Apollo 4

Apollo 4 (November 9, 1967), also known as SA-501, was the uncrewed first test flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the rocket that eventually took astronauts to the Moon. The space vehicle was assembled in the Vehicle Assembly Building, and was the first to be launched from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, ascending from Launch Complex 39, where facilities built specially for the SaturnTemplate:NbsV had been constructed.

Apollo 4 was an "all-up" test, meaning all rocket stages and spacecraft were fully functional on the initial flight, a first for NASA. It was the first time the S-IC first stage and S-II second stage flew. It also demonstrated the S-IVB third stage's first in-flight restart. The mission used a BlockTemplate:NbsI command and service module modified to test several key BlockTemplate:NbsII revisions, including its heat shield at simulated lunar-return velocity and angle.

The launch was planned for early 1967, but delayed to NovemberTemplate:Nbs9 because of problems with various elements of the spacecraft and difficulties during pre-flight testing. Additional inspections were also required after a fire killed the Apollo 1 crew in January 1967.

The mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean slightly less than nine hours after launch, having achieved its objectives. NASA considered the mission a complete success, proving that the SaturnTemplate:NbsV worked, an important step towards achieving the main objective of landing astronauts on the Moon, and bringing them back safely, before the end of the 1960s.

Background

In 1961 U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed that his nation land an astronaut on the Moon by the end of the decade, with a safe return to Earth.<ref name = "mission overview">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> One of the early choices that had to be made to accomplish this goal was what launch vehicle to use. NASA decided on the SaturnTemplate:NbsC-5 rocket, a three-stage launch vehicle based on rockets already in development. In 1962 this was approved by NASA, which contemplated an initial test launch in 1965 and a first crewed flight by 1967, leaving plenty of time to accomplish Kennedy's goal.Template:Sfn In early 1963, NASA redesignated the C-5 as the Saturn V.Template:Sfn

After considerable debate within NASA, it was decided in late 1962 that lunar missions would have a "lunar orbit rendezvous" mode whereby the complete Apollo spacecraft would be propelled towards lunar orbit by the third stage of the launch vehicle, the S-IVB. Once in lunar orbit, the astronauts who would land would enter what was then known as the Lunar Excursion Module, which would separate from the rest of the spacecraft, land, and after taking off again be discarded once the crew had transferred back. The remainder of the vehicle would then return to Earth.Template:Sfn The launch facilities under development would not be sufficient for the new launch vehicle, and in 1962, NASA announced plans for a new complex on the Florida coast from which the Apollo lunar missions could be launched.Template:Sfn This was dubbed the Launch Operations Center, but after Kennedy's assassination in November 1963 was renamed the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC).Template:Sfn ApolloTemplate:Nbs4 was the first flight from KSC, and the first using Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) there, built to accommodate the SaturnTemplate:NbsV.Template:Sfn

The first three flights carrying Apollo equipment were launched using Saturn IBs. This smaller launch vehicle did not use the facilities at KSC, but issues resolved by SaturnTemplate:NbsIB flights would be valid for those to be launched by the SaturnTemplate:NbsV. Both the SaturnTemplate:NbsIB and the SaturnTemplate:NbsV would use a S-IVB, though the IB would use it as its second, final stage, rather than the third stage as on the SaturnTemplate:NbsV. Thus, many of the flight qualifications for the payload the SaturnTemplate:NbsV would carry could be resolved without having to expend one of the large launch vehicles.<ref>Template:Cite book Ch.17-3.</ref> In addition to flight-qualifying the hardware, it was necessary to prove that the ground systems at KSC could successfully launch a Saturn V before risking the lives of astronauts on one.Template:Sfn

Three Saturn IB launches (in order of launch, AS-201, AS-203 and AS-202) took place in 1966; all were successful. According to Charles D. Benson and William B. Flaherty in their history of KSC, "The Apollo-SaturnTemplate:NbsIB launches of 1966 represented important gains for NASA's launch team. LC-34 and LC-37, testbeds for automated checkout, were found wanting. In the twenty months between AS-201 and SA-501 [ApolloTemplate:Nbs4], KSC corrected the major automation problems. Without these trial and error advances, SA-501, the toughest launch in Apollo's history, would have been far more difficult."<ref>Template:Cite book Ch.17-7.</ref>

Delays

File:Apollo-Saturn 501 Vehicle Preparations - GPN-2000-000956.jpg

Apollo 4 inside the VAB

In January 1965 Major General Samuel C. Phillips, the Apollo Program Director, scheduled SA-501, the first test flight of the SaturnTemplate:NbsV, for January 1967. This left little spare time for delay, especially since two additional SaturnTemplate:NbsV launches were planned to follow in 1967.<ref>Template:Cite book Ch.15-4.</ref> Many Apollo officials lacked confidence in the proposed launch date, and these misgivings proved accurate. After an explosion involving a liquid oxygen line flowing to LC-39, from which SA-501 was to be launched, there was a potential for a delay of several weeks.<ref name = "delay" />

North American Aviation was the contractor for both the S-II SaturnTemplate:NbsV second stage, and the Apollo command and service module (CSM) spacecraft. NASA had been experiencing problems with North American's schedule, cost, and quality performance on both programs, severe enough that Phillips led a team to North American's facility in California in November and December 1965 to investigate matters, and recommend solutions to the program management problems. He published his findings in a report to his supervisor, George Mueller.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Technicians found cracks in the S-II, delaying its test firings prior to acceptance by NASA. As North American worked to fix the S-II, parts of the rocket began to arrive at KSC, beginning with the S-IVB on August 14, 1966, (by Pregnant Guppy aircraft) and followed closely by the first stage S-IC on September 12 (by barge). A spool-shaped "spacer" that took the place of the S-II allowed NASA to stack the vehicle as its checkout proceeded in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). With the S-II still not arrived by November 1966 (it had originally been planned for July), NASA planned January 1967 for its arrival, with launch three months later. The CSM arrived on December 24, 1966, with the S-II arriving on January 21, 1967. Last to arrive was the aft interstage (the structure between the first and second stages), on January 31.<ref name = "delay">Template:Cite book Ch.19-3.</ref>

The Apollo 1 fire on January 27, 1967, which killed three astronauts during a launch pad test, threw NASA's schedules into further questionTemplate:Sndeven though SA-501 was uncrewed, NASA officials wanted to closely examine its CSM. NASA had planned to restack the vehicle once this was done,<ref name = "delay" /> but instead the inspections that took place found a total of 1,407 errors in the spacecraft.<ref name="delay"/> Inspectors found many haphazardly routed and skinned wires, prime material for short circuits.<ref name = "fire">Template:Cite journal</ref>

File:Aerial view of Apollo 4 rollout.jpg

The Apollo 4 launch vehicle (right) is rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building (far left) past the Mobile Servicing Structure.

Other problems were discovered, such as an extra, out-of-place bolt in one of the J-2 engines; NASA was concerned not only with retrieving the surplus hardware, but also with discovering how it got there. A meeting in March 1967, with Phillips in attendance, disclosed twelve hundred problems with the SaturnTemplate:NbsV, which the technicians proposed to deal with at the rate of eighty per day.Template:Sfn While the CSM was undergoing repairs, the spacer was removed from the vehicle stack, and the S-II positioned. On May 24 it was announced that the S-II would be removed for inspection following the discovery of hairline cracks in another S-II then being constructed, this work being completed by mid-June, after which the CSM was also returned to the stack, the first time the launch vehicle and spacecraft had been fully assembled. It was rolled out to LC-39 on August 26, 1967,<ref name = "delay" /> where it was joined by the Mobile Servicing Structure that allowed access to the launch vehicle and spacecraft two days later, also transported by crawler.Template:Sfn This was the first time a NASA spacecraft had been assembled away from its launch site, something allowing protection from Florida's hot and humid climate for equipment and personnel.Template:Sfn

The countdown demonstration test had been scheduled for September 20 but was soon rescheduled for the 25th and did not begin until the evening of the 27th. By OctoberTemplate:Nbs2 another two days had been lost to delays, but by OctoberTemplate:Nbs4 it reached launch minus 45 minutes. Then a computer failed, and the count, reset to minus 13 hours before launch, resumed on October 9. More computer and equipment problems appeared. By then, the launch team was exhausted and a two-day break was declared. The test was completed on October 13,<ref name = "delay 2" /> meaning that it took three weeks rather than the expectation of a week or slightly over. With world attention on the launch, NASA public relations head Julian Scheer brought the skeptical questions from the media as to whether ApolloTemplate:Nbs4 would ever fly to the attention of NASA Administrator James E. Webb, leading to a heated meeting in which Webb said he would announce the launch date when he wanted to.Template:Sfn

These difficulties provided the launch crew with valuable experience, but meant that ApolloTemplate:Nbs4 could not be launched at the earliest until November 7. A flight readiness review on October 19 cleared ApolloTemplate:Nbs4 for launch, assuming the remaining tests and modifications were satisfactorily completed.<ref name = "delay 2">Template:Cite book Ch.19-5.</ref> Concerned about the potential for leaks in the Teflon seal rings and drain valves of the liquid oxygen tanks on board the vehicle due to the long time it had been sitting on the launch pad in the Florida sun, on NovemberTemplate:Nbs2 Phillips postponed the launch until NovemberTemplate:Nbs9.Template:Sfn

Objectives

The purpose of Apollo 4 (together with the SaturnTemplate:NbsV's other uncrewed test flight, ApolloTemplate:Nbs6) was to qualify the launch vehicle, the Apollo spacecraft, and the ground systems, for the crewed lunar landing missions that would follow. In addition to being the first flight of the SaturnTemplate:NbsV, ApolloTemplate:Nbs4 marked the first flight for two of its stages: the S-IC first stage and the S-II second stage (the S-IVB had flown as part of the SaturnTemplate:NbsIB).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Objectives for the Apollo 4 mission were to gain flight data on the SaturnTemplate:NbsV and spacecraft structural integrity and mutual compatibility, including on flight loads and during the separations as each SaturnTemplate:NbsV stage was exhausted and was discarded. NASA also wanted data on subsystem operations, including the emergency detection subsystem, and sought to evaluate the Apollo CM's heat shield under conditions simulating a return from a lunar mission.Template:Sfn NASA was also seeking to test the restart capability of the S-IVB in space.<ref name="photoAnal" /> These objectives would all be achieved.Template:Sfn

Equipment

File:S67-36022.jpg

CSM-017 is moved into position.

Apollo 4 carried CSM-017, a BlockTemplate:NbsI design of the command and service modules meant for testing and for Apollo's early Earth orbit flights. Unlike the BlockTemplate:NbsII spacecraft which would go to the Moon, it lacked the capability to dock with a lunar module (LM).<ref name="Brooks Apollo 4" /> CSM-017 was made up of command module CM-017 and service module SM-020.<ref name = "cm" /> CM-017 was the second fully-functional CM to be delivered to NASA; the first, CM-012, was designated for ApolloTemplate:Nbs1, and was severely damaged in the fire.<ref name = "fire" /> SM-020 was originally to be used in CSM-020, slated for the second SaturnTemplate:NbsV test, but this changed after SM-017, which was intended to be part of CSM-017, was damaged in an explosion and was scrapped.<ref name = "cm">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Several significant Block II modifications were made to CSM-017 for certification purposes, since no BlockTemplate:NbsII spacecraft would fly without a crew.<ref name="Brooks Apollo 4">Brooks 1979, "Apollo 4 and Saturn V" Template:Webarchive, Ch. 9-5</ref> These included upgrading the heat shield to BlockTemplate:NbsII standards, using a BlockTemplate:NbsII CM-to-SM umbilical connector, and installing BlockTemplate:NbsII-style VHF and S-band antennae. Additionally, there were modifications to the CM's hatch.Template:Sfn The fact that the spacecraft hatch could not be readily opened in case of emergency had trapped the ApolloTemplate:Nbs1 astronauts in the fire that took their lives, and led to a redesign of the hatch. The new hatch was not scheduled to fly until the second SaturnTemplate:NbsV test (Apollo 6), but its seals were to be flight-qualified on ApolloTemplate:Nbs4Template:Sndthe hatch window was replaced with a test panel simulating the seals and exterior heat shield. The heat shield was upgraded to BlockTemplate:NbsII standards since ApolloTemplate:Nbs4's high-speed re-entry into Earth's atmosphere was intended to simulate a return from the Moon.Template:Sfn Special equipment had been installed to allow Mission Control to operate the CSM's systems remotely, and there was a camera that would automatically take pictures out of one of the CM's windows on its final orbit.Template:Sfn Since ApolloTemplate:Nbs4 carried no crew the CM lacked couches, controls and displays.<ref name = "register" />

A Lunar Module Test Article, LTA-10R, was carried, and remained inside the Spacecraft–LM Adapter, numbered as SLA-8, on the third stage of the SaturnTemplate:NbsV throughout its flight. The LTA consisted of a flight-type descent stage lacking landing gear, with its fuel and oxidizer tanks containing a mixture of water, glycol, and freon. There was an ascent stage mockup atop it, made of aluminum with ballast, and having no flight systems. The SLA and LTA were instrumented to measure stress on them as the SaturnTemplate:NbsV made its way to orbit.<ref name = "cm" />Template:Sfn LTA-10R would be destroyed when the S-IVB re-entered the atmosphere.Template:Sfn

File:Apollo 4 on the night before launch, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 1967.jpg

Apollo 4 on the launch pad

Apollo 4 was the first flight of a SaturnTemplate:NbsV. At the time, it was the largest launch vehicle to ever attempt a flight.Template:Sfn This mission was the first time NASA used "all-up" testing, requiring that each stage of the launch vehicle work and that the vehicle carry a working spacecraft; a decision that goes back to late 1963.Template:Sfn Mueller, the head of the NASA Office of Manned Space Flight at that time, was a systems engineer who previously worked on military missile projects. He had recognized that all-up testing was successfully used to rapidly develop the Air Force's Minuteman ICBM program, and thought it could be used to meet Apollo's schedule.Template:Sfn In a 1963 memo he ordered that both the first SaturnTemplate:NbsIB flight and the first SaturnTemplate:NbsV flight be uncrewed, that each stage be fully functional, and that each carry a working spacecraft. The second flight of each type of rocket would also be an uncrewed test flight, and the third flight would be crewed.Template:Sfn Previously, the way Wernher von Braun's team at the Marshall Space Flight Center tested new rockets was by testing each stage incrementally.Template:Sfn The SaturnTemplate:NbsV would be tested all at once, with all stages live and fully flight-worthy, including an Apollo CSM.Template:Sfn This decision dramatically streamlined the program's test flight phase, eliminating four missions, but it required everything to work properly the first time.Template:Sfn Apollo program managers had misgivings about all-up testing but agreed to it with some reluctance since incremental component tests would inevitably push the lunar landing mission past the 1970 goal.Template:Sfn

Mission numbering

Apollo 4 was the first mission to fly under the official Apollo mission numbering scheme approved by Mueller on April 24, 1967; the planned first crewed flight, in preparation for which three astronauts had died, was retroactively designated ApolloTemplate:Nbs1 as the widows of the crew members had requested. Although three uncrewed SaturnTemplate:NbsIB flights had already occurred, only two had contained an Apollo spacecraft (AS-203 carried only the aerodynamic nose cone). Mueller resumed the numbering sequence at ApolloTemplate:Nbs4, without designating an Apollo 2 orTemplate:Nbs3.<ref name="MarAprChron">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Public interest and media coverage

VIPs swarmed to KSC in the days before the launch. Von Braun arrived on November 6, scheduled for an exclusive executive dinner and conference that evening. NASA executives, figures from industry, Congressional leaders and diplomats also came for the launch.Template:Sfn Each NASA center involved had a list of VIP guests, as did NASA headquarters in Washington, and duplications were sorted out so each center's director could invite guests personally. They watched the launch from uncovered bleachers near the VAB. NASA set up press headquarters in Cocoa Beach, where media representatives were accredited, and offered tours of KSC to visiting journalists, as well as a half-hourly shuttle service. NASA provided extensive telephone facilities for the media at the press site near LC-39, at their expense. KSC workers and their dependents watched the launch from near their work assignments.<ref name = "moonport vip">Template:Cite book Ch.19-7.</ref> In addition, 43 employees of contractors who had performed in an exemplary manner were selected as "Manned Flight Awareness" honorees, given a VIP tour of KSC, a social evening in which six astronauts participated, and a view of the launch.<ref name = "moonport launch">Template:Cite book Ch.19-6.</ref>

Apollo 4, being the first flight of the SaturnTemplate:NbsV, gained intense media coverage, and writers struggled to convey to the public the size of the launch vehicle, stating that it would tower well over the Statue of Liberty and be thirteen times as heavy. North American, in a handout to the media, noted that the 3000-ton SaturnTemplate:NbsV comfortably outweighed a "good-sized navy destroyer".Template:Sfn On the day before launch, Mueller, Phillips, von Braun, Deputy Administrator Robert C. Seamans and Kennedy Space Center Director Kurt Debus<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> held an outdoor press conference for more than a thousand journalists, including some from the Soviet Union, with the SaturnTemplate:NbsV in the background.Template:Sfn

Launch and flight

On November 6, 1967, at 10:30Template:Nbspm EST (03:30 NovemberTemplate:Nbs7 UTC),Template:Sfn the Template:Frac-hour countdown sequence began with propellant loading. In total there were 89 trailer-truck loads of liquid oxygen, 28 trailer loads of LH2 (liquid hydrogen), and 27 rail cars of RP-1 (highly refined kerosene). This time the problems encountered were few and minor,<ref name = "moonport launch" /> and did not delay the launch due to the use of built-in holds in the countdown, during which time accumulated delays were made good.Template:Sfn

Apollo 4 launched on NovemberTemplate:Nbs9 at 7:00Template:Nbsam EST (noon UTC). Eight seconds before liftoff, the five F-1 engines ignited, sending tremendous amounts of noise across Kennedy Space Center. Even though the launch pads at LC-39 were more than five kilometers (three miles) from the Vehicle Assembly Building, the sound pressure was much stronger than expected and buffeted the VAB, Launch Control Center and press buildings. Dust was dislodged from the ceiling of the Launch Control Center and formed a layer on the consoles of mission controllers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> William Donn of Columbia University described the blast as one of the loudest noises, natural or artificial, in human history, excepting nuclear explosions.Template:Sfn CBS's commentator, Walter Cronkite, and producer Jeff Gralnick put their hands on their trailer's observation window to stop it from shattering as ceiling tiles fell from above. Cronkite found ApolloTemplate:Nbs4 to be the most frightening space mission he covered.Template:Sfn

File:Activity in the Mission Control Room during launch of Apollo 4.jpg

Mission controllers watch ApolloTemplate:Nbs4 climb to orbit.

The launch placed the S-IVB and CSM into a nearly circular Template:Convert orbit, a nominal parking orbit that would be used on the lunar missions. After two orbits, in a simulation of the trans-lunar injection burn that would take later Apollo missions towards the Moon,Template:Sfn the S-IVB's first in-space re-ignition put the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit with an apogee of Template:Convert and a perigee deliberately aimed Template:Convert below the Earth's surface; this would ensure both a high-speed atmospheric re-entry of the command module, and destruction after re-entry of the S-IVB. Shortly after this burn, the CSM separated from the S-IVB and fired its service module engine to adjust the apogee to Template:Convert. After passing apogee, the service module engine fired again for 281 seconds to increase re-entry speed to Template:Convert, at an altitude of Template:Convert and a flight path angle of −6.93 degrees, simulating conditions on a return from the Moon.Template:Sfn

The CM landed approximately Template:Convert from the target landing site northwest of Midway Island in the North Pacific Ocean. Its descent was visible from the deck of the aircraft carrier Template:USS, the prime recovery ship, which within two hours had recovered it and one of its parachutes, the first time an Apollo parachute had been recovered for inspection. The spacecraft was brought to Hawaii for deactivation, after which it was taken to North American's facility in Downey, California, for post-flight analysis.Template:Sfn

Onboard cameras

File:Separation of Rocket Stages During Apollo 4.webm

Two cameras captured the staging event; one clip is shown. The first stage falls away, followed by the interstage ring.

Two motion-picture cameras were aboard ApolloTemplate:Nbs4. These were mounted on the SaturnTemplate:NbsV so as to capture the separation of the first stage and interstage from the launch vehicle. They would then be ejected, descend to the Atlantic Ocean in pods with parachutes and radio beacons, and be recovered about Template:Convert downrange of KSC.Template:Sfn

File:AS4-1-410HR.jpg

Earth photographed with the command module camera

The command module contained an automatic [[Medium format (film)|70Template:Nbsmm film]] camera which captured photographs of almost the entire Earth. For a period of two hours and thirteen minutes as the craft approached and passed its apogee, a total of 755 color images were taken through the Command Pilot's (left-hand) forward-looking window, at altitudes ranging from Template:Convert. These were the color images taken from the highest altitude at that time. The photographs were not of sufficient resolution to obtain detailed scientific data, but were still of interest to those involved in the Earth sciences.<ref name="photoAnal">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Aftermath, assessment and spacecraft location

All Apollo 4 launch vehicle and spacecraft systems performed satisfactorily. On the climb to orbit, each of the SaturnTemplate:NbsV's three stages burned for slightly longer than expected. This left the craft in an orbit roughly one kilometer higher than expected, something well within tolerance. A burn eleven seconds longer than planned meant that the CM entered the Earth's atmosphere slightly faster and at a shallower angle than planned, but still within tolerance. This discrepancy happened not because of the performance of the guidance system (which was exemplary), but because the burn had been controlled from Earth. The CM's environmental control system kept the ship's cabin within acceptable temperatures and pressures throughout the mission, increasing by only Template:Convert during atmospheric entry.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

President Lyndon Johnson described the launch, "The whole world could see the awesome sight of the first launch of what is now the largest rocket ever flown. This launching symbolizes the power this nation is harnessing for the peaceful exploration of space."Template:Sfn Von Braun spoke of the mission as "an expert launching all the way through, from lift-off exactly on time to performance of every single stage".<ref name ="moonport launch" /> In his history of the SaturnTemplate:NbsV, Roger E. Bilstein wrote that "the flawless mission of ApolloTemplate:Nbs4 elated the entire NASA organization; everyone looked ahead with buoyant spirits."Template:Sfn Mueller stated that ApolloTemplate:Nbs4 dramatically increased the confidence of many and showed it should be possible for astronauts to land on the Moon by mid-1969.<ref name = "moonport launch" />

Apollo 6, the second flight of the SaturnTemplate:NbsV, was launched on April 4, 1968. Although the SaturnTemplate:NbsV's stages gave more trouble than on ApolloTemplate:Nbs4 (the mission experienced pogo oscillation during its first stage and had an early second-stage engine shutdown),Template:Sfn it was decided that a third uncrewed flight was unnecessary. The SaturnTemplate:NbsV flew with a crew for the first time on Apollo 8.Template:Sfn A SaturnTemplate:NbsV launched astronauts into space, and (except for Apollo 9) towards the Moon, on each of the Apollo missions that followed.Template:Sfn

In January 1969 CM-017 was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution.<ref name="Smithsonian-1967">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As of 1978, it was on display at the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science.<ref name = "hardware">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The CM was subsequently put on public display at NASA's Stennis Space Center, where it remained until 2017. It is currently on display at Stennis Space Center's visitor center, the Infinity Science Center, in Pearlington, Mississippi.<ref name="space-2017">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

References

Bibliography

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External links

• "Apollo 4" at NASA's National Space Science Data Center
• Template:Internet Archive short film

{{#invoke:navbox|navbox | name = Apollo program | title = Apollo program | state = autocollapse | image = Emblem of the Apollo program | bodyclass = hlist | above =

• List of missions
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| below =

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| group1 = Launch complexes | list1 =

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| group2 = Ground facilities | list2 =

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| group5 = Flights | list5 = {{#invoke:navbox|navbox|child

 | group1  = Uncrewed
 | list1   =

• AS-101
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| group2  = Crewed
| list2   =

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| group5 = Saturn
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| group6 = Abort tests | list6 =

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• A-004

| group7 = Pegasus flights | list7 =

• AS-103
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 }}

|group6 = Apollo 8 specific |list6 =

• Earthrise
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|group7 = Apollo 11 specific |list7 =

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|group8 = Apollo 12 specific |list8 =

• Statio Cognitum
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|group9 = Apollo 13 specific |list9 =

• "Houston, we've had a problem"

|group10 = Apollo 14 specific |list10 =

• Modular Equipment Transporter
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|group11 = Apollo 15 specific |list11 =

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|group12 = Apollo 16 specific |list12 =

• Big Muley

|group13 = Apollo 17 specific |list13 =

• The Blue Marble
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• Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, and Phooey

|group14 = Post-Apollo
capsule use |list14 =

• Skylab
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|group15 = Related |list15 =

• Lunar orbit rendezvous
• Stolen and missing Moon rocks
• Third-party evidence for Apollo Moon landings

}} Template:NASA space program Template:Orbital launches in 1967 Template:Portal bar Template:Authority control