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59-590: Before S-IC-T, the first complete S-IC stage built, Boeing built prototype stages: SA-500F and SA-500D . These were used for testing the new S-IC first stage. Boeing Company was awarded the contract to build S-IC-T on March 6, 1963, from NASA. S-IC-T was also known as the All Systems Test Stage . After being built at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, S-IC-T was loaded onto

118-639: A trans-lunar trajectory , with the boost from orbit to trans-lunar velocity powered by the Saturn V's third stage, the S-IVB . That trajectory, although passing beyond the orbit of the Moon, would not encounter it. The CSM was to separate from the S-IVB soon after the burn, and the SM engine would then fire to slow the craft, dropping its apogee to 22,204 kilometers (11,989 nmi) and causing

177-586: A crew ( Apollo 7 , the first crewed Apollo mission to fly, would be launched by a Saturn IB ). After the mission, CM-020 was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution . The Apollo 6 command module is on display at the Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta , Georgia . The Saturn V had several cameras affixed to it, intended to be ejected and later recovered. Three of the four cameras on board

236-551: A layer of frost on the LOX line and liquid air on the LH 2 line, damping out any vibrations. In the vacuum of space, there was no such protection: the bellows vibrated rapidly and failed at peak flow, causing a burn-through of the propellant lines. The bellows were replaced with rigid bends and the lines strengthened. In Apollo 6's wake, NASA engineers debated whether to configure the spacecraft's emergency detection system to automatically abort in

295-545: A maximum of 0.25 g (2.5 m/s ). The vehicle suffered no damage, other than the loss of one of the panels of the Spacecraft-Lunar Module Adapter (SLA). NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight George Mueller explained the cause to a congressional hearing: Pogo arises fundamentally because you have thrust fluctuations in the engines. Those are normal characteristics of engines. All engines have what you might call noise in their output because

354-871: A motion picture camera, intended to be activated during launch and during re-entry. Because the mission took about ten minutes longer than planned, re-entry events were not filmed. A 70 mm still camera operated in the CM during part of the mission, pointed at the Earth through the hatch window. Coverage included parts of the United States, the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, and the western Pacific Ocean. The camera had haze-penetrating film and filter combination, with better color balance and higher resolution than photographs taken on previous American crewed missions. These proved excellent for cartographic, topographic, and geographic studies. There

413-594: A paint scheme partially matching the Saturn 1B , for which it was originally made. SA-500F was first stacked on Mobile Launcher 1 in the Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay 1 up to the Instrument Unit on March 30, 1966. The Apollo Command/Service Module facilities verification boilerplate was added on May 2, 1966. 500F was rolled out to Pad A on May 25, 1966. On June 8, it was rolled back to

472-405: A perfect mission", but that the launch vehicle's reaching orbit despite the loss of two engines was "a major unplanned accomplishment". Mueller called Apollo 6 "a good job all around, an excellent launch, and, in balance, a successful mission ... and we have learned a great deal", but later stated that Apollo 6 "will have to be defined as a failure". The phenomenon of pogo, experienced during

531-492: A second SPS engine burn, and the spacecraft only entered the atmosphere at a speed of 10,000 meters per second (33,000 ft/s) instead of the planned 11,000 meters per second (37,000 ft/s) that would simulate a lunar return. While at high altitudes, the CM was able to return data on the extent to which future astronauts would be protected from the Van Allen Belts by the skin of the spacecraft. Ten hours after launch,

590-493: A shock absorber. The problems with the S-II and the S-IVB were traced to the J-2 engines, present in both stages. Tests showed that the propellant lines leading to the spark igniters could fail in low atmospheric pressure or in vacuum. The propellant lines had metal bellows to allow for thermal expansion. In ground testing the cold propellants passing through the propellant lines would form

649-469: A slight performance loss. Due to the less-than-nominal launch, the CSM and S-IVB were inserted into a 173.14-kilometer (93.49 nmi) by 360.10-kilometer (194.44 nmi) parking orbit, instead of the planned 190-kilometer (100 nmi) circular parking orbit. This deviation from the flight plan did not preclude continuing the mission. During the first orbit, the S-IVB maneuvered, changing its attitude towards

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708-758: A special test stand was built, the B-2 Test Stand , this held the rocket in place under full power test. B-2 Test Stand was designed in 1961 and construction started in June 1961. B-2 Test Stand was completed in spring 1965 at the NASA Mississippi Test Facility and the Pearl River Site, then the NASA Mississippi Test Operations, now known as Stennis Space Center since May 20, 1988 after John C. Stennis . Stennis Space Center operates under

767-550: The Delta 4 Common Booster Core was tested from November 1999 to May 2001. Stennis Space Center has other test stands including: A-1/A-2 Test stands , A-3 Test stand , H-1 Test stand and E Test stand complex . The B-2 Test Stand has been renamed over the years, these include: 28°36′17″N 80°40′10″W  /  28.604806°N 80.669444°W  / 28.604806; -80.669444 SA-500F SA-500F (alternately SA500F , 500F , or Facilities Integration Vehicle )

826-719: The Space Shuttle program . Next the stand was change to test Russian RD-180 rocket engine in 1998, used on the Atlas rockets . The Space Launch System liquid oxygen feed line was tested in 2014 on stand. A total of 12 S-IC stages were tested on B-2 stand. The first in April 1967 and the last was in October 1970. S-IC 15 was tested but was not used, S-IC 15 is on display at the Stennis Space Center's Infinity Space Center . The RS-68 used on

885-522: The CM landed 80 kilometers (43 nmi) from the planned touchdown point in the North Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii , and was lifted on board USS  Okinawa . The SM was jettisoned just before reaching the atmosphere and burned up. The S-IVB's orbit gradually decayed and it reentered the atmosphere on April 26, 1968. In a post-launch press conference, Apollo Program Director Samuel C. Phillips said, "there's no question that it's less than

944-467: The CSM to return to Earth, simulating a "direct-return" abort. On the return leg, the engine was to fire once more to accelerate the craft to simulate conditions that the Apollo spacecraft would encounter on its return from the Moon, with a re-entry angle of −6.5 degrees and velocity of 11,100 meters per second (36,500 ft/s). The entire mission was to last about 10 hours. The mission was intended to test

1003-490: The Instrument Unit shut it down altogether, and two seconds later, engine number three also shut down. The fault was in engine two, but due to cross-connection of wires, the command from the Instrument Unit also shut down engine three, which had been running normally. The Instrument Unit was able to compensate, and the remaining three engines burned for 58 seconds longer than planned. The S-IVB third stage also had to burn for 29 seconds longer than usual. The S-IVB also experienced

1062-684: The Kennedy Space Center. Visitors are able walk under S-IC-T. The complete Saturn V rocket, that S-IC-T is part of, has been restored for display. S-IC-T is a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark , listed in July 1980. Two other Saturn V Rocket sites were listed at the same time: Saturn V Rocket at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and the one at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration in Huntsville, Alabama. S-IC-T specifications: To test S-IC-T

1121-474: The Marshall Space Flight Center. B-2 Test Stand was built to be able to hold down 53,000 kN (12,000,000 lbf) of thrust. S-IC-T was first rocket tested on the B-2 Test Stand. Also on the B-2 Test Stand, was the testing of S-IC-1 ( Apollo 4 ), fired two times; S-IC-2 ( Apollo 6 ) fired once; and S-IC-3 ( Apollo 8 ) fired one time. In 1974, the B-2 Test Stand was reconfigured to test engines, RS-25 , for

1180-524: The S-IC failed to eject and thus were destroyed, and only one of the two cameras on the S-II was recovered. Two of these cameras were intended to film the S-IC/S-II separation and the other two were to film the liquid oxygen tank; the one that was recovered had filmed separation. The failure to eject was attributed to a lack of nitrogen pressure in the bottles that were to cause the ejection. The command module carried

1239-407: The S-IC stage could support the firing of all five Rocketdyne F-1 engines at the same time. The testing was also a test of the two large fuel tanks. The five Rocketdyne F-1 engines produced 34,500 kN (7,750,000 lbf) of thrust, the first burn of the most powerful rocket ever. The powerful rockets caused ground shaking and smoke filled the area from the engine flames. Thus, B-2 Test Stand earned

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1298-594: The Saturn V launch vehicle's ability to send the entire Apollo spacecraft to the Moon—in particular, to test the stresses on the LM and the vibration modes of the entire Saturn V with near-full loads. With the spacecraft having been qualified for crewed flight through the Apollo 4 mission (the first flight of the Saturn V), the focus was on fully qualifying the launch vehicle. Nominal completion of planned mission events through attainment of

1357-504: The VAB temporarily as Hurricane Alma passed, though the ground crew supposed the rollback was more of an exercise than necessity because winds remained below critical for the entire storm. 500F returned to Pad A on June 10. Facility checkout culminated with a "wet test" (Filling the tanks with propellant) to verify storage and transfer of propellants. 500F was removed from Pad A on October 14 and destacked on October 21, 1966. SA-500F

1416-530: The agency had quickly analyzed and diagnosed the abnormalities of Apollo 6, and had taken corrective action. After detailed analysis of the Saturn V's performance, and of the fixes for future launch vehicles, engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama concluded that a third uncrewed test flight of the Saturn V was unnecessary. Therefore, the next Saturn V to fly, on Apollo 8 , would carry

1475-475: The atmosphere, the cells expanded due to trapped air and water, causing the adapter surface to break free. In response, engineers drilled small holes in the surface to allow trapped gases to dissipate, and placed a thin layer of cork on the adapter to help absorb moisture. NASA's efforts were enough to satisfy the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences . In late April, the committee reported that

1534-663: The barge Poseidon. Barge Poseidon was then floated 1,086.7 miles for six day, arriving at the B-2 Test Stand in Mississippi. The Barge Poseidon trip is 1,086.7 miles miles up the Tennessee River and then down the Mississippi River . The S-IC-T was test fired at a newly built test firing facility, called the B-2 Test Stand (S-IC-T stage), in the west test area. B-2 Test Stand is now part of the Stennis Space Center . S-IC-T

1593-470: The built-in holds in the countdown and did not delay the mission. Apollo 6 launched from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center on April 4, 1968, at 7:00 am (1200 UT). For the first two minutes, the Saturn V launch vehicle behaved normally. Then, as the Saturn V's S-IC first stage burned, pogo oscillations shook the vehicle. The thrust variations caused the Saturn V to experience a g-force of ±0.6 g (5.9 m/s ), though it had only been designed for

1652-551: The capability of docking with a Lunar Module, as the Block II did. Among the modifications to CSM-020 was a new crew hatch, intended to be tested under lunar return conditions. This new hatch replaced the one which was condemned by the Apollo 1 investigation board as too difficult to open in case of emergency, circumstances that had contributed to the deaths of three astronauts in the Apollo 1 fire of January 27, 1967. The command module used

1711-459: The combustion is not quite uniform, so you have this fluctuation in thrust of the first stage as a normal characteristic of all engine burning. Now, in turn, the engine is fed through a pipe that takes the fuel out of the tanks and feeds it into the engine. That pipe's length is something like an organ pipe so it has a certain resonance frequency of its own and it really turns out that it will oscillate just like an organ pipe does. The structure of

1770-448: The engine failures, the flight provided NASA with enough confidence to use the Saturn V for crewed launches; a potential third uncrewed flight was cancelled. Apollo 6, the second test flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle, was intended to send a command and service module (CSM) plus a Lunar Test Article (LTA), a simulated lunar module (LM) with mounted structural vibration sensors, into

1829-415: The engine that had shut down. The vehicle's onboard guidance system compensated by burning the second and third stages longer, although the resulting parking orbit was more elliptical than planned. The damaged third-stage engine failed to restart for trans-lunar injection. Flight controllers elected to repeat the flight profile of the previous Apollo 4 test, achieving a high orbit and high-speed return. Despite

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1888-424: The event of excessive pogo; this plan was opposed by Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton . Instead, work began on having a "pogo abort sensor" to allow the flight crew to judge whether to abort, but by August 1968, it had become clear that pogo could be dealt with without such a sensor, and work on it was abandoned. The SLA problem was caused by its honeycomb structure. As the rocket accelerated through

1947-545: The first stage of the flight, was well known. However, NASA thought that the Saturn V had been "detuned"—that is, prevented from vibrating at its natural frequencies. Soon after the Apollo 6 flight, NASA and its contractors sought to eliminate the problems for future flights, and about 1,000 government and industry engineers worked on the problem. To damp pressure oscillations in the F-1 and J-2 engines, cavities in valves leading to them were filled with helium gas shortly before takeoff as

2006-426: The first time for 6.5 seconds and reached the record 7.5 million pounds (33.36x106N) of thrust for the first time. The 7.5 million pounds of thrust was the power Wernher von Braun specified for Apollo to depart to the moon. On August 5, 1965, a full burn test was done for 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -minute (150 seconds) on all five engines. Two more 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -minute full burn test were done. The last test

2065-423: The flight configuration, ordnance, and umbilical connections of their live counterparts. Although inert, the retrograde rockets, ullage rockets, and shaped charges had the dimensions of the live ordnance to let the launch team practice ordnance installation. The first stage only had one real F-1 engine, and the inter-tank section of the first stage had a different paint scheme than flight vehicles. The third stage had

2124-532: The flight was postponed from March to April 1968. The flight plan called for, following trans-lunar injection , a direct return abort using the service module 's main engine with a flight time totaling about 10 hours but vibrations damaged some of the Rocketdyne J-2 engines in the second and third stages by rupturing internal fuel lines causing a second-stage engine to shut down early. An additional second-stage engine also shut down early due to cross-wiring with

2183-494: The flight. The S-IC first stage arrived by barge on March 13, 1967, and was erected in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) four days later; the S-IVB third stage and Instrument Unit computer both arrived on March 17. The S-II second stage was not yet ready and so the dumbbell-shaped spacer, used in preparation for Apollo 4 (which also had a delayed S-II), was substituted so testing could proceed. The spacer had

2242-510: The horizon to qualify techniques that future astronauts could use in landmark tracking. Then, after the standard two orbits to assess the vehicle's readiness for trans-lunar injection (TLI), the S-IVB was ordered to restart, but failed to do so. Deciding on a pre-planned alternate mission, the flight director , Clifford E. Charlesworth and his team in Mission Control chose to use the SM's Service Propulsion System (SPS) engine to raise

2301-403: The initial parking orbit, and the restarting of the S-IVB to propel the space vehicle towards the planned distance, beyond the Moon's orbit, was deemed sufficient to fulfill Apollo 6's main objectives. Apollo 6's launch vehicle was designated AS-502, the second flight-capable Saturn V. Its payload included CSM-020, a Block I CSM that had some Block II modifications. The Block I CSM did not have

2360-442: The nickname the land of the earth shakers . A crane was used to install S-IC-T into the B-2 Test Stand. Then the five F-1 engines were installed. The S-IC-T was filled with RP-1 rocket fuel and liquid oxygen (LOX) oxidizer . On the B-2 Test Stand, 18 test firings were completed over almost two years. On April 10, 1965, the first S-IC-T test was to fire one engine for 16.73 seconds. On April 16, S-IC-T fired all five engines for

2419-416: The pace of the Apollo 6 project picked up, but there remained many problems with flight hardware. The CSM was erected atop the launch vehicle on December 11, 1967, and the spacecraft stack was rolled out to Launch Complex 39A on February 6, 1968. The rollout was an all-day affair and much of it was conducted in heavy rain. Because the crawler-transporter had to halt for two hours when communications failed,

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2478-596: The same height and mass as the S-II along with all the electrical connections. The S-II arrived May 24 and was stacked and mated into the rocket on July 7. Apollo 6 saw the first use of the High Bay 3 of the VAB, and it was quickly discovered that its air conditioning facilities were inadequate. Portable high-capacity units were brought in to keep equipment and workers cool. There were delays in April as personnel and equipment were busy with Apollo 4, and not available for tests on Apollo 6. The S-II second stage arrived on May 25 and

2537-724: The short Apollo 6 mission: the radiators to remove excess heat from the electrical power system and the environmental control system were not connected. Kenneth S. Kleinknecht , Command and Service Module manager at the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, was pleased with CSM-020 when it arrived at Kennedy Space Center from North American Aviation , the manufacturer, though he was upset it arrived wrapped in flammable mylar . In contrast with Apollo 1's ill-fated CSM, which arrived with hundreds of unresolved issues, CSM-020 had only 23, mostly routine problems. Also flown on Apollo 6

2596-422: The spacecraft into an orbit with a high apogee (point of furthest distance from Earth), with a low perigee that would result in re-entry, as had been done in Apollo 4. This plan would complete some of the mission objectives. The SPS engine burned for 442 seconds to get to the planned 22,204-kilometer (11,989 nmi) apogee. There was now, however, not enough propellant to speed up the atmospheric reentry with

2655-646: The two Saturn IB launch complex facilities ( LC 34 and LC 37 ). It was then modified to meet the Saturn V third stage configuration for use on the SA-500F . In 1970, it was modified into the Skylab Workshop Dynamic Test Stage and was shipped in December to the Johnson Space Center for dynamic testing. In June 1971, it was shipped to Marshall for Skylab workshop static testing; and in June 1974 it

2714-399: The vehicle did not arrive at the launch pad until it was dark. The mobile service structure could not be moved to the launch pad for two days due to high winds. The flight readiness test concluded on March 8, 1968, and at a review held three days later, Apollo 6 was cleared for launch contingent on the successful completion of testing and some action items identified at the meeting. Launch

2773-466: The vehicle is much like a tuning fork, so if you strike it right, it will oscillate up and down longitudinally. In a gross sense it is the interaction between the various frequencies that causes the vehicle to oscillate. After the first stage was jettisoned, the S-II second stage began to experience problems with its J-2 engines . Engine number two had performance problems from 225 seconds after liftoff, abruptly worsening at T+319 seconds. At T+412 seconds

2832-413: Was CM-020; it carried a mission programmer and other equipment to allow it to be operated remotely. The service module used was SM-014—the originally-planned SM for Apollo 6, SM-020, was used for Apollo 4 after its SM, SM-017, was damaged in an explosion and had to be scrapped. CM-014 was unavailable for flight as it was being used to aid the Apollo 1 investigation. Not all SM systems were activated for

2891-506: Was a Saturn V used by NASA to test facilities at Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida throughout 1966. Tests included the mating of the Saturn's stages in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the fit of the service platforms, the launcher-transporter operation, the propellant loading system, and the test connections to the mobile launcher and support equipment. Its three stages duplicated

2950-459: Was a lunar test article: a simulated lunar module, designated as LTA-2R. It included a flight-type descent stage without landing gear, its fuel tanks filled with a water– glycol mixture and freon in its oxidizer tanks. Containing no flight systems, its ascent stage was made of ballasted aluminum and instrumented to show vibration, acoustics and structural integrity. LTA-2R remained inside the Spacecraft-Lunar Module Adapter, numbered SLA-9, throughout

3009-533: Was done in 1967. The test included testing the gimbaled thrust movement on the four outing engines. With the successful tests of S-IC-T, the Apollo program's Saturn V rocket was able to move forward to the next step, SA-501/ Apollo 4 with S-IC-1. With all testing completed, Boeing removed the S-IC-T from B-2 Test Stand on March 24, 1967. S-IC-T is now on display on its side, inside the Apollo-Saturn V Center museum at

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3068-424: Was erected in one of the VAB's low bays, but work on Apollo 6 continued to be plagued by delays, many occasioned by work on Apollo 4. The vehicle was erected on Mobile Service Launcher 2, but work on the launcher's arms, which would swing back at launch, proceeded slowly. Also slow to arrive was the CSM itself; the planned late-September arrival was pushed back two months. After Apollo 4's launch on November 9, 1967,

3127-502: Was intended to demonstrate the ability of the Saturn V's third stage, the S-IVB , to propel itself and the Apollo spacecraft to lunar distances. Its components began arriving at the Kennedy Space Center in early 1967. Testing proceeded slowly, often delayed by testing of the Saturn V intended for Apollo 4 —the inaugural launch of the Saturn V. After that uncrewed mission launched in November 1967, there were fewer delays, but enough so that

3186-486: Was originally made for testing the facilities of the Saturn IB. Model manufacturers largely have not updated their paint schemes since. The SA-500D test article also had a similar paint scheme. The first stage, S-IC-F , was returned to the Marshall Space Flight Center and was stored there for an extended time (possibly for a few years). The stage was eventually scrapped to make more room. The second stage, S-II-F ,

3245-483: Was planned as a test rocket only and not to be used in the later Apollo program. The Saturn V rocket was used in the Apollo program to depart Earth's gravity. S-IC-T, like all following Saturn V's S-IC rockets used five Rocketdyne F-1 engines . The Rocketdyne F-1 engine was first tested in March 1959 and delivered to NASA in October 1963. S-IC-T was built starting in 1963 and complete in 1965. The S-IC-T tests were to verify that

3304-416: Was reassigned as a dynamic test stage at Marshall in early 1967 as S-II-F/D for use in the dynamic test vehicle SA-500D , after its predecessor was destroyed in an accident on a test stand. It is now displayed as part of the Saturn V at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center . The third stage, S-IVB-500F , was originally manufactured as a dummy third stage for the smaller Saturn IB and was used to fit-check

3363-428: Was returned to KSC. It was scrapped in the 1980s or 1990s, with a possible sighting in 1986. Apollo 6 Apollo 6 (April 4, 1968), also known as AS-502 , was the third and final uncrewed flight in the United States' Apollo Program and the second test of the Saturn V launch vehicle. It qualified the Saturn V for use on crewed missions, and it was used beginning with Apollo 8 in December 1968. Apollo 6

3422-410: Was set for March 28, 1968, but was postponed to April 1 and then April 3 after problems with some guidance system equipment and with fueling. The countdown demonstration test began on March 24; although it was completed within a week, the launch had to be postponed one more time. On April 3, the final countdown began with liftoff scheduled for the following day. All subsequent problems were fixed during

3481-474: Was the first complete assembly of something resembling a Saturn V, and model makers quickly patterned their designs after its paint scheme, but engineers changed the black stripe to white in the intertank section of the first stage for flight vehicles after discovering the intertank got too hot from the heat of the Sun. The third stage's paint scheme is similar to that of the Saturn IB, with some minor differences, since it

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