A-102

Mission emblem

Mission dates

Mission:

A-102 (Saturn SA-7)

COSPAR-ID :

1964-057A

Launcher:

Saturn I
serial number SA-7

Begin:

September 18, 1964
4:22:43 PM UTC

Starting place:

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
LC-37B

Landing:

September 22. 1964
burns up

Flight duration:

3 days and about 15 hours

Earth orbits:

59

Apogee :

203 km

Perigee :

178 km

Covered track:

2,386,816 km

◄ Before / After ►

A-101

A-103

The mission A-102 (also SA-7 was called) a test flight as part of the Apollo program of NASA . A two-stage Saturn I with a dummy of the Apollo spaceship confirmed the compatibility of the rocket and spaceship and had three additional features to the A-101 .

aims

One of the simulated four-jet control nozzles ( RCS ) of the Apollo dummy was equipped to record the temperature and the vibrations during take-off. The functional rescue system ( Launch Escape System (LES)) was tested: the escape tower should not be blown off, but rather separated from the command module by the rescue rocket. A programmable control computer was used for the first time. So far, the rockets were launched with a preprogrammed control. Now it was possible to reprogram the computer from the ground station during the flight in order to react to possible unexpected situations.

Apollo dummy (BP-15)

The lifelike model (called Boilerplate) consisted of the active Launch Escape System, a functioning rescue rocket with a height of 4.70 m and the escape tower, a 3.05 m high support structure for the rescue missile, the command module, a conical aluminum structure with a base diameter 3.91 m and 3.56 m high, as well as the service module (SM), an aluminum construction with a diameter of 3.91 m and 3.58 m high. It was mounted on the second stage by means of an adapter section and the instrument unit.

The unit corresponded in dimensions, weight and center of gravity to a functional manned Apollo spacecraft. It was equipped with advanced instruments that took 133 measurements, including aerodynamics, temperature, static charge and vibrations, and made these data available to the telemetry systems. Measured from the second stage, the structure had a mass of 16,650 kg and a height of 24.4 m.

preparation

The steps were delivered to the Kennedy Space Center on June 7 and 12, 1964 and installed on Launch Complex 37B . A hairline crack was found in engine number six in early July . This required the removal of all rocket motors and an inspection at the manufacturer. The ground crew was confronted with it for the first time with a Saturn rocket and the conversion caused a two-week start delay. The Hurricane Cleo and Dora delayed him for a few more days.

Flight history

Start of the A-102 mission

The launch took place on September 18, 1964 at 16:22:00 UTC . After 148 seconds of burning, the first stage was disconnected and 1.7 seconds later the second was ignited. After a further 10 seconds, the LES was cut off as planned by the rescue missile engines.

10 minutes and 21 seconds after take-off, the rocket swiveled into an orbit similar to that used in lunar missions for injection (TLI, trans-lunar injection) into the flight path to the moon. Telemetry continuously provided the data for the 131 measured values for five orbits of the earth.

After 59 Earth orbits, the rocket burned up on September 22nd in the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean .

Impact on the Apollo program

All goals of this test flight were achieved. The drive, steering and structural systems of the Saturn I met all expectations, the rescue system matched the Apollo capsule and worked without any problems.

Only the eight cameras that filmed the stage separation, then thrown off and later recovered, did not land in the planned area. They got caught in Hurricane Gladis and the search had to be stopped. Two months later, two of them were found, already populated with crabs, but the films were undamaged.

As part of the Apollo program, the next three missions were to bring Pegasus satellites into space for research into micrometeorites .

Web links

Commons : A-102 - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

NASA: Mission Overview (English)
NASA: National Space Science Data Center (English)