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Project Apollo Test Set lor TuesdayCAPE KENNEDY. Fla. (AP) Using a Saturn 1 as tho booster rocket, the space agency plans to orbit an unmanned model of the Project Apollo moonship Tuesday.Both rocket and spacecraft arc forerunners of hardware being developed to carry three Amerlcun astronauts to the moon late in this decade.Flight details just released said the primary purpose will be further qualification of the Saturn 1, believed to be the world's most powerful rocket. The launching also will test aerodynamic and structural compatibility of the Saturn 1-Apollo combination.Successful Tests Five previous test flights of the mammoth booster were successful. On Us most recent launching, Jan. 29. a Saturn 1 flew a live second stage for the first time and propelled Into orbit the world’s heaviest satellite, a 37,700-pounder.Total weight of the payload intended to orbit on tho upcoming flight is slightly less at 37,300 pounds. The Apollo craft, a so-called “boilerplate” model, weighs 17.000 pounds, much of It lead weight for ballast. The rest of the payload consists of the burned-out second stage, 14,200 pounds, and an instrument sec tion, 6,100 pounds.Because of the test nature of the flight, no attempt will be made to separate the second stage and Instrument unit from the Apollo craft. Nor wilt an effort be made to recover the satellite, which is expected to orbit the earth about a week before burning up because of at mospheric friction.Escape System Perched atop the spacecraft will be a 10-foot*tali escape system resembling a miniature oil derrick. In case of trouble on a manned flight, a rocket motor attached to the tower would Ignite and pull the Apollo craft free. If no trouble develops, the tower will be jettisoned by an explosive charge—os is planned in next week’s flight.The Apollo craft and escape tower extend the over-all length of the rocket-capsule combination to 190 feet, 26 feet more than any previous combination fired by the United Slates. Blastoff weight of the assembly will be 563 tons, also a record. First stage thrust is 1.5 million pounds. The high-energy tydrogcn-powered second stage tcncratcs 90,000 pounds of hrust.An active guidance system will hj used to steer the second stage or the first time.By 1967, an Improved versionof Saturn 1, the Saturn IB, is scheduled to launch three-man crews of Apollo astronauts into earth orbit to practice techniques for the moon mission. Present planning calls for an advanced Saturn 5 rocket, with 7.5 million pounds of thrust, to lift a manned Apollo ship to the moon in 1969.READY FOR TEST —The Apollo-Salurn 1 vehicle, with launch escape tower in place, towers over Cape Kennedy where it is scheduled to he fired la ■ test launching next Tuesday. —UPI
Newspaper Details
European Stars and Stripes
Darmstadt, Hesse, DE
Thu, May 21, 1964
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Marc H.
VA, USA 06 Oct 2024
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Allgemeine Kirchen Zeitung
European Stars and Stripes
