May 12

Space Rocket History #160 – Apollo 8 – The Decision Part 1

An ‘A’ type mission would be flown with a Saturn V and be used to test the Launch vehicle, spacecraft, and a high velocity lunar return. Nasa cover the ‘A’ mission with Apollo 4 & 6.
A ‘B’ type mission would be flow with a Saturn IB and test the lunar module development, and propulsion, and launch vehicle staging. This was accomplished with Apollo 5.
A ‘C’ type mission would be flown with a Saturn IB and test the command and service module and evaluate the crew performance in low earth orbit. This was accomplished with Apollo 7…

Owen Maynard's Seven Step Plan to land on the Moon

Owen Maynard’s Seven Step Plan to land on the Moon

Owen Maynard, Chief of LEM engineering office

Owen Maynard, Chief of LEM engineering office

George Low, Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office

George Low, Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office

Mar 30

Space Rocket History #155 – Apollo 7 – Assembly, Testing, Training, and Launch

Command Service Module-101 started through the manufacturing cycle early in 1966. By July, it had been formed, wired, fitted with subsystems, and made ready for testing. After the Apollo 1 fire in January 1967, changes had to be made, mainly in the wiring, hatch areas, and the forward egress tunnel. It was December before the spacecraft came back into testing. CSM-101 passed through a three-phase customer acceptance review; during the third session, held in Downey on May 7th 1968, no items showed up that might be a “constraint to launch.” North American cleared up what few deficiencies there were (13) and shipped the craft to Kennedy on  May 30th 1967…

AS-205's First Stage on the pedestal

AS-205’s First Stage on the pedestal

Apollo 7 Crew practice climbing out of the spacecraft

Apollo 7 Crew practice climbing out of the spacecraft

Apollo 7 Launch

Apollo 7 Launch

Mar 23

Space Rocket History #154 – Apollo 7 – The Crew

Had it not been for the fact that Eisele damaged his shoulder during a zero-G training flight aboard a KC-135 aircraft just before Christmas 1965, he might have been in the senior pilot’s seat aboard Apollo 1, instead of Ed White.

 Schirra as the Commander of Apollo 7

Schirra as the Commander of Apollo 7

Donn Eisele prior to launch

Donn Eisele prior to launch

Cunningham during the Apollo 7 mission

Cunningham during the Apollo 7 mission

Feb 25

Space Rocket History #150 – Apollo 6: Pogo and the Tang Ceremony

The success of Apollo 4 gave good reason to believe that the Saturn V could be trusted to propel men into space. But NASA pushed on with its plans for a second unmanned booster flight, primarily to give the Pad 39 launch team another rehearsal before sending men into deep space on the Saturn V.  The mission was called Apollo 6…

Apollo 6 patch

Apollo 6 patch

Lunar Test Article

Lunar Test Article

Apollo 6 launch

Apollo 6 launch

Exhaust plume of Apollo 6

Exhaust plume of Apollo 6

Interstage falling away

Interstage falling away

Apollo 6 splashdown and recovery

Apollo 6 splashdown and recovery