo shipment stages of Project Horizon where army crews could handle the cargo loading in the weightlessness of space faster and easier than they could on Earth. Cargo could be shipped up separately, travel in earth orbit with the station, and then be reassembled by crews who would live in their own spaceship cabins instead of in the space station and then return to Earth when the refueling and reassembly of payloads was complete. If the preliminary basic space station were successful, the army envisioned a more elaborate, sophisticated facility that would have its own scientific and military mission and serve as a relay station for crews on their way to or from the lunar outpost. This station would have an enhanced military capability and enable the United States to dominate the airspace over its enemies, blind its enemies' satellites, and shoot down its missiles. The army also saw the enhanced orbiting space station as another component in an elaborate defense against 66