Like the Air Force, their Project Apollo initially favoured a direct ascent profile, requiring a large booster to launch the spacecraft into LEO. When NASA formed in 1958, they also started planning for a lunar landing. These initial studies would eventually emerge as the M-1, with a thrust of 1.2 million pounds force. To reduce this complexity, the Air Force also had Aerojet start studies of a much larger hydrogen-fueled design that would replace the twelve J-2s with only two engines. To provide the required power, the liquid stages mounted a cluster of twelve J-2s. These larger SLS designs followed the same basic outline as the smaller Dynasoar booster, but used much more powerful 180-inch (4,600 mm) solids and the "B" and "C" liquid stages. In order to launch such a design to low Earth orbit (LEO), a very large booster with a 125,000 lb (57,000 kg) payload would be required. Lunex was a direct landing mission, in which a single very large spacecraft would fly to the Moon, land, and return. The SLS also envisioned a number of much larger designs intended to launch the Air Force's Lunex Project crewed lunar landing. Initial studies of the 100-inch (2,500 mm) solid were also handed to Aerojet, starting in 1959. A prototype was successfully tested between 19.
To power the "A" booster, Aerojet was contracted to convert an LR-87, used in the Titan II missile, to run on liquid hydrogen. The smallest model, intended to launch the Dyna-Soar, used two 100-inch (2,500 mm) solids and an "A" liquid core.
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The SLS consisted of a series of four rocket designs, all built around a series of solid-fuel boosters and liquid-hydrogen-powered upper stages. By 1961 these had evolved into the Space Launcher System design. The M-1 traced its history to US Air Force studies from the late 1950s for its launch needs in the 1960s.
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