NASA chose Lunar Orbital Rendezvous (LOR; sometimes also "Lunar Orbit Rendezvous") as the mode by which it planned on landing a man on the moon in 1962, with LOR edging out Direct (where one single, massive rocket would launch a single, massive spacecraft capable of landing on the moon and then taking off from the moon directly back to Earth) and Earth Orbit Rendezvous (where two or more rockets would be launched and the components of the final, massive spacecraft assembled in Earth orbit before setting out to land on the moon).

For a thorough examination of the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous concept, see Enchanted Rendezvous: John C. Houbolt and the Genesis of the Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous Concept).

While the full name of this pamphlet is "LOR" Lunar Orbital Rendezvous: A Pathway to the Moon, I actually have another pamphlet with the same name, so I refer to this one as my "Early LOR" pamphlet, as it features a very early Lunar Module concept, apparently pre-dating Grumman's 1962 proposal (see models of Grumman's proposal at the Cradle of Aviation).

This pamphlet is undated; the only reference to any date is SA-3's launch in November 1962. Oddly enough, this pamphlet was published by Marshall Space Flight Center; it would seem more likely to have been published by the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC, now Johnson Space Center).

The pamphlet is somewhat unusual in its construction; it's your standard single-sheet-of-paper-folded-in-half pamphlet, but with an extra "overlay" flap.

Early LOR Download Links

I've prepared two PDFs:

• A web-resolution PDF for the casual visitor; 546 kilobytes. View now.
• A 300-dpi version for serious study; 10.1 megabytes. Download now.