Convair Atlas Space Station/MOL (1958)

Scale: 1/110
Initial Release: 1958
Medium: Styrene
Kit Rarity: 5

About the Design

Early space station concepts often involved cannibalizing spent launch vehicles. This was certainly the key idea between Convair engineer Krafft Ehricke's 1958 plan for a three-man Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL). In this scenario, three astronauts were to be crammed into the hollowed-out nose of an Atlas ICBM. (Actually three Atlas launches would be required to complete the space station).  Solar panels and two arrowhead-shaped escape craft completed the main design.

But Ehrike's  plan wasn't all "pie-in-the sky." In 1973, NASA launched Skylab, America's first space station.  Its main body was the hollowed-up third-stage of a Saturn V rocket.

About the Kit

Hawk's nifty Atlas MOL kit, released in 1960, featured a see-through nose, complete habitat interior, and a display stand with decals that graphically illustrated the MOL construction process. This kit was subsequently re-released with new box art in 1968. 

This is a copy of the 1968 version.