Apollo program

The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Sony VAIO VPC CW2MFX/PU Battery

Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F. Kennedy  proposed the national goal of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" by the end of the 1960s in a May 25, 1961 address to Congress.^[1][2] Sony VAIO VPC S11V9E/B Battery

Kennedy's goal was accomplished with the Apollo 11 mission when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed theirLunar Module (LM) on the Moon on July 20, 1969 and walked on its surface while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbitin the command spacecraft, and all three landed safely on Earth on July 24. Sony VAIO VPCB119GJ/B Battery

Five subsequent Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last in December 1972. In these six spaceflights, 12 men walked on the Moon.^[3]

Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, following the Mercury and Gemini programs. It used Saturn family rockets as launch vehicles. Sony VAIO VPCB11AGJ Battery

Apollo / Saturn vehicles were also used for an Apollo Applications program which consisted of three Skylab space station missions in 1973–74, and a joint U.S.–Soviet mission in 1975.

Apollo was successful despite two major setbacks: the 1967 Apollo 1 cabin fire that killed the entire crew during a pre-launch test; Sony VAIO VPCB11AVJ Battery

and an in-flight failure on the 1970 Apollo 13 flight which disabled the command spacecraft's propulsion and life support, forcing the crew to use the Lunar Module as a "lifeboat" for these functions until they could return to Earth safely.

Apollo set major milestones in human spaceflight. It stands alone in sending manned missions beyond low Earth orbit; Sony VAIO VPCB11V9E Battery

Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, while Apollo 17 marked the last moonwalk and the last manned mission beyond low Earth orbit. The program spurred advances in many areas of technology incidental to rocketry and manned spaceflight, including avionics, telecommunications, and computers. Sony VAIO VPCB11X9E Battery

Apollo also sparked interest in many fields of engineering and left many physical facilities and machines developed for the program as landmarks. Its command modules and other objects and artifacts are displayed throughout the world, notably in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museums in Washington, DC, Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/P Battery

 Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, Space Center Houston in Texas, and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Alabama. The Apollo 13 Command Module is housed at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas.

The Apollo program was conceived early in 1960, during the Eisenhower administration, Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/R Battery

as a follow-up to America's Mercury program. While the Mercury capsule could only support one astronaut on a limited earth orbital mission, the Apollo spacecraft was to be able to carry three astronauts on a circumlunar flight and eventually to a lunar landing. The program was named after the Greek god of light, music, Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/W Battery

and the sun by NASA manager Abe Silverstein, who later said that "I was naming the spacecraft like I'd name my baby."^[4] Dr. Silverstein recalls he chose the name after perusing a book of mythology at home one evening, early in 1960. He thought that the image of "Apollo riding his chariot across the Sun was appropriate to the grand scale of the proposed program."^[5] Sony VAIO VPCCW19FJ/W Battery

While NASA went ahead with planning for Apollo, funding for the program was far from certain given Eisenhower's ambivalent attitude to manned spaceflight.

In November 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president after a campaign that promised American superiority over the Soviet Union in the fields of space exploration and missile defense. Sony VAIO VPCCW1AFJ Battery

Using space exploration as a symbol of national prestige, he warned of a "missile gap" between the two nations, pledging to make the U.S. not "first but, first and, first if, but first period."^[7] Despite Kennedy's rhetoric, he did not immediately come to a decision on the status of the Apollo program once he became president. Sony VAIO VPCCW1AHJ Battery

He knew little about the technical details of the space program, and was put off by the massive financial commitment required by a manned Moon landing.^[8] When Kennedy's newly appointed NASA Administrator James Webb requested a 30 percent budget increase for his agency, Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E Battery

Kennedy supported an acceleration of NASA's large booster program but deferred a decision on the broader issue.^[9]

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly in space, reinforcing American fears about being left behind in a technological competition with the Soviet Union. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/B Battery

At a meeting of the U.S. House Committee on Science and Astronautics one day after Gagarin's flight, many congressmen pledged their support for a crash program aimed at ensuring that America would catch up.^[10] Kennedy, however, was circumspect in his response to the news, refusing to make a commitment on America's response to the Soviets.^[11] Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/L Battery

On April 20, Kennedy sent a memo to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, asking Johnson to look into the status of America's space program, and into programs that could offer NASA the opportunity to catch up.^[12] Johnson responded approximately one week later, concluding that "we are neither making maximum effort nor achieving results necessary if this Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/P Battery

country is to reach a position of leadership."^[13] His memo concluded that a manned Moon landing was far enough in the future that it was likely the United States would achieve it first.

On May 25, 1961, Kennedy announced his support for the Apollo program during a special address to a joint session of Congress: Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/R Battery

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/W Battery

At the time of Kennedy's proposal, only one American had flown in space—less than a month earlier—and NASA had not yet sent an astronaut into orbit. Even some NASA employees doubted whether Kennedy's ambitious goal could be met.^[2] Kennedy even came close to agreeing to a joint US-USSR moon mission, to eliminate duplication of effort.^[14] Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/B Battery

Landing men on the Moon by the end of 1969 required the most sudden burst of technological creativity, and the largest commitment of resources ($24 billion), ever made by any nation in peacetime. At its peak, the Apollo program employed 400,000 people and required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities. Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/L Battery

It also required the conversion of the Space Task Group, which had been directing the nation's manned space program from NASA's Langley Research Center, into a new NASA center, the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), to be housed in a new facility built in Houston, Texas on land donated by Rice University. Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/R Battery

In September 1962, by which time two Project Mercury astronauts had orbited the Earth, and construction of the MSC facility was under way, Kennedy visited Rice to reiterate his challenge in a famous speech:

"But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? ... Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/W Battery

We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills; because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win ... Sony VAIO VPCCW26EC Battery

Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, 'Because it is there.' Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the Moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. Sony VAIO VPCCW26FX/B Battery

And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked."

Choosing a mission mode

Once Kennedy had defined a goal, the Apollo mission planners were faced with the challenge of designing a set of flights that could meet it while minimizing risk to human life, Sony VAIO VPCCW28EC Battery

cost, and demands on technology and astronaut skill. Four possible mission modes were considered:

Direct Ascent: A spacecraft would travel directly to the Moon as a unit, land, and return leaving its landing stage on the Moon. Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/P Battery

• This plan would have required a more powerful launch vehicle, the planned Nova rocket.

Earth Orbit Rendezvous (EOR): Multiple rockets (up to 15 in some plans) would be launched, Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/R Battery

• each carrying various parts of a Direct Ascent spacecraft and propulsion units that would have enabled the spacecraft to escape earth orbit. After a docking in earth orbit, the spacecraft would have landed on the Moon as a unit.

Lunar Surface Rendezvous: Two spacecraft would be launched in succession. Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/W Battery

The first, an automated vehicle carrying propellants, would land on the Moon and would be followed some time later by the manned vehicle. Propellant would be transferred from the automated vehicle to the manned vehicle before the manned vehicle could return to Earth. Sony VAIO VPCCW29FJ/W Battery

Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR): One Saturn V would launch a spacecraft that was composed of modular parts. A command modulewould remain in orbit around the Moon, while a lunar excursion module would descend to the Moon and then return to dock with the command ship while still in lunar orbit. Sony VAIO VPCCW2AFJ Battery

• In contrast with the other plans, LOR required only a small part of the spacecraft to land on the Moon, thereby minimizing the mass to be launched from the Moon's surface for the return trip.

In early 1961, direct ascent was generally the mission mode in favor at NASA. Sony VAIO VPCCW2AHJ Battery

Many engineers feared that a rendezvous —let alone a docking— neither of which had been attempted even inEarth orbit, would be extremely difficult in lunar orbit. However, dissenters including John Houbolt at Langley Research Center emphasized the important weight reductions that were offered by the LOR approach. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E Battery

Throughout 1960 and 1961, Houbolt campaigned for the recognition of LOR as a viable and practical option. Bypassing the NASA hierarchy, he sent a series of memos and reports on the issue to Associate Administrator Robert Seamans; while acknowledging that he spoke "somewhat as a voice in the wilderness," Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/B Battery

Houbolt pleaded that LOR should not be discounted in studies of the question.^[17]

Seamans' establishment of the Golovin committee in July 1961 represented a turning point in NASA's mission mode decision.^[18] While the ad-hoc committee was intended to provide a recommendation on the boosters to be used in the Apollo program, Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/L Battery

it recognized that the mode decision was an important part of this question. The committee recommended in favor of a hybrid EOR-LOR mode, but its consideration of LOR —as well as Houbolt's ceaseless work— played an important role in publicizing the workability of the approach. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/P Battery

In late 1961 and early 1962, members of NASA's Space Task Group at the Langley Center (which was in process of transitioning to the newly formed Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston), began to come around to support for LOR.^[19] The engineers atMarshall Space Flight Center took longer to become convinced of its merits, Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/R Battery

but their conversion was announced by Wernher von Braun at a briefing in June 1962. NASA's formal decision in favor of LOR was announced on July 11, 1962. Space historian James Hansen concludes that:

Without NASA's adoption of this stubbornly held minority opinion in 1962, Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/W Battery

the United States may still have reached the Moon, but almost certainly it would not have been accomplished by the end of the 1960s, President Kennedy's target date.

The LOR method had the advantage of allowing the lander spacecraft to be used as a "life boat" in the event of a failure of the command ship. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S5C CN1 Battery

This happened onApollo 13 when an oxygen tank failure left the command ship without electrical power. The Lunar Module provided propulsion, electrical power and life support to get the crew home safely. Sony VAIO VPCF112FX/B Battery

Spacecraft

Preliminary design studies of Apollo spacecraft began in 1960 as a three-man command module supported by one of several service modules providing propulsion and electrical power, sized for use in various possible missions, such as: Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B Battery

shuttle service to a space station, a circumlunar flight, or return to Earth from a lunar landing. Once the Moon landing goal became official, detailed design began of the Command/Service Module (CSM), in which the crew would spend the entire direct-ascent mission and lift off from the lunar surface for the return trip. Sony VAIO VPCF116FGBI Battery

 (An even larger, separate propulsion module would have been required for the lunar descent.)

The final choice of lunar orbit rendezvous changed the CSM's role to a translunar ferry used to take the crew and a new spacecraft, Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ/W Battery

the Lunar Module (LM), which would take two men to the lunar surface and return them to the CSM.

As the program concept evolved, use of the term "module" changed from its true meaning of an interchangeable component of systems with multiple variants, to simply a component of the complete lunar landing system. Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI Battery

Command/Service Module

The Command Module (CM) was the crew cabin, surrounded by a conical re-entry heat shield, designed to carry three astronauts from launch to lunar orbit and back to an Earth ocean splashdown. Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ/W Battery

As such, it was the only component of the Apollo spacecraft to survive without major configuration changes as the program evolved from the early Apollo study designs. Equipment carried by the Command Module included reaction control engines, a docking tunnel, guidance and navigation systems and the Apollo Guidance Computer. Sony VAIO VPCF119FC Battery

Attached to the Command Module was the cylindrical Service Module (SM), which housed the service propulsion engine and its propellants, the fuel cell power system, four maneuvering thruster quads, a high-gain S-band antenna for communications between the Moon and Earth, and storage tanks for water and oxygen. Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI Battery

On the last three lunar missions, it also carried a scientific instrument package. Because its configuration was chosen early before the selection of lunar orbit rendezvous, the service propulsion engine was sized to lift the CSM off of the Moon, and thus oversized to about twice the thrust required for translunar flight. Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ/BI Battery

As used in the actual lunar program, the two modules remained attached throughout most of the flight to make a single ferry craft known as the Command/Service Module (CSM), which carried a separate lunar lander (only half as heavy as the CSM) to the Moon, and the astronauts home to Earth. Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ Battery

Just before re-entry, the Service Module was discarded and only the Command Module re-entered the atmosphere, using its heat shield to survive the intense heat caused by air friction. After re-entry it deployed parachutes that slowed its descent, allowing a smooth splashdown in the ocean. Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ Battery

Under the leadership of Harrison Storms, North American Aviation won the contract to build the CSM, and also the second stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle for NASA. Relations between North American and NASA were strained during the winter of 1965–66 by delivery delays, quality shortfalls, and cost overruns in both components.^[21] Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ Battery

They were strained even more a year later when a cabin fire killed the crew of Apollo 1 during a ground test. The cause was determined to be an electrical short in the wiring of the Command Module; while the determination of responsibility for the accident was complex, Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B Battery

the review board concluded that "deficiencies existed in Command Module design, workmanship and quality control."^[22] This eventually led to the removal of Storms as Command Module program manager.^[23]

Lunar Module

The Lunar Module (LM) (originally known as the Lunar Excursion Module, or LEM), Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E Battery

was designed to fly between lunar orbit and the surface, landing two astronauts on the Moon and taking them back to the Command Module. It had no aerodynamic heat shield and was of a construction so lightweight that it would not have been able to fly through the Earth's atmosphere. It consisted of two stages, a descent and an ascent stage. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H Battery

The descent stage contained compartments which carried cargo such as the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package and Lunar Rover.

The contract for design and construction of the Lunar Module was awarded to Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, and the project was overseen by Tom Kelly. Sony VAIO VPCF11MFX/B Battery

There were also problems with the Lunar Module; due to delays in the test program, the LM became a "pacing item," meaning that it was in danger of delaying the schedule of the whole Apollo program.^[24] The first manned LM was not ready for its planned Earth orbit test in December 1968, Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E Battery

but the program was kept on schedule by canceling a second manned Earth orbit LM flight.

Launch vehicles

When the team of engineers led by Wernher von Braun began planning for the Apollo program, Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B Battery

it was not yet clear how much payload capacity was required for a manned lunar landing. Sending the three-man Apollo Command Module directly to the lunar surface and back would require an extremely large launch vehicle, theNova, which could send over 130,000 pounds (59,000 kg) to the Moon. Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E Battery

NASA's decision to use the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous method eliminated the need for Nova and met the capability of the Saturn rocket family, so the Marshall Space Flight Center proceeded to develop the Saturn I, Saturn IB and Saturn V. While the Saturn V was less powerful than the Nova would have been, Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E/BI Battery

it still holds the record for largest payload capacity (260,000 lb/120,000 kg to LEO or (100,000 lb/45,000 kg to the Moon) of any rocket developed as of 2012. The closest comparable launch systems were the Energia (220,000 lb/100,000 kg to LEO) and the unsuccessful N1(200,000 lb/91,000 kg to LEO), Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ Battery

which the Soviet Union developed for manned lunar flight in competition with Apollo.

Saturn IB

The Saturn IB was an upgraded version of the earlier Saturn I rocket.^[25] It consisted of:

An S-IB first stage powered by eight H-1 engines burning RP-1 with liquid oxygen (LOX) oxidizer, to produce 1,600,000 pounds-force (7,100 kN) of thrust; Sony VAIO VPCF127HGBI Battery

• An S-IVB-200 second stage, powered by one J-2 engine burning liquid hydrogen fuel with LOX, to produce 225,000 lbf (1,000 kN) of thrust; and
• An Instrument Unit which contained the rocket's guidance system.

The Saturn IB was capable of putting a partially fueled Command/Service Module, or a Lunar Module, into earth orbit.^[26] Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI Battery

It was used in five of the Apollo test missions including the first manned mission. It was also used in the manned missions for the Skylab program and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

Saturn V

The Saturn V was a three-stage rocket consisting of: Sony VAIO VPCS111FM/S Battery

An S-IC first stage, powered by five F-1 engines arranged in a cross pattern, burning RP-1 with LOX oxidizer to produce 7,500,000 lbf (33,000 kN) of thrust. They burned for 2.5 minutes, accelerating the spacecraft to a speed of approximately 6,000 miles per hour (2.68 km/s).^[27] Sony VAIO VPCS115EC Battery

• An S-II second stage, powered by five of the J-2 engines used in the S-IVB. They burned for approximately six minutes, taking the spacecraft to a speed of 15,300 miles per hour (6.84 km/s) and an altitude of about 115 miles (185 km).^[28]

An S-IVB-500 third stage similar to the Saturn IB's second stage, with capability to restart the J-2 engine. Sony VAIO VPCS115FG Battery

The engine would burn for approximately two and a half minutes and shut down when a low-Earth parking orbit was achieved. After approximately two orbits to confirm the spacecraft was ready to commit to the lunar trip, the engine was restarted to make the translunar injection maneuver taking the spacecraft into an extremely high orbit where it would be captured by the Moon's gravity.^[29] Sony VAIO VPCS117GG Battery

• An instrument unit with a guidance system similar to that used on the Saturn IB.

Three Saturn V vehicles launched on Earth orbital flights. Two of the three (Apollo 4 and 6) were unmanned tests of the command and service modules, and the third was a manned flight, Apollo 9, testing the lunar module. Sony VAIO VPCS117GGB Battery

Nine Saturn Vs launched manned Apollo missions to the Moon, including Apollo 11. It was also used for the unmanned launch of Skylab.

The Apollo Program used 3 facility sites for assembly and launch: LC-34, LC-37 and LC-39 all at Cape Canaveral, Sony VAIO VPCS118EC Battery

Florida. The two former were built in the early 1960s and not orginally meant for Apollo. The LC-39 with its Kennedy Space Center, however, was dedicated the Moon travels from the beginning. Construction of this $800 million complex began in November 1962 and its two launch pads A and B were completed by October 1965. Sony VAIO VPCS119FJ/B Battery

The 130 million ft³ assembly building was completed in June 1965, and the infrastructure by late 1966. Apart from the assembly building, the facilities of the complex included a hangar capable of holding four Saturn Vs, a transporter capable of carrying 5,440 tons along a crawlerway to either of two launch pads, and a 446-foot (136 m) mobile service structure. Sony VAIO VPCS119GC Battery

Three Mobile Launcher Platforms, each with a fixed launch umbilical tower, were also built. A Launch Control Center was further added together with a news media site. Saturn V launches, including all Moon landing missions, were made from here, while Saturn IB launches (manned and unmanned test missions) were made from LC34 and LC37. Sony VAIO VPCS11AFJ Battery

Unmanned missions

Apollo required more than six years of spacecraft and launch vehicle development and testing before the first manned missions could be flown. Test flights of the Saturn I launch vehicle began in October 1961 and lasted until September 1964. Sony VAIO VPCS11AGJ Battery

Three further Saturn I launches carried boilerplate models of the Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM). Two pad abort tests of thelaunch escape system took place in 1963 and 1965 at the White Sands Missile Range.

Three unmanned tests of Apollo components with the Saturn IB (Apollo-Saturn, or AS) Sony VAIO VPCS11AHJ Battery

were officially designated (in their chronological order of launch) as AS-201, AS-203, and AS-202. According to original plan the first CSM manned orbital mission AS-204, called Apollo 1, should be after two unmanned suborbital flights of CSM (AS-201 and AS-202). Sony VAIO VPCS11AVJ Battery

Then AS-205 CSM manned orbital and AS-206 LM (the Apollo Lunar Module) unmanned flights followed by dual AS-278 mission of AS-207 CSM and AS-208 LM (started on Saturn IB separately for docking) were scheduled. Later AS-205 mission was canceled, AS-278 dual mission was reassigned as AS-258 and AS-278 CSM+LM common manned mission on Saturn V was planned. Sony VAIO VPCS11J7E/B Battery

After a pre-launch fire caused the death of the Apollo 1 crew on January 27, 1967, manned missions were postponed, while unmanned LM and Saturn V flights continued. At this point, NASA started publicly designating Apollo missions by sequence number (starting with Apollo 4), rather than by the launch vehicle designation Sony VAIO VPCS11M1E/W Battery

(AS-201 to 205 for Saturn IB, AS-501 to 512 for Saturn V.)^[30] The sequence started at "4" to cover the first three unmanned flights while reserving Apollo 1 to honor the lost astronauts. The "AS" launch vehicle designations were still kept internally.

Apollo 4 (AS-501) was the first unmanned test flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle, Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E Battery

carrying a CSM. Launched on November 9, 1967, Apollo 4 exemplified George Mueller's strategy of "all up" testing. Rather than being tested stage by stage, as most rockets were, the Saturn V would be flown for the first time as one unit. Walter Cronkite covered the launch from a broadcast booth about 4 miles (6 km) from the launch site. Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E/B Battery

The extreme noise and vibrations from the launch nearly shook the broadcast booth apart- ceiling tiles fell and windows shook. At one point, Cronkite was forced to dampen the booth's plate glass window to prevent it from shattering.^[31]This launch showed that additional protective measures were necessary to protect structures in the immediate vicinity. Sony VAIO VPCS11X9E/B Battery

Future launches used a damping mechanism directly at the launchpad which proved effective in limiting the generated noise. The mission was a highly successful one, demonstrating the capability of the Command Module's heat shield to survive a trans-lunar return reentry by using the Service Module engine to ram it into the atmosphere at higher than the usual earth-orbital reentry speed. Sony VAIO VPCS123FGB Battery

Apollo 5 (AS-204) was the first unmanned test flight of LM in Earth orbit, launched on January 22, 1968, by a Saturn IB. The critical LM engines were successfully tested (though a computer programming error cut one test firing short), including an in-flight test of the second stage engine in "abort mode, Sony VAIO VPCS125EC Battery

" in which the ascent engine is fired simultaneously with the jettison of the descent stage. This capability was made available, only to be used in the event of a critical problem on the Moon landing, such as running out of descent fuel, but was never needed.

Apollo 6 (AS-502) was the last unmanned Saturn V flight, launched on April 4, 1968. Sony VAIO VPCS128EC Battery

It carried a CSM and a LM Test Article near the mass of the Lunar Module for ballast. It was planned to achieve translunar injection, then after 5 minutes, use the Service Module engine to return the CM to Earth, thus demonstrating the Saturn V's ability to send the Apollo craft to the Moon, and a direct return-to-Earth abort capability. Sony VAIO VPCS129GC Battery

However, "pogo" vibrations caused premature shutdown of two second-stage engines, and failure of the third stage to re-light for the translunar injection. Instead, the Service Module engine was used as in Apollo 4 to raise the craft to a higher Earth orbit, and bring the CM back at a velocity midway between that of low Earth orbit and lunar return velocity. Sony VAIO VPCS12C7E/B Battery

This mission was considered successful enough to launch men on the next Saturn V flight, since fixes for the vibration problem were identified.

Manned missions

The manned missions carried three astronauts, designated as Commander (CDR), Command Module Pilot (CMP), and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP). Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B Battery

Besides exercising all crew command decisions, the Commander was the primary pilot of both spacecraft (when present) and was first to exit the LM on the surface of the Moon. The CMP functioned as navigator, usually performed the initial docking with the LM, and remained in the Command/Service Module when his companions flew the LM. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B Battery

The LMP functioned as engineering officer, monitoring the systems of both spacecraft. On a landing mission, he accompanied the Commander on the lunar surface. On the last flight, the LMP was a professional geologist, Dr. Harrison Schmitt.

The first planned manned mission was an Earth orbital test of the Block I CSM launched with a Saturn IB was designated AS-204, Sony VAIO VPCY115FGS Battery

or Apollo 1, originally planned for late in 1966, but plagued by delays until February 21, 1967. A second Block I CSM orbital flight, AS-205, was originally planned but canceled in late 1966. The next manned mission was planned as a dual launch of the Block II CSM (originally AS-207, then changed to AS-205) Sony VAIO VPCY115FX/BI Battery

with AS-208 launching an unmanned LM to which the astronauts in the CSM would dock. This mission was first designated AS-258, and later as AS-278. This would be followed by the first manned launch of both spacecraft on a Saturn V in a high Earth orbital test.

These plans had to be revised after the January 27, 1967 fire which killed the Apollo 1 crew in a pre-launch test. Sony VAIO VPCY115FXBI Battery

Manned flight of the Block I CSM was canceled, and the program concentrated on unmanned testing of the Saturn V and LM while safety improvements were made to the Block II CSM which would be used exclusively in manned flight. The AS-278 mission was revised to use a Saturn V in a single launch instead of two Saturn IBs. Sony VAIO VPCY118EC Battery

Apollo 7, launched on October 11, 1968, was the first manned mission in the program. It was an 11-day Earth-orbital flight intended to test the CSM as in former planned AS-204 Apollo 1 mission. It was the first manned launch of the Saturn IB launch vehicle and the first three-man American space mission. Sony VAIO VPCY118GX/BI Battery

Between December 21, 1968 and May 18, 1969, NASA planned to launch three manned test/practice missions using the Saturn V launch vehicle and the complete spacecraft including the LM. But by the summer of 1968 it became clear to program managers that a fully functional LM would not be available for the Apollo 8 launch. Sony VAIO VPCY119FJ/S Battery

Rather than waste the Saturn V on another simple Earth-orbiting mission, they chose to send the crew planned to make the second orbital LM test in Apollo 9, to orbit the Moon in the CSM on Apollo 8 during Christmas. The original idea for this switch was the brainchild of George Low, Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office. Sony VAIO VPCY11AFJ Battery

Although it has often been claimed that this change was made as a direct response to Soviet attempts to fly a piloted Zond spacecraft around the Moon, there is no evidence that this was the case. NASA officials were aware of the Soviet Zond flights, but the timing of the Zond missions does not correspond well with the extensive written record from NASA about the Apollo 8 decision. Sony VAIO VPCY11AGJ Battery

Sony VAIO VPCY11AHJ Battery

The Apollo 8 decision was primarily based upon the LM schedule, not fear of the Soviets beating the Americans to the Moon. Soviets undertook partially successful unmanned Zond 5 and Zond 6 missions and could near December, 8 but have not decided to launch almost ready manned Zond mission before Apollo 8. Sony VAIO VPCY11AVJ Battery

This was followed by the first orbital manned LM flight on Apollo 9 (as former planned AS-278 mission and with the original Apollo 8 crew), and the lunar "dress rehearsal" Apollo 10 which took the LM to within 50,000 feet (15 km) of the surface, but did not land. The first landing was achieved on Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969. Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E/S Battery

Apollo 12 made a precision landing near the Surveyor 3 unmanned lunar probe, which had landed in April 1967. The Apollo 13mission was aborted before the landing attempt, but the crew returned safely to Earth. The four subsequent Apollo missions (14 through 17) included successful Moon landings. Sony VAIO VPCY11S1E Battery

The last three of these were J-class missions that included the use ofLunar Rovers.

Apollo 17, launched December 7, 1972, was the last Apollo mission to the Moon. Mission commander Eugene Cernan was the last person to leave the Moon's surface. The crew returned safely to Earth on December 19, 1972. Sony VAIO VPCY11V9E/S Battery

Astronauts

Forty-one astronauts were assigned to fly Apollo spacecraft; thirty-two of them were part of the Apollo program, with the rest not flying until the subsequent Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz programs. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/BI Battery

Twenty-four of the Apollo program astronauts left Earth’s orbit and flew around the Moon (Apollo 7 and Apollo 9 did not leave low Earth orbit).

Twelve of these astronauts walked on the Moon’s surface, and six of those drove a lunar rover on the Moon. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/G Battery

While three astronauts flew to the Moon twice, none of them landed on the Moon more than once. The nine Apollo missions to the moon occurred between December 1968 and December 1972.

Apart from these twenty-four people who visited the Moon, no human being has gone beyond low Earth orbit. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/L Battery

They have, therefore, been farther from the Earth than anyone else. They are also the only people to have directly viewed the far side of the Moon. The twelve who walked on the Moon are the only people ever to have set foot on an astronomical object other than the Earth. Of the twenty-four lunar astronauts taking part in the Moon missions, Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/P Battery

two went on to command a Skylab mission, one commanded Apollo-Soyuz, one flew as commander for shuttle approach and landing tests and two went on to command orbital shuttle missions. A total of twenty-four Apollo-era astronauts (as well as pre-Apollo astronaut John Glenn) flew the space shuttle. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery

Capsule Communicator

Mission rules specified that, in most circumstances, only one person in the Mission Control Center would communicate directly with the in-flight crew; this was to be another astronaut, who would be best able to understand the situation in the spacecraft and communicate with the crew in the clearest way. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/P Battery

These individuals were designated Capsule Communicators or CAPCOMs, a term carried over from the Mercury and Gemini programs. They were usually chosen from the backup and support crews, and worked in shifts during long missions. The periodic beeps heard during communications with the astronauts are known as Quindar tones. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/SI Battery

Samples returned

The Apollo program returned 841.5 lb (381.7 kg) of rocks and other material from the Moon, much of which is stored at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston. The only sources of Moon rocks on Earth are those collected from the Apollo program, the former Soviet Union's Luna missions, and lunar meteorites. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S5C CN1 Battery

The rocks collected from the Moon are extremely old compared to rocks found on Earth, as measured by radiometric dating techniques. They range in age from about 3.2 billion years old for the basaltic samples derived from thelunar mare, to about 4.6 billion years for samples derived from the highlands crust.^[33] Sony VAIO VPCEA20 Battery

As such, they represent samples from a very early period in the development of the Solar System that is largely missing from Earth. One important rock found during the Apollo Program was the Genesis Rock, retrieved by astronauts James Irwin and David Scott during the Apollo 15 mission. Sony VAIO VPCEB10 Battery

This rock, called anorthosite, is composed almost exclusively of the calcium-rich feldspar mineral anorthite, and is believed to be representative of the highland crust. A geochemical component called KREEP was discovered that has no known terrestrial counterpart. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM Battery

Together, KREEP and the anorthositic samples have been used to infer that the outer portion of the Moon was once completely molten (seelunar magma ocean).

Almost all the rocks show evidence for having been affected by impact processes. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM/BI Battery

For instance, many samples appear to be pitted with micrometeoroid impact craters, something which is never seen on earth due to its thick atmosphere. Additionally, many show signs of being subjected to high pressure shock waves that are generated during impact events. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM/T Battery

Some of the returned samples are of impact melt, referring to materials that are melted near an impact crater. Finally, all samples returned from the Moon are highly brecciated as a result of being subjected to multiple impact events.

Analysis of composition of the lunar samples support the giant impact hypothesis, Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM/WI Battery

that the Moon was created through a "giant impact" of a large astronomical body with the Earth.^[34]

Program costs and cancellation

When President Kennedy first chartered the Moon landing program, a preliminary cost estimate of $7 billion was generated, Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX Battery

but this proved an extremely unrealistic guess of what could not possibly be determined precisely, and James Webb used his administrator's judgment to change the estimate to $20 billion before giving it to Vice President Johnson.^[35]

Webb's estimate shocked many at the time (including the President), Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX/BI Battery

but ultimately proved to be reasonably accurate. In January 1969, NASA prepared an itemized estimate of the combined cost of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. The total for Apollo came to $23.9 billion, itemized as follows:^[36]

Apollo spacecraft: $7,945.0 millionSony VAIO VPCEB11FX/T Battery

• Saturn I launch vehicles: $767.1 million
• Saturn IB launch vehicles: $1,131.2 million
• Saturn V launch vehicles: $6,871.1 million
• Launch vehicle engine development: $854.2 million
• Mission support: $1,432.3 million

Tracking and data acquisition: $664.1 million Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX/WI Battery

• Ground facilities: $1,830.3 million
• Operation of installations: $2,420.6 million

The final cost of project Apollo was reported to Congress as $25.4 billion in 1973.^[37] Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX Battery

It took up the majority of NASA's budget while it was being developed. For example, in 1966 it accounted for about 60 percent of NASA's total $5.2 billion budget.^[38]

In 2009, NASA held a symposium on project costs which presented an estimate of the Apollo program costs in 2005 dollars as roughly $170 billion. Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX/BI Battery

This included all research and development costs; the procurement of 15 Saturn V rockets, 16 Command/Service Modules, 12 Lunar Modules, plus program support and management costs; construction expenses for facilities and their upgrading, and costs for flight operations. Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX/T Battery

This was based on a Congressional Budget Office report, A Budgetary Analysis of NASA’s New Vision for Space, September 2004.^[35] The Space Review estimated in 2010 the cost of Apollo from 1959 to 1973 as $20.4 billion, or $109 billion in 2010 dollars. Each lunar landing thus cost $18 billion in 2010 dollars.^[39] Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX/WI Battery

Canceled missions

Originally three additional lunar landing missions had been planned, as Apollo 18 through Apollo 20. In light of the drastically shrinking NASA budget and the decision not to produce a second batch of Saturn Vs, Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX Battery

these missions were canceled to make funds available for the development of the Space Shuttle, and to make their Apollo spacecraft and Saturn V launch vehicles available to the Skylab program. Only one of the remaining Saturn Vs was actually used to launch the Skylab orbital laboratory in 1973; Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX/BI Battery

the others became museum exhibits at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, George C. Marshall Space Center inHuntsville, Alabama, Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX/BIC Battery

Apollo Applications Program

Following the success of the Apollo program, both NASA and its major contractors investigated several post-lunar applications for Apollo hardware. The Apollo Extension Series, later called the Apollo Applications Program, proposed up to 30 flights to Earth orbit. Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX/T Battery

Many of these would use the space that the lunar module took up in the Saturn rocket to carry scientific equipment. Of all the plans, only two were implemented: the Skylab space station and the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.

Skylab's fuselage was constructed from the second stage of a Saturn IB, Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX Battery

and the station was equipped with the Apollo Telescope Mount, itself based on a lunar module. The station's three crews were ferried into orbit atop Saturn IBs, riding in CSMs; the station itself had been launched with a modified Saturn V. Skylab's last crew departed the station on February 8, 1974, and the station itself re-entered the atmosphere in 1979, Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX/BI Battery

by which time it had become the oldest operational Apollo-Saturn component.

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project involved a docking in Earth orbit between a CSM and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft from July 15 to 24, 1975. NASA's next manned mission would not be until STS-1 in 1981. Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX/T Battery

Recent observations

In 2008, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's SELENE probe observed evidence of the halo surrounding the Apollo 15 lunar module blast crater while orbiting above the lunar surface.^[41] Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX/WI Battery

In 2009, NASA's robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, while orbiting 50 kilometres (31 mi) above the moon, photographed the remnants of the Apollo program left on the lunar surface, and photographed each site where manned Apollo flights landed.^[42][43]

In a November 16, 2009 editorial, The New York Times opined: Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM Battery

[T]here’s something terribly wistful about these photographs of the Apollo landing sites. The detail is such that if Neil Armstrong were walking there now, we could make him out, make out his footsteps even, like the astronaut footpath clearly visible in the photos of the Apollo 14 site. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM/BI Battery

Perhaps the wistfulness is caused by the sense of simple grandeur in those Apollo missions. Perhaps, too, it’s a reminder of the risk we all felt after the Eagle had landed – the possibility that it might be unable to lift off again and the astronauts would be stranded on the Moon. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM/T Battery

But it may also be that a photograph like this one is as close as we’re able to come to looking directly back into the human past.^[40]

Proposed future lunar landing missions, such as the Google Lunar X Prize, intended to record close-up images of theApollo Lunar Modules and other artificial objects on the surface. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM/WI Battery

The Apollo program, specifically the lunar landings, has been called the greatest technological achievement in human history.^[45][46] The program stimulated many areas of technology. The flight computer design used in both the lunar and command modules was, along with the Minuteman Missile System, the driving force behind early research into integrated circuits. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX Battery

The fuel cell developed for this program was the first practical fuel cell. Computer-controlled machining (CNC) was pioneered in fabricating Apollo structural components.

Cultural impact

The crew of Apollo 8, the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon, sent televised pictures of the Earth and the Moon back to Earth (left), Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX/BI Battery

and read from the creation story in the Biblical book of Genesis, on Christmas Eve, 1968, This was believed to be the most widely watched television broadcast until that time. The mission and Christmas provided an inspiring end to 1968, which had been a bad year for the U.S., marked by Vietnam War protests, race riots, Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX/T Battery

and the assassinations of civil rights leader Martin Luther Kingand Senator Robert Kennedy.

An estimated one-fifth of the population of the world watched the live transmission of the first Apollo moonwalk.^[47] Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX/WI Battery

One legacy of the Apollo program is the now-common view of Earth as a fragile, small planet, captured in photographs taken by the astronauts during the lunar missions. The most famous, taken by the Apollo 17 astronauts, is The Blue Marble (right). These photographs have also motivated some people toward environmentalism. Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX Battery

Many astronauts and cosmonauts have commented on the profound effects that seeing Earth from space has had on them;^[49] the 24 astronauts who traveled to the Moon are the only humans to have observed Earth from beyond low Earth orbit, and have traveled farther from Earth than anyone else to date. Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/B Battery

The program succeeded in accomplishing one of President Kennedy's goals, which was to take on the Soviet Union in the space race and beat it by accomplishing a singular and significant achievement and thereby showcase the superiority of the capitalistic, free-market system as represented by the US. Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/G Battery

The Economistnoted, however, the irony that in order to achieve the goal the Apollo program was successful by organizing tremendous public resources within a vast, centralized bureaucracy under government direction.^[50]

Apollo 11 broadcast data restoration project

As part of Apollo 11's 40th anniversary in 2009, Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/L Battery

NASA spearheaded an effort to digitally restore the existing videotapes of the mission's live televised moonwalk.^[51] After an exhaustive three-year search for missing tapes of the original video of the Apollo 11 moonwalk, NASA concluded the data tapes had more than likely been accidentally erased. Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/P Battery

We're all saddened that they're not there. We all wish we had 20-20 hindsight. I don't think anyone in the NASA organization did anything wrong, I think it slipped through the cracks, and nobody's happy about it.

The Moon landing data was recorded by a special Apollo TV camera which recorded in a format incompatible with broadcast TV. Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/W Battery

This resulted in lunar footage that had to be converted for the live television broadcast and stored on magnetic telemetry tapes. During the following years, a magnetic tape shortage prompted NASA to remove massive numbers of magnetic tapes from the National Archives and Records Administration to be recorded over with newer satellite data. Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX Battery

Stan Lebar, who designed and built the lunar camera at Westinghouse Electric Corporation, also worked with Nafzger to try to locate the missing tapes.

So I don't believe that the tapes exist today at all. Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/B Battery

It was a hard thing to accept. But there was just an overwhelming amount of evidence that led us to believe that they just don't exist anymore. And you have to accept reality.

With a budget of $230,000, the surviving original lunar broadcast data from Apollo 11 was compiled by Nafzger and assigned to Lowry Digital for restoration. Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/G Battery

The video was processed to remove random noise and camera shake without destroying historical legitimacy.^[53] The images were from tapes in Australia, the CBS News archive, and kinescope recordings made at Johnson Space Center. The restored video, remaining in black and white, Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/L Battery

contains conservative digital enhancements and did not include sound quality improvements.

The Saturn V (pronounced "Saturn Five") was an American human-rated expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo andSkylab programs from 1967 until 1973. Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/P Battery

A multistage liquid-fueled launch vehicle, NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from theKennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload. It remains the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever brought to operational status and still holds the record for the heaviest launch vehicle payload. Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/W Battery

The largest production model of the Saturn family of rockets, the Saturn V was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, with Boeing, North American Aviation, Douglas Aircraft Company, and IBM as the lead contractors. Sony VAIO VPCEB190X Battery

Von Braun's design was based in part on his work on the Aggregate series of rockets, especially the A-10, A-11, and A-12, in Germany during World War II.

To date, the Saturn V is the only launch vehicle to transport human beings beyond low Earth orbit. Sony VAIO VPCEB19FX Battery

A total of 24astronauts were launched to the Moon, three of them more than once, in the four years spanning December 1968 through December 1972.

The origins of the Saturn V rocket begin with the US government choosing Wernher von Braun to be one of about seven hundred German scientists in Operation Paperclip, Sony VAIO VPCEB19GX Battery

a program created by President Truman in September 1946.^[2] It was intended to bring these scientists and their expertise to the United States, thereby giving America an edge in the Cold War. To legally bring over scientists who had been active in the Nazi Party, members of the War Department's Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency doctored dossiers, including von Braun's, to downplay their Nazi sympathies.^[2] Sony VAIO VPCEB1AFX Battery

Von Braun was put into the rocket design division of the Army due to his direct involvement in the creation of the V-2rocket.^[3] Between 1945 and 1958, his work was restricted to conveying the ideas and methods behind the V-2 to the American engineers.^[2] Despite Von Braun's many articles on the future of space rocketry, Sony VAIO VPCEB1AFX/B Battery

the US Government continued funding Air Force and Naval rocket programs to test their Vanguard missiles despite numerous costly failures. It was not until the 1957 Soviet launch of Sputnik (atop an R-7 thermonuclear ICBM with the warhead replaced by the satellite and shroud ^[4] [5]) Sony VAIO VPCEB1AGX Battery

that the Army and the government started taking serious steps towards putting Americans in space.^[6]Finally, they turned to von Braun and his team, who during these years created and experimented with the Jupiter series of rockets. The Juno I was the rocket that launched the first American satellite in January 1958, Sony VAIO VPCEB1AGX/BI Battery

and part of the last-ditch plan for NASA to get its foot in the Space Race.^[7] The Jupiter series was one more step in von Braun's journey to the Saturn V, later calling that first series "an infant Saturn".^[6]

Saturn development

The Saturn V's design stemmed from the designs of the V-2 and Jupiter series rockets. As the success of the Jupiter series became evident, the Saturn series emerged. Sony VAIO VPCEB1BGX Battery

C-1 to C-4

Between 1960 and 1962, the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) designed a series of Saturn rockets that could be used for various Earth orbit or lunar missions.

The C-1 was developed into the Saturn I, and the C-2 rocket was dropped early in the design process in favor of the C-3, Sony VAIO VPCEB1BGX/BI Battery

which was intended to use two F-1 engines on its first stage, four J-2 engines for its second stage, and an S-IV stage, using six RL-10 engines.

NASA planned to use the C-3 as part of the Earth Orbit Rendezvous (EOR) concept, with at least four or five launches needed for a single lunar mission. Sony VAIO VPCEB1CGX Battery

But MSFC was already planning an even bigger rocket, the C-4, which would use four F-1 engines on its first stage, an enlarged C-3 second stage, and the S-IVB, a stage with a single J-2 engine, as its third stage. The C-4 would need only two launches to carry out an EOR lunar mission. Sony VAIO VPCEB1CGX/BI Battery

C-5

On January 10, 1962, NASA announced plans to build the C-5. The three-stage rocket would consist of five F-1 engines for the first stage, five J-2 engines for the second stage, and a single, additional J-2 engine for the third stage.^[8] Sony VAIO VPCEB1DGX Battery

The C-5 was designed for the higher payload capacity necessary for a lunar mission, and could carry up to 90,000 pounds (41,000 kg) to the Moon.^[8]

The C-5 would undergo component testing even before the first model was constructed. The rocket's third stage would be utilized as the second stage for the C-IB, Sony VAIO VPCEB1DGX/BI Battery

which would serve both to demonstrate proof of concept and feasibility for the C-5, but would also provide flight data critical to the continued development of the C-5.^[8] Rather than undergoing testing for each major component, the C-5 would be tested in an "all-up" fashion, Sony VAIO VPCEB1EGX Battery

meaning that the first test flight of the rocket would include complete versions of all three stages. By testing all components at once, far fewer test flights would be required before a manned launch.^[9]

The C-5 was confirmed as NASA's choice for the Apollo Program in early 1963, and was given a new name—the Saturn V.^[8] Sony VAIO VPCEB1EGX/BI Battery

The C-1 became the Saturn I, and C-1B became Saturn IB. Von Braun headed a team at the Marshall Space Flight Center in building a vehicle capable of launching a crewed spacecraft on a trajectory to the moon.^[6] Before they moved under NASA's jurisdiction, von Braun's team had already begun work on improving the thrust, 
Sony VAIO VPCEB1FGX Battery

creating a less complex operating system, and designing better mechanical systems.^[6] It was during these revisions that the decision to reject the single engine of the V-2's design came about, and the team moved to a multiple-engine design. The Saturn I and IB reflected these changes, Sony VAIO VPCEB1FGX/BI Battery

but still did not have the potential to send a crewed spacecraft to the moon.^[6] These designs, however, provided a basis for which NASA could determine its best method towards landing a man on the moon.

The Saturn V's final design had several key design features. Sony VAIO VPCEB1GGX Battery

Engineers determined that the best engines were the F-1s coupled with the new liquid hydrogen propulsion system called J-2, which made the Saturn C-5 configuration optimal.^[6] By 1962, NASA had finalized its plans to proceed with von Braun's Saturn designs, and the Apollo space program gained speed.^[10] Sony VAIO VPCEB1GGX/BI Battery

With the configuration finalized, NASA turned its attention to mission profiles. Despite some controversy, a lunar orbit rendezvous for the lunar module was chosen over an Earth orbital rendezvous.^[6] Issues such as type of fuel injections, the needed amount of fuel for such a trip, and rocket manufacturing processes were ironed out, Sony VAIO VPCEB1HGX Battery

and the designs for the Saturn V were selected. The rocket was to be built in three sections from the bottom up: SI-C, S-II, and S-IVB. Each section was designed by von Braun in Huntsville and built by outside contractors such as Boeing, North American Aviation, Douglas Aircraft, and IBM.^[10] Sony VAIO VPCEB1HGX/BI Battery

Selection for Apollo lunar landing

Early in the planning process, NASA considered three leading ideas for the Moon mission: Earth Orbit Rendezvous, Direct Ascent, and Lunar Orbit Rendezvous(LOR). A direct ascent configuration would launch a larger rocket which would land directly on the lunar surface, Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX Battery

while an Earth orbit rendezvous would launch two smaller spacecraft which would combine in Earth orbit. A LOR mission would involve a single rocket launching a single spacecraft, but only a small part of that spacecraft would land on the moon. That smaller landing module would then rendezvous with the main spacecraft, and the crew would return home.^[11] Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/B Battery

NASA at first dismissed LOR as a riskier option, given that an orbital rendezvous had yet to be performed in Earth orbit, much less in lunar orbit. Several NASA officials, including Langley Research Center engineer John Houbolt and NASA Administrator George Low, argued that a Lunar Orbit Rendezvous provided the simplest landing on the moon, Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/G Battery

the most cost–efficient launch vehicle and, perhaps most importantly, the best chance to accomplish a lunar landing within the decade.^[8]Other NASA officials were convinced, and LOR was officially selected as the mission configuration for the Apollo program on 7 November 1962.^[8] Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/L Battery

Technology

The Saturn V's size and payload capacity dwarfed all other previous rockets which had successfully flown at that time. With the Apollo spacecraft on top it stood 363 feet (111 m) tall and without fins it was 33 feet (10 m) in diameter. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/P Battery

Fully fueled it had a total mass of 6.5 million pounds (3,000 metric tons) and a payload capacity of 260,000 pounds (120,000 kg) to LEO. Comparatively, at 363 feet (111 m), the Saturn V is about 58 feet taller than the Statue of liberty from the ground to the torch, and is just one foot shorter than St Paul's Cathedral in London, Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/W Battery

and only cleared the doors of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center by 6 feet (1.8 m) when rolled out.

In contrast, the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle used on Freedom 7, the first manned American spaceflight, Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX Battery

was just under 11 feet (3.4 m) longer than the S-IVB stage, and delivered less sea level thrust (78,000 pounds-force (350 kN)) than the Launch Escape System rocket (147,000 pounds-force (650 kN) sea level thrust) mounted atop the Apollo command module.^[12]

The Saturn V was principally designed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX/B Battery

Alabama, although numerous major systems, including propulsion, were designed by subcontractors. It used the powerful new F-1 and J-2 rocket engines for propulsion. When tested, these engines shattered the windows of nearby houses.^[13] Designers decided early on to attempt to use as much technology from the Saturn I program as possible. Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX/W Battery

Consequently, the S-IVB-500 third stage of the Saturn V was based on the S-IVB-200 second stage of the Saturn IB. The Instrument Unit that controlled the Saturn V shared characteristics with that carried by the Saturn IB.

Blueprints and other Saturn V plans are available on microfilm at the Marshall Space Flight Center.^[14] Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX Battery

Stages

The Saturn V consisted of three stages—the S-IC first stage, S-II second stage and the S-IVB third stage—and the instrument unit. All three stages used liquid oxygen (LOX) as an oxidizer. The first stage used RP-1 for fuel, while the second and third stages used liquid hydrogen (LH2). Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX/BI Battery

The upper stages also used small solid-fueled ullage motors that helped to separate the stages during the launch, and to ensure that the liquid propellants were in a proper position to be drawn into the pumps.

S-IC first stage

The S-IC was built by The Boeing Company at the Michoud Assembly Facility, Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX/WI Battery

New Orleans, where Space Shuttle External Tanks would later be built. Most of its mass of over two thousand metric tonnes at launch was propellant, in this case RP-1 rocket fuel andliquid oxygen oxidizer with a fuel efficiency of just under 5 inches per US gallon (just under 4 cm per liter) overall.^[15] Sony VAIO VPCEB1MFX Battery

It was 42 metres (138 ft) tall and 10 metres (33 ft) in diameter, and provided over 34 meganewtons (7,600,000 lb_f) of thrust to get the rocket through the first 67 kilometres (220,000 ft) of ascent. The S-IC stage had a dry weight of about 131,000 kilograms (290,000 lb) and fully fueled at launch had a total weight of 2,300 tonnes (5,100,000 lb). Sony VAIO VPCEB1MFX/BI Battery

The initial design included four F-1 engines, which provided just enough force to lift the spacecraft and rocket. A fifth F-1 engine was added in the center of a cross pattern to provide additional thrust to accommodate the growing weight of the Apollo payload.^[8] That center engine was fixed, Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX Battery

while the four outer engines could be hydraulically turned ("gimballed") to control the rocket.^[15] In flight, the center engine was turned off about 26 seconds earlier than the outboard engines to limit acceleration. During launch, the S-IC fired its engines for 168 seconds (ignition occurred about 7 seconds before liftoff) and at engine cutoff, Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/B Battery

the vehicle was at an altitude of about 67 kilometres (220,000 ft), was downrange about 93 kilometres (58 mi), and was moving about 2,300 metres per second (7,500 ft/s).^[16]

S-II second stage

The S-II was built by North American Aviation at Seal Beach, California. Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/L Battery

Using liquid hydrogenand liquid oxygen, it had five J-2 engines in a similar arrangement to the S-IC, also using the outer engines for control. The S-II was 81 feet 7 inches (24.87 m) tall with a diameter of 33 feet (10 m), identical to the S-IC, and thus was the largest cryogenic stage until the launch of the STS. Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/P Battery

The S-II had a dry weight of about 80,000 pounds (36,000 kg) and fully fueled, weighed 1,060,000 pounds (480,000 kg). The second stage accelerated the Saturn V through the upper atmosphere with 5.1 meganewtons (1,100,000 lbf) of thrust (in vacuum). When loaded, significantly more than 90 percent of the mass of the stage was propellant; Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/W Battery

however, the ultra-lightweight design had led to two failures in structural testing. Instead of having an intertank structure to separate the two fuel tanks as was done in the S-IC, the S-II used a common bulkhead that was constructed from both the top of the LOX tank and bottom of the LH2 tank. Sony VAIO VPCEB1PFX Battery

It consisted of two aluminum sheets separated by a honeycomb structure made of phenolic resin. This bulkhead had to insulate against the 70 °C (158 °F) temperature difference between the two tanks. The use of a common bulkhead saved 3.6 tonnes (7,900 lb). Like the S-IC, the S-II was transported by sea. Sony VAIO VPCEB1PFX/B Battery,Sony VAIO VPCS125EC Battery,Sony VAIO VPCS128EC Battery