General Electric's 1962 Moon home concept

 

Astronauts would need to transport minimum material from Earth for this surface igloo. A binder would be mixed with lunar dust and rock for a kind of mortar. Alkali from Earth would combine with pumice from the Moon for a low-temperature glass to bind and harden the moterial,

The latest in a series of proposals for your lunar living facilities — in case you decide to make the trip — suggests construction could begin even before you land. A projectile from Earth would carry special shaped charges to blast a shaft (Fig. 2A) in the Moon's surface. At a predetermined depth it would blow a spherical chamber (2B).

When the construction crew lands, an airtight membrane would be dropped into the chamber (2C) and inflated, and equipment and supplies would be installed (2D). The finished Moon base would consist of a series of the pressurized chambers connected by tunnels. Surface structures would contain airlocks, according to the proposal made to the American Rocket Society by a researcher from General Electric’s Missile and Space Vehicle Department, Philadelphia,

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images and info provided by the Popular Science ARCHIVE from the Zetu Harrys Collection

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