APOLLO 4 – FIRST OF THE BIG SHOTS

Our [Music] point in time, the latter part of the year 1967. Our point of reference, [Music] the United States program of man flight to the moon. Nearly 6 years have passed since the commitment of the United States to this national goal. Our astronauts have orbited the Earth in the flights of Project Mercury. They have proven rendevous and docking techniques during project geminy. They have walked and they have worked in space. These same six years have seen the development and testing of the Apollo spacecraft in which three astronauts will journey to the moon and of the Saturn rocket stages which will launch Apollo on its way. development, production, and thousands upon thousands of ground tests. [Music] Apollo will carry Americans to the farthest horizon yet explored by man. [Music] 13 successful flight tests have helped qualify Apollo for this important flight. Two of these flights have launched entire Apollo spacecraft into space on big uprated Saturn 1 vehicles. Successful flights that tested the control and propulsion rockets and systems of the spacecraft. The heat shield and the parachute landing systems that brought them safely to Earth. [Music] The successful test program of Apollo was marred by a launchpad tragedy which claimed the lives of three astronauts. An intensive review determined the probable cause. Changes were made and the road to the moon again is open. Mercury Geminy, [Music] Apollo and Saturn 1, Apollo and Saturn 5. This is Apollo Saturn 5. [Music] The Apollo Saturn 5 dwarfs any craft ever launched into space by the United States. It is 364 ft in height, as tall as a 30story building, taller than the Statue of Liberty. Fully fueled and ready for launch, this space vehicle will weigh over 3,000 tons, more than a Navy destroyer. This is a view of things to come. The shape and the size of the vehicle that will carry three Americans to the moon. This is the shape and the size of Apollo Saturn. Apollo 4 will be the first launch, the first flight test. This flight will be many tests, one of the most ambitious space flights ever attempted. There will be many measures of success. All of the immense lunar launching facilities at Kennedy Space Center have been readyed for their first trial. The largest transporter in the world will move the giant moon rockets to the launch pad. During the past six years, some 300,000 people have worked to design, to develop, and to build the Apollo spacecraft and the three stages of the Saturn 5 vehicle. at the NASA manned spacecraft center in Houston, Texas, at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and in some 20,000 industries throughout the United States, such as North American Aviation Space Division in Downey, California. The Apollo 4 test will be a giant stride over any previous space flights. Saturn 5 is three huge rocket powered sections or stages in one vehicle. This first stage, the S1C, is 138 ft in height, 30 ft taller than the entire Gemini spacecraft and its booster, 12 times the weight, over 18 times more powerful. It is manufactured by the Boeing company. This stage must lift 6 million pounds from the Earth, power it into flight, guide it into a precise direction and speed. At the NASA Mississippi test facility, the power of the first stage has been tested. Five giant F1 rocket engines supply the Saturn first stage with nearly five times the power of any booster ever launched by the United States. Rocket Dide, a division of North American aviation began development of the F1 engine several years before the start of the Apollo lunar landing program. Availability of these engines with their tremendous 1 and 12 million pounds of thrust eliminated years from the development time which would otherwise have been required for the Saturn 5 vehicle. The five F1 engines supply a thrust of 7 and 12 million pounds for first stage boost. In a firing time of 2 and 1/2 minutes, they will consume enough propellants to fill 54 railroad tank cars. Apollo 4 will be the first flight test for first stage and engines. This is the test objective for the Saturn first stage to lift the entire vehicle from the Earth and power it to an altitude of more than 36 mi, a speed of over 5,000 m an hour along a predetermined course line. The achievement of this test objective alone will mark a major advance in our capability for man flight to the moon. Apollo 4 will also mark the maiden flight of this 82 foot high second stage, the Saturn S2 built by North American Aviation Space Division. S2 is the largest hydrogen-powered rocket booster in the world, and no space vehicle has ever posed greater challenges of design and construction to the people assigned to this task. The five J2 rocket engines will use more than a third of a million gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen combined in over 6 minutes of second stage boost. They will deliver more than 1 million pounds of thrust. Hydrogen is a new and highly efficient space fuel. This huge quantity of liquid hydrogen must be kept at a temperature of 423° below zero inside the S2 until it is used. Even though the temperature on the outside of this thin tank wall will rise nearly 1,000° higher from aerodynamic friction. Weight restrictions will not allow the use of highly insulated interior tanks. So the S2 structure itself is a tank insulated from outside temperatures protecting liquid oxygen to keep it from being frozen solid by the liquid hydrogen. Strong enough to bear its own weight and the weight of the upper stage and the Apollo spacecraft under the 7 and 12 million pounds of thrust from the first stage engines. The structural requirements are the basics. Complex S2 control systems must keep the spacecraft on a precise course during second stage boost control propellant flow. S2 performance has been tested in Mississippi on a test stand firing. A full duration test of engine operation of the structures and of the systems which will move the engines to steer the S2 and its payload. Test objectives for Saturn S2 begin after burnout and separation of the first stage over 36 mi above the Earth. 1 and 12 seconds after first stage burnout, the five main engines will ignite to their 1 million plus pounds of thrust. These engines will burn for 6 minutes. To achieve its primary test objective, the S2 must increase the speed from over 5,000 to 15,500 mph, carry the payload to an altitude of over 100 m. Achievement of this objective will mark a second large measure of success for this first test. It will be a new expansion of flight testing for the Saturn 5 third stage, the S4B. This stage built by Douglas Aircraft is also a hydrogen-powered booster stage and initial models of the S4B have been successfully flight tested. An instrument unit built by IBM at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is joined to the top of the third stage and furnishes all of the guidance and control signals for the three Saturn stages [Music] on separation. Tiny S4B verier rockets pull the stage clear for ignition of the single 200,000 lb thrust J2 rocket engine on the early test flights. This Saturn stage has helped power record payloads into orbit and has contributed greatly to the development of liquid hydrogen as a space fuel. The first test plan calls for S4B ignition after more than 8 and 1/2 minutes of boost. First test objective for the S4B will be to achieve orbital altitude and speed for itself and the Apollo spacecraft. After second stage cutoff, only a few thousand ft of altitude remain to attain orbital altitude. But the S4B must increase vehicle speed from 15,500 mph to approximately 17,500 m anph. At this altitude and speed, the S4B and Apollo will enter a parking orbit over 100 m above the Earth and the Saturn engine will shut down. The first test objective of Saturn S4B will have been achieved. Saturn 5 will have orbited a record 125 tons of payload, including a complete Apollo spacecraft. Complete except for a three-man crew of astronauts. [Music] This is the command module of Apollo spacecraft 17 built by North American Aviation. It has been prepared for the first Saturn 5. [Music] In place of astronauts, this spacecraft carries a mission control programmer supplied by North American Autonetics Division, a series of black boxes which can receive signals and initiate commands for guidance, for propulsion, and for the myriad other tasks which must be performed by spacecraft systems during the complex Apollo 4 test. In all other respects, this will be a complete Apollo spacecraft. The command module is joined to a cylindrical service module which will furnish rocket power for the spacecraft after it separates from the boosters. Propellants and also fuel cells for generating electrical power are contained in the service module. [Music] Each of the 2 million parts in the Apollo spacecraft has been inspected, tested, and retested and then tested again during spacecraft construction. Here the combined systems of command module and service module are checked separately and in combination before the spacecraft is delivered. [Music] To be tested is the spacecraft's ability to withstand the brutish thrust of the huge Saturn 5. The test will also confirm the ability of the heat shield to protect the crew cabin from the extreme heat generated by a lunar re-entry. This aft heat shield will encounter heats more intense than a blast furnace. The dust and moisture are filtered from the air of this spacecraft assembly area. The people are vacuumed and wrapped in dust-free clothing before entering. As a further precaution against possible dust or other contamination, the command module is tumbled and rotated like a giant cement mixer, then vacuumed carefully to remove any foreign matter that might remain in the crew compartment. [Music] After delivery from North American Aviation to the Kennedy Space Center, the entire spacecraft and all systems are checked and tested and cleaned and inspected again before the spacecraft is moved to the vehicle assembly building to be joined with the Saturn booster stack. test objectives for the Apollo spacecraft are tur and simple. Show that it is strong enough to operate on top of this Saturn 5 vehicle. Prove the heat shield under the same conditions it will meet on returning from the moon. Minimum speed for re-entry from lunar flight is over 24,000 m an hour. Achievement of these objectives will make fantastic demands on the capabilities of the spacecraft. Little more than 11 minutes after liftoff from Cape Kennedy, the engine of the third stage will cut off. Apollo and the S4B will coast in a circular parking orbit of about 115 mi above the Earth. At this point, the first spacecraft objective will have been met. Compatibility of booster and spacecraft. The first stages of Saturn 5 will have successfully completed their first flight. After two coasting orbits, the spacecraft and third stage turn away from Earth once again. The S4B engine reignites and fires for approximately 5 minutes to drive the spacecraft deep into space. [Music] At this point in the flight, the third stage of Saturn 5 will have achieved its second objective. [Music] At the time of Apollo separation from the third stage, the spacecraft is more than 1,300 m from Earth, traveling into space at over 17,000 mph. An object without power in this flight path would travel 10,000 m from Earth and return under the pull of gravity. This unmanned Apollo spacecraft must achieve its second test objective, proof of the heat shield under the same conditions as return to Earth from the moon. Apollo's test is just beginning. This will involve precise functioning of all the spacecraft systems for the remainder of the flight. Control rockets on the side of the spacecraft fire in response to information from the guidance and navigation system and an order from the mission control programmer. The spacecraft is turned aimed along an invisible line in space. Firing of the spacecraft's rocket engine will now increase the orbit still more carry the Apollo over 11,000 miles from Earth. [Music] After engine cutff, the spacecraft is again turned around in space, part of the heat shield away from the sun, so that it can soak in the freezing temperatures of space, prepare for the heat of re-entry. The spacecraft will coast to this high point or apogee. The guidance computer continuously calculates position, speed, time to entry. Mission control in Houston will record another spaceflight accomplishment. Highest point in space reached by a spacecraft which will be returned to Earth. More than 11,300 statute miles. Tracking stations around the Earth will follow the spacecraft as it begins its descent to Earth. 2 hours and 10 minutes after Apollo reaches its high point, the Carnarvin tracking station will contact the spacecraft, furnish position, velocity, and time of free fall to entry information to the spacecraft guidance computer. spacecraft systems go into action again to turn the Apollo out of the cold soaked position and align it along a course that will intersect the planned point of re-entry. The firing command is automatically issued to the spacecraft rocket engine. This time it will burn for 4 and 1/2 minutes, firing the spacecraft toward Earth at nearly 25,000 mph. [Music] In four more minutes, Apollo will slam into the atmosphere to achieve its final test objective. During those four minutes, the systems of Apollo must calculate, order, and function with lightning precision. The spacecraft will again be turned around. The service module must be separated from the crew compartment, powered clear. The command module must be turned into the exact position in which it will encounter the atmosphere. In a few moments, it will be an aerodynamic body, its path controlled by increasingly denser atmospheric flow over the surface at more than 24,000 mph. [Music] Stainless steel melts at just under 3,000° F. Friction from the atmosphere during entry may heat the surface of the spacecraft to more than 3,500° F. The ability of the Apollo heat shield to spread the heat and to protect the crew compartment will meet its ultimate test. A communication blackout during this period will cut off all information from the spacecraft, create nearly 2 minutes of suspenseful waiting. Some 500 m north of the Kawaii Hawaii tracking station, spacecraft recovery forces will wait in areas near the predicted landing point. [Music] A successful ending of the test will see the first small spacecraft drogue parachutes pop out at 23,000 ft to slow the Apollo command module with its burned and blackened heat shield. At 10,000 ft, the three main parachutes, each 83 1/2 ft in diameter, will fill to lower the spacecraft to the surface of the ocean. 8 hours 43 minutes after leaving the Earth, Apollo will land on the ocean to terminate this test. Our point in time, the year 1967, the morning of November 9th, at the Kennedy Space Center, the time is 15 seconds before 7 and counting on Apollo 4. The countdown has been almost flawless. sides. 5 4 We have ignition. All engines are running. We have liftoff. We have liftoff at 7 a.m. Houston Standard Time. [Applause] The tower has been cleared. The top. Roger, Jack. Tower clear. 15 seconds out. The pitch and roll program are in. [Music] All engines still go. Booster reports. [Music] 50 seconds. [Music] Mark 1 minute. 1 minute and looking good. [Music] Vehicle's climbing very nicely. Our velocity is now 2,00 about 2500 ft per second. We are two 3 m downrange. 3 mi down range. May I have your attention, please? May I have your attention, please? Videotape of the Apollo 4 launch will be presented on the television monitors in your areas. May I have your attention for the following report on the Apollo 4 launch which took place this morning at Cape Kennedy. According to preliminary data received, the Apollo 4 launch this morning has been a complete success. Liftoff took place at 1 second after the planned time. The Saturn S2 performed perfectly during more than 6 minutes of flight. Yes, these people have done their work well. Apollo 4 was a textbook flight, meeting all objectives. The huge Saturn stages proved their ability to send Apollo to the moon. The spacecraft performed with near perfection. A human spacecraft commander would have seen this view of Earth from the more than 11,000mi apogee. And although the temperature on the outside of the Apollo command module exceeded 4,500° Fahrenheit during entry, a three-man crew would have experienced no discomfort in the 70° temperature of the command module interior. Now the way is clear for more and more Apollo launches. Unmanned flight similar to the Apollo 4 test. Then the man launches and finally flight to the moon. [Music] 1967, a year of many skirts, of global conflict, of tragedy and triumph. The year of Apollo 4, the first of the big shots. [Music]