Well the British Interplanetary Society were early on the scene doing plans for lunar missions and spacesuits and space stations back in the 1940s, and some experimental work also. And origins go back to 1933.
This is the cover of their journal from the early 1930s
1949 design for lunar spacesuit (more about their lunar suit here: The Lunar Space Suit)
Space station (1948) and lunar air purification plant design,
1946 design for sub orbital hop type spacecraft.
British Interplanetary Society Proposes Early Space Station | This Week In Space History
BIS Design for moon lander, not unlike the one used for Apollo
The British Interplanetary Society at 80 Years
(and for more modern work by them including interstellar flight ideas, The British Interplanetary Society at 80 Years: Part II)
If you are interested in the early pre Apollo work - how the design for Apollo evolved - and how it might have gone afterwards if it hadn't been cancelled after Apollo 17: NASA’s Lunar Module: Everything You Need to Know
"1936 proved to be a another landmark year for the BIS. Cleator published a book, Rockets Through Space, to inspire space fans, and ‘Prof’ A.M. Low established a London Branch on October 27th. A month later, in the Masons Arms, Maddox Street, where they held their regular meetings, it was decided to make London the location for the society’s headquarters.
"One of the first London members was a 19-year-old called Arthur C. Clarke. Another teenage BIS member, Eric Burgess, took the initiative to launch a solid-fuel rocket from his home in Manchester and was promptly charged under the 1875 Explosives Act. Burgess went on to become a chairman of the BIS and, besides promoting the possibility of using nuclear power to propel spacecraft, gave Carl Sagan the idea to put a message for extraterrestrials onboard the Pioneer space probes that were launched in the early 1970s."
Reaching for the Stars
1949 design for lunar spacesuit (more about their lunar suit here: The Lunar Space Suit)
Space station (1948) and lunar air purification plant design,
1946 design for sub orbital hop type spacecraft.
British Interplanetary Society Proposes Early Space Station | This Week In Space History
BIS Design for moon lander, not unlike the one used for Apollo
The British Interplanetary Society at 80 Years
(and for more modern work by them including interstellar flight ideas, The British Interplanetary Society at 80 Years: Part II)
If you are interested in the early pre Apollo work - how the design for Apollo evolved - and how it might have gone afterwards if it hadn't been cancelled after Apollo 17: NASA’s Lunar Module: Everything You Need to Know
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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