Editing Apollo 4 (section)

==Launch and flight==
{{quote box | align = right | width = 24em | salign = right
| quote = Our building's shaking! The roar is terrific! The building's shaking! This big glass window is shaking. We're holding it with our hands! Look at that rocket go! Into the clouds at 3,000 feet! The roar is terrific! Look at it going! You can see it. Part of our roof has come in here.| source = —[[Walter Cronkite]], November 9, 1967<ref name = "register" >{{cite news|last=Speed|first=Richard|title='That roar is terrific ... look at that rocket go!' It's been 52 years since first Saturn V left the pad|newspaper=The Register|url=https://www.theregister.com/2019/11/11/apollo_4/|date=November 11, 2019|access-date=September 5, 2021}}</ref>{{sfn|Brinkley 2012|p=369}}}}

On November 6, 1967, at 10:30{{nbs}}pm [[Eastern Standard Time (North America)|EST]] (03:30 November{{nbs}}7 [[UTC]]),{{sfn|Orloff & Harland 2006|p=137}} the {{frac|56|1|2}}-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.{{sfn|Orloff & Harland 2006|p=122}}

Apollo 4 launched on November{{nbs}}9 at 7:00{{nbs}}am EST (noon UTC). Eight seconds before liftoff, the five [[F-1 (rocket engine)|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>{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/11/10/90414376.pdf|title= Saturn V places Apollo in Orbit in Smooth Test|first=John Noble| last= Wilford|authorlink=John Noble Wilford|work=The New York Times|date=November 10, 1967|access-date=February 22, 2021}}</ref> William Donn of [[Columbia University]] described the blast as one of the loudest noises, natural or artificial, in human history, excepting nuclear explosions.{{sfn|Seamans 2005|p=80}} 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 Apollo{{nbs}}4 to be the most frightening space mission he covered.{{sfn|Brinkley 2012|p=368}}
[[File:Activity in the Mission Control Room during launch of Apollo 4.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Rows of men at consoles watching screens|Mission controllers watch Apollo{{nbs}}4 climb to orbit.]]

The launch placed the S-IVB and CSM into a nearly circular {{convert|100|nmi|km|adj=on|order=flip|sp=us}} 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,{{sfn|Orloff & Harland 2006|p=126}} the S-IVB's first in-space re-ignition put the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit with an apogee of {{convert|9297|nmi|km|0|order=flip|sp=us}} and a perigee deliberately aimed {{convert|45.7|nmi|km|order=flip|sp=us}} below the Earth's surface; this would ensure both a high-speed [[Atmospheric entry|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 {{convert|9769|nmi|km|0|order=flip|sp=us}}. After passing apogee, the service module engine fired again for 281 seconds to increase re-entry speed to {{convert|36639|ft/s|m/s|order=flip|sp=us}}, at an altitude of {{convert|400000|ft|km|order=flip|sp=us}} and a flight path angle of −6.93 degrees, simulating conditions on a return from the Moon.{{sfn|Orloff & Harland 2006|pp=126–127}}

The CM landed approximately {{convert|8.6|nmi|km|0}} from the target landing site northwest of [[Midway Atoll|Midway Island]] in the North Pacific Ocean. Its descent was visible from the deck of the aircraft carrier {{USS|Bennington|CV-20|6}}, 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.{{sfn|Orloff & Harland 2006|p=127}}