The Apollo lunar landing missions had limitations. The personal life support system backpacks moonwalking astronauts wore didn’t have replenishing stores of consumables. Once their power and oxygen supplies were low, there was no choice but to return to the lunar module, which itself could only support two men for three days. But in early 1969 NASA was already thinking ahead to longer duration missions, and to get the most out of these lunar stays, the agency commissioned two studies into possible personal flying units that astronauts could use to cover more lunar ground. Yes, for a brief moment NASA was considering sending astronauts with jet packs to the Moon.
The Need for Lunar Jet Packs
In the early and mid 1960s, there was some interest in giving lunar astronauts personal flying devices to help them be more mobile on the Moon’s surface. This was also a time when very little ...
