Launch Complex 34 | This Day in Aviation

Apollo-Saturn IB AS-201 launch from Pad 34, Kennedy Space Center, 11:12:01 a.m., EST (16:12:01 UTC), 26 February 1966. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration S66-22930) — Apollo-Saturn IB AS-201 launch from Pad 34, Kennedy Space Center, 26 February 1966. (NASA)

26 February 1966: AS-201, a Saturn IB launch vehicle, carried the first complete Block 1 Apollo Command and Service Module on a 37 minute, 19.7 second unmanned suborbital test flight. Liftoff was at 11:12:01 a.m., EST, from Launch Complex 34 at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida.

saturn-ib-config — Department of Special Collections, M. Louis Salmon Library, University of Alabama, via heroicrelics.org

This flight was a demonstration of the combined Apollo Command Module and the Service Module. The second production Apollo capsule, CM-009, and the first production service module, SM-009, were launched by the first Saturn IB, SA-201.

The Apollo capsule reached a maximum altitude of 305.8 miles (492.1 kilometers) and landed near Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 5,267 miles (8,477 kilometers) from Cape Canaveral. (S. 8.18°, W 11.15°) Total duration of the flight was 37 minutes, 19.7 seconds.

The Apollo spacecraft was recovered by USS Boxer (LPH- 4).

The flight was successful, though several problems occurred. These were identified and corrected on the following production vehicles.

The Apollo command module of AS-201 was Spacecraft 009. It was a Block I capsule. The Apollo was a conical space capsule designed and built by North American Aviation to carry a crew of three on space missions of two weeks or longer.

The Saturn IB consisted of an S-IB first stage and an S-IVB second stage. The S-IB was built by Chrysler Corporation Space Division at the New Orleans Michoud Assembly Facility. It was powered by eight Rocketdyne H-1 engines, burning RP-1 and liquid oxygen. Eight Redstone rocket fuel tanks containing the RP-1 fuel surrounded a Jupiter rocket tank containing the liquid oxygen. The S-IB stage is 80 feet, 2 inches (24.435 meters) long, with a diameter of 21 feet, 5 inches (6.528 meters). The empty weight of this stage was 85,000 pounds (38,555 kilograms). Fully fueled, it weighed 498,099 pounds (225,934 kilograms). Total thrust of the S-IB stage was 1,600,000 pounds (7,117,155 Newtons) and it carried sufficient propellant for 2 minutes, 35 seconds burn time. This would lift the vehicle to an altitude of 37 nautical miles (69 kilometers).

The Douglas Aircraft Company-built S-IVB second stage was assembled at Huntington Beach, California. It was powered by one Rocketdyne J-2 engine, also fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The S-IVB is 60 feet, 1 inch (18.313 meters) long with a diameter of 21 feet, 8 inches (6.604 meters). The second stage had an empty weight of 28,400 pounds (12,882 kilograms) and gross weight was 261,900 pounds (118,796 kilograms). The single engine produced 232,250 pounds of thrust (1,033,100 Newtons) and and its burn time was 7 minutes, 55 seconds.

The AS-201 223 feet, 6 inches (68.123 meters). The total vehicle weight was 1,320,220 pounds (598,842 kilograms). It was capable of launching a 46,000 pound (20,865 kilogram) payload to Earth orbit.

After being recovered, the AS-201 Apollo command module was used for drop tests. It is at the Strategic Air and Space Museum, Ashland, Nebraska.

Saturn I (SA-1) at Launch Complex 34, 27 October 1961. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration ID 61-SA1-13) — The first Saturn C-1 three-stage heavy-lift rocket, SA-1, on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, 27 October 1961. The gantry tower has been pulled back. (NASA)

27 October 1961: At 15:06:04 UTC, (10:06 a.m., EST), 3.97 seconds after ignition, the first Saturn C-1 heavy launch vehicle (Saturn I, SA-1) lifted off from Launch Complex 34 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. This was a test of the first stage, only. The rocket’s upper stages were dummies.

At about 109 seconds after liftoff, four inner engines of the first stage shut down, followed 6 seconds later by the outer four. The rocket continued on a ballistic trajectory.

The Saturn C-1 was bigger than any rocket built up to that time. Early versions of the three-stage rocket were 162 feet, 8.90 inches (49.6037meters) tall, with a maximum diameter of 21 feet, 5.0 inches (6.528 meters). The all-up weight was 1,124,000 pounds (509,838 kilograms).

The first stage of SA-1 was built by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) at Huntsville, Alabama. The S-I stage was built up with a Jupiter rocket fuel tank in the center for liquid oxygen, surrounded by eight Redstone rocket tanks. Four were filled with RP-1 propellant, alternating with four filled with LOx. The first stage was powered by eight Rocketdyne Division H-1 engines rated at 165,000 pounds of thrust (733.96 kilonewtons), each. Total thrust for the first stage was 1,320,000 pounds (5,871.65 kilonewtons). The outer four engines were gimbaled to steer the rocket. (The S-I Block I stage had no fins.)

The first stage had been test fired 20 times before being transported to Cape Canaveral by barge.

For the first flight, SA-1, the S-!V second stage and S-V third stage were dummies. The S-IV was filled with 90,000 pounds (40,823 kilograms) of water for ballast. The S-V third stage, carried 100,000 pounds (45,359 kilograms) of water. Mounted above the third stage was a Jupiter nose cone.

The Saturn C-1 weighed 925,000 pounds (419,573 kilograms). It contained 41,000 gallons (155,200 liters) of RP-1, a refined kerosene fuel, with 66,000 gallons (249,837 liters) of liquid oxygen oxidizer— 600,000 pounds (272,155 kilograms) of propellants.

SA-1 reached a maximum speed of 3,607 miles per hour (5,805 kilometers per hour), and a peak altitude of 84.813 miles (136.493 kilometers). It impacted in the Atlantic Ocean 214.727 miles (345.570 kilometers) down range. The duration of the flight was 15 minutes, 0 seconds. The flight was considered to be nearly flawless.

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26 February 1966, 16:12:01 UTC, T plus 00:00:00.37

27 October 1961: 15:06:04 UTC, T minus Zero