The crew of Apollo 1. Left to right, Lieutenant Colonel Virgil I. Grissom, United States Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Edward H. White II, United States Air Force, and Lieutenant Commander Roger B. Chaffee, United States Navy. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
27 January 1967: During a “plugs out” test of the Apollo 1 Command Module, two weeks ahead of the scheduled launch of the Apollo/Saturn 1B AS-204—the first manned Apollo Program space flight—a fire broke out in the pressurized pure oxygen environment of the capsule and rapidly involved the entire interior.
The pressure rapidly built to 29 pounds per square inch (200 kPa) and 17 seconds later, at 23:31:19.4 UTC, the capsule ruptured.
The three astronauts, Lieutenant Colonel Virgil I. Grissom, United States Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Edward H. White II, United States Air Force, and Lieutenant Commander Roger B. Chaffee, United States Navy, were killed.
AD ASTRA PER ASPERA
NASA has a detailed summary of the accident and investigation at:
Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, 15:39:00 UTC, 16 January 2003. (NASA)
16 January 2003, 15:39:00 UTC, T minus Zero: Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Columbia (OV-102) was America’s first space shuttle. This would be her final flight.
81.7 seconds after launch, Columbia was at approximately 66,000 feet (20,100 meters) altitude and 12.5 miles (20.1 kilometers) down range, accelerating through Mach 2.46 (1,623 miles per hour, or 2,612 kilometers per hour). Several pieces of insulating foam broke off of the external fuel tank (what NASA referred to as “foam shedding”) and struck the leading edge and underside of Columbia‘s left wing.
It is believed that at least one of these pieces of foam punctured a hole in the wing’s surface, estimated to be 6 inches × 10 inches (15 × 25 centimeters).
When Columbia re-entered on 1 February 2003, the damage would cause the shuttle to disintegrate. The entire crew would be lost.
The flight crew of Columbia (STS-107): Front, left to right, COL Richard D. Husband, USAF; Kalpana Chawla; CDR William C. McCool, USN. Back, left to right, CAPT David M. Brown, MD, USN; CAPT Laurel Clark, MD, USN; LCOL Michael P. Anderson, USAF; COL Ilan Ramon, IAF. (NASA)
A Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King of HS-4 hovers nearby during recovery operations after Apollo 8 lands in the Pacific Ocean, 27 December 1968. (Otis Imboden/National Geographic)
27 December 1968 15:51:42 UTC, T plus 147:00:42.0: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean south of the Hawaiian Islands, within 5,000 yards (4,572 meters) of the recovery ship USS Yorktown (CVS-10). The spacecraft arrived before sunrise, landing in 10-foot (3-meter) swells. The parachutes dragged the capsule and left it floating upside down. The inflatable pontoons righted it after about six minutes.
The three astronauts, Frank F. Borman II, James A. Lovell, Jr., and William A. Anders, were hoisted aboard a Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King helicopter, Bu. No. 152711, and flown to the aircraft carrier.
Apollo 8 was the first manned space mission to leave Earth orbit and to travel to another planetary body. It proved all of the space flight techniques that would be required for the upcoming Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King 66, Bureau of Aeronautics serial number 152711, assigned to HS-4 (“Black Knights”) was the primary recovery helicopter for Apollo 8, Apollo 10, Apollo 11, Apollo 12 and Apollo 13. It was lost at sea off NALF Imperial Beach, California, 4 June 1975. One crewman was killed.
U.S. Navy swimmers prepare the Apollo 8 command capsule to be hoisted aboard USS Yorktown (CVS-10) in the Pacific Ocean, 27 December 1968. (U.S. Navy)
An Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM) in lunar orbit. (NASA)
25 December 1968: During the 10th orbit of the Moon, the crew of Apollo 8 fired the Service Propulsion System (SPS) of the Command Service Module for the Trans Earth Injection (TEI) maneuver that would send them home.
TEI was a critical maneuver which had to be timed perfectly. It occurred while the spacecraft was on the side of the Moon away from Earth, and so the crew was out of radio communication with Mission Control in Houston, Texas. If initiated too soon, the Apollo capsule would miss Earth, or ricochet off the atmosphere. Too late and the capsule would re-enter too steeply and burn up.
The engine had to burn for precisely the correct amount of time to accelerate the space craft out of lunar orbit and to arrive at Earth at exactly the correct point in space where where our home planet would be 57 hours, 26 minutes, 56.2 seconds later, as it traveled in its orbit around the Sun.
Trans-Earth Injection maneuver (NASA S66-10988)
The SPS engine was an AJ10-137, built by Aerojet General Corporation of Azusa, California. It burned a hypergolic fuel combination of Aerozine 50 and nitrogen tetraoxide, producing 20,500 pounds of thrust (91.19 kilonewtons). It was designed for a 750 second burn, or 50 restarts during a flight. The SPS engine had already been used for the Trans Lunar Injection maneuver, sending Apollo 8 from Earth orbit to the moon, and now served the same function in reverse.
The SPS started at mission time T+089:19:16.6 and cut off at T+089:22:40.3, a burn duration of 3 minutes, 23.97 seconds, increasing the velocity (Δv, or “delta–v”) 3,531 feet per second (1,076 meters per second).
Apollo 8 Coming Home by Robert T. McCall, 1969. (Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum)
Apollo 8 (AS-503) launches from LC-39A at 12:51:00 UTC, 21 December 1968. (NASA)
21 December 1968: At 12:51:00.7 UTC, Apollo 8 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. Aboard were Mission Commander, Colonel Frank Frederick Borman II, United States Air Force; Command Module Pilot, Captain James Arthur Lovell, Jr., United States Navy; and Lunar Module Pilot, Major William A. Anders, U.S. Air Force.
Apollo 8 crew is photographed posing on a Kennedy Space Center (KSC) simulator in their full-pressure suits, 22 November 1968. From left to right are: James A. Lovell Jr., William A. Anders, and Frank Borman. (NASA)
The center engine of the S-IC first stage shut down at 00:02.05.9, and the remaining four F-1 engines shut down at 00:02:33.8. First stage separation took place at 00:02:34.5.
The five Rocketdyne J-2 engines of the S-II second stage fired at 00:02.35.2. The launch escape tower was jettisoned at 00:03:08.6. The engine shut down at 00:08:44.0.and the second stage was jettisoned at 00:08:44.9.
The single J-2 of the S-IVB third stage ignited at 00:08:45.0, and cut off at 11:25.0. At 00:11:35.0, the Apollo 8 Command and Service Module, the Lunar Module test article, and the S-IVB third stage was injected into a nearly-circular 98 nautical miles × 103 nautical miles (113 statute miles × 119 statute miles/181 × 191 kilometers) Earth orbit.
Apollo 8 Trans Lunar Injection burn, 21 December 1968. (David Le Conte, Joe Coldwell, Bill Perry/Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory)
The S-IVB’s J-2 engine was restarted for Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) at 02:50:37.1, and cut off at 02:55:55.5. Apollo 8 was on its way to The Moon.
Apollo 8 was the second manned mission of the Apollo program. It was the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, travel to and orbit the Moon, then return to Earth.
The Saturn V rocket was a three-stage, liquid-fueled heavy launch vehicle. Fully assembled with the Apollo Command and Service Module, it stood 363 feet, 0.15 inches (110.64621 meters) tall, from the tip of the escape tower to the bottom of the F-1 engines. The first and second stages were 33 feet, 0.2 inches (10.089 meters) in diameter. Fully loaded and fueled the rocket weighed approximately 6,200,000 pounds (2,948,350 kilograms).¹ It could lift a payload of 260,000 pounds (117,934 kilograms) to Low Earth Orbit.
AS-503, the Apollo 8/Saturn V, 17 December 1968. (NASA)
The first stage was designated S-IC. It was designed to lift the entire rocket to an altitude of 220,000 feet (67,056 meters) and accelerate to a speed of more than 5,100 miles per hour (8,280 kilometers per hour). The S-IC stage was built by Boeing at the Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, Louisiana. It was 138 feet (42.062 meters) tall and had an empty weight of 290,000 pounds (131,542 kilograms). Fully fueled with 203,400 gallons (770,000 liters) of RP-1 and 318,065 gallons (1,204,000 liters) of liquid oxygen, the stage weighed 5,100,000 pounds (2,131,322 kilograms). It was propelled by five Rocketdyne F-1 engines, producing 1,522,000 pounds of thrust (6770.19 kilonewtons), each, for a total of 7,610,000 pounds of thrust at Sea Level (33,851 kilonewtons).² These engines were ignited 6.50 seconds prior to Range Zero and the outer four burned for 161.74 seconds. The center engine was shut down after 135.24 seconds to reduce the rate of acceleration. The F-1 engines were built by the Rocketdyne Division of North American Aviation at Canoga Park, California.
Apollo 8/AS-503. The Saturn V’s five Rocketdyne F-1 engines build thrust just prior to hold down release. (NASA)
The S-II second stage was built by North American Aviation at Seal Beach, California. It was 81 feet, 7 inches (24.87 meters) tall and had the same diameter as the first stage. The second stage weighed 80,000 pounds (36,000 kilograms) empty and 1,060,000 pounds loaded. The propellant for the S-II was liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The stage was powered by five Rocketdyne J-2 engines, also built at Canoga Park. Each engine produced 232,250 pounds of thrust (1,022.01 kilonewtons), and combined, 1,161,250 pounds of thrust (5,165.5 kilonewtons).³
The Saturn V third stage was designated S-IVB. It was built by Douglas Aircraft Company at Huntington Beach, California. The S-IVB was 58 feet, 7 inches (17.86 meters) tall with a diameter of 21 feet, 8 inches (6.604 meters). It had a dry weight of 23,000 pounds (10,000 kilograms) and fully fueled weighed 262,000 pounds. The third stage had one J-2 engine and also used liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for propellant. The S-IVB would place the Command and Service Module into Low Earth Orbit, then, when all was ready, the J-2 would be restarted for the Trans Lunar Injection.
Eighteen Saturn V rockets were built. They were the most powerful machines ever built by man.
AS-503 clearing the gantry, 21 December 1968. “A yaw motion is discernible by the leaning of the stack away from the tower. The vehicle is programmed to fly this 1.25° yaw maneuver, beginning one second into the flight, in case a gust of wind comes up that might gust the vehicle into the umbilical tower, or an access arm fails to retract.” (NASA)
¹ The AS-503 total vehicle mass at First Stage Ignition (T –6.585 seconds) was 6,221,823 pounds (2,833,171 kilograms).
² Post-flight analysis gave the total average thrust of AS-503’s S-IC stage as 7,726,936 pounds of thrust (34,371,122 Newtons).
³ Post-flight analysis gave the total average thrust of AS-503’s S-II stage as 1,143,578 pounds of thrust (5,086,888 Newtons).
⁴ Post-flight analysis gave the average total thrust of AS-503’s S-IVB stage as 203,053 pounds of thrust (903,225 Newtons) during the first burn; 201,530 pounds (896,450 Newtons) during the second burn.
27 January 1967: During a “plugs out” test of the Apollo 1 Command Module, two weeks ahead of the scheduled launch of the Apollo/Saturn 1B AS-204—the first manned Apollo Program space flight—a fire broke out in the pressurized pure oxygen environment of the capsule and rapidly involved the entire interior.
