Apollo 5

Apollo 5
Mission insignia
Mission statistics
Mission name Apollo 5
Lunar Module LM-1
Spacecraft mass 14,360 kilograms (31,700 lb)
Crew size Unmanned
Launch vehicle Saturn IB SA-204
Launch pad Complex 37B
Cape Canaveral AFS
Florida, USA
Launch date January 22, 1968
22:48:09 UTC
Mission duration 11 h 10 m
Number of orbits 7.58
Apogee 222 kilometres (120 nmi)
Perigee 167 kilometres (90 nmi)
Orbital period 88.4 m
Orbital inclination 31.63°
Distance traveled ~300,000 kilometres (160,000 nmi)
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Apollo 4 Apollo 6

Apollo 5 was the first unmanned flight of the Apollo Lunar Module, which would later carry astronauts to the lunar surface. It lifted off on January 22, 1968 with a Saturn IB rocket.

Contents

Objectives

The Apollo 5 mission tested the Lunar Module in a space environment, in particular its descent and ascent engine systems, and its ability to separate the ascent and descent stages. The descent engine would become the first throttleable rocket engine fired in space.

The mission also performed a "fire in the hole" test (as depicted in the mission's insignia) in which the ascent stage engine would be fired while still attached to the descent stage. This was intended to simulate a landing abort during descent to the lunar surface.

Delays

As with Apollo 4, this flight experienced long delays. The primary cause of this was the Lunar Module, which was well behind schedule. Some of the delay could be attributed to lack of experience in building a manned spacecraft to land on the Moon.

The first unmanned launch was originally planned in April 1967, requiring delivery at the Cape around September 1966. But delays kept occurring. Although the Lunar Module was fully designed, there was trouble fabricating the custom made parts. The engines were also having problems. The descent engine was not burning smoothly, and the ascent engine was having fabrication and welding difficulties.

In the end these problems were overcome, but it took several months and it was not until June 23, 1967 that the Lunar Module arrived at the Cape on board Aero Spacelines' Super Guppy. After four months of tests and repair the Lunar Module was mated to the launch vehicle on November 19.

On December 17, 1967, a LM test failed in the Grumman ascent stage manufacturing plant. A window in LM-5 (Apollo 11's LM Eagle) shattered during its initial cabin pressurization test, designed to pressurize the cabin to 39 kilopascals (5.7 lbf/in2). Both inner and outer windows and the acrylic glass cover of the right-hand window shattered when the pressure reached 35 kPa (5.1 lbf/in2).

On December 28, 1967 a decision was made to replace the glass windows in LM-1 with aluminum plates as a precaution against a failure in flight similar to the one that occurred on LM-5 in testing.

Flight

The launch vehicle for Apollo 5 was the Saturn IB, a smaller rocket than the Saturn V but capable of launching an Apollo spacecraft into Earth orbit. The Saturn IB SA-204 used on Apollo 5 was the one originally intended for Apollo 1.[1] It had been undamaged in the fire at Launch Complex 34 and was reassembled at Launch Complex 37B for the Apollo 5 launch.

The windows of LM-1 were replaced before the flight with solid aluminum plates. To hasten delivery, it was decided to do without the Lunar Module's legs. Without a crew or CSM, there was no need for a launch escape system. As a consequence the assembled rocket was 55 meters (180 ft) tall, compared to the usual CSM stack height of 68 meters (223 ft).

On January 22, 1968, Apollo 5 lifted off just before sunset. The Saturn IB worked perfectly, inserting the second stage and LM into a 163 x 222 km orbit. The nose cone was jettisoned and after a coast of 43 minutes 52 seconds, the LM separated from its adapter, with a 167 x 222 km orbit. After two orbits, the first planned 39 second descent engine burn was started, but aborted by the onboard guidance computer after only 4 seconds. Shortly before launch there was a suspected fuel leak and a decision was made to delay arming the engine until the time of ignition. [2] This change had increased the time required for the propellant tanks to pressurize and thrust to build to the required level.

The ground controllers moved to an alternate plan to fire the descent engine manually two more times. They then performed the "fire in the hole" test and another ascent engine burn.

After 11 hours and 10 minutes the test was over, and control of the two stages was terminated. The stages were left in a low enough orbit that atmospheric drag would soon cause their orbits to decay and re-enter the atmosphere. The ascent stage (1968-007A) re-entered on January 24 and burned up; the descent stage (1968-007B) re-entered on February 12, falling into the Pacific several hundred kilometers southwest of Guam.

Despite the descent engine programming error, NASA deemed the mission a success in demonstrating the LM systems, and a second unmanned flight test using LM-2 was canceled. LM-3 was cleared for the first manned LM flight, which occurred on Apollo 9.

Insignia

This patch was not designed by NASA but by the engineers at Grumman Aircraft who designed and built the Lunar Module. It portrays the fire-in-the-hole test. It also shows the LM without landing gear and with the Moon on the right.

References

  1. ^ http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/arch/findaids/bellcomm/bci_sec_21.html
  2. ^ Eyles, Don (February 6, 2004), "Tales From The Lunar Module Guidance Computer", 27th annual Guidance and Control Conference (Breckenridge, Colorado: American Astronautical Society), http://klabs.org/history/apollo_11_alarms/eyles_2004/eyles_2004.htm 

External links

Missions of the Apollo program
Rocket tests
SA-1 · SA-2 · SA-3 · SA-4 · SA-5 · AS-203
Abort tests
Boilerplate tests
A-101 · A-102 · A-103 · A-104 · A-105
Unmanned missions
AS-201 · AS-202 · Apollo 4 · Apollo 5 · Apollo 6 · Skylab 1
Low Earth orbit missions
Lunar orbit missions
Lunar landing missions
Failed missions