Direct Ascent

Direct Ascent was a proposed method for an American mission to the moon. Direct Ascent proposed that a giant rocket should be used to fly a spacecraft directly to the moon, where it would land tail-first and then launch off the moon back to Earth.

Science fiction movies such as Destination Moon had frequently depicted direct ascent missions. In real life, however, it was discarded due to the sheer impossibility of landing a rocket the size of the Atlas tail-first on the moon.

See also: Project Apollo