NOVA Rockets
Concept Led By:NASA
Companies Involved: Aerojet, General Dynamics, & Martin Marietta
Always the space bridesmaid… never the space bride. That is the story of the NOVA Rocket spacecraft designs. They were proposed both before and after the Saturn V rocket used for the Apollo Program. It was NASA’s first large launch system and originally proposed in 1958. In fact, it was proposed for exactly what the Saturn V would go on to be used for. The NOVA and Saturn V designs heavily resembled each other when it came to their basic makeup, even down to power, size, and function. The differences were mostly minor but technically practical. Why would the Saturn V get the ring while NOVA didn’t by NASA?
It came down to the fact that the Saturn V would reuse already existing facilities to a greater extent. Plus, it would be capable of making it to launch a little earlier. Of course, this was the height of the infamous “space race” so something getting done faster was a big deal for NASA. Later, for post-Apollo studies and possible crewed missions to Mars, there was a need for boosters much larger than what the Apollo had. Several designs using the Rocketdyne F-1 engines used the “Nova” name, even though it was not part of the original NOVA rockets. Since then, the “Nova” term does not refer to a specific rocket design just those larger than the Saturn V rocket.