AS-203

Mission emblem
Mission dates
Mission:	Apollo saturn 203
COSPAR-ID :	1966-059A
Launcher:	Saturn IB serial number SA-203
Crew:	no
Begin:	July 5, 1966 14:53:13 UTC
Starting place:	Cape Canaveral Air Force Station , LC-37
Landing:	July 5, 1966 20:53:00 UTC
Flight duration:	5h 59min 47s
Earth orbits:	4th
Rotation time :	88.5 min
Orbit inclination :	31.94 °
Apogee :	212 km
Perigee :	183 km
◄ Before / After ►
AS-201 AS-202

AS-203 was the second unmanned test flight of the Apollo spacecraft of NASA .

target

This flight was mainly used to test the two-stage Saturn IB and its new instrument unit. Instead of an Apollo spacecraft , only a dummy was mounted on the tip of the rocket. In contrast to the previous test flight AS-201, it was planned to reach Earth orbit. The flight control was particularly interested in the second stage S-IVB after reaching orbit. A reignition of such a stage was planned for a moon landing (then, however, as the third stage of a Saturn V ), so it was important to know the behavior of the liquid fuel in weightlessness. For this purpose, 83 sensors and two television cameras were installed in the tank of the second stage.

preparation

The individual parts of the rocket arrived at Cape Canaveral by sea : the second stage on April 6, 1966, the first stage on April 12, and the instrument cluster on April 14. The rocket was already installed on launch pad 37B on April 21 . At the same time, the AS-202 rocket was on launch pad 34 . The delivery of the designated Apollo spacecraft had been delayed. Since the AS-203 was supposed to take off without a spaceship, it was decided in the spring of 1966 to reverse the order and launch the AS-203 before the AS-202.

In addition to these two Saturn IBs, there was a non-flightable test copy of the Saturn V on launch pad 39A .

Flight history

Start of AS-203

The countdown had to be interrupted several times. Among other things, one of the two cameras in the tank had failed. Since it could not be repaired or replaced with reasonable effort, the flight was carried out with a single camera.

The start went smoothly. The first stage burned for 2 minutes and 20 seconds, the second stage for 4 minutes and 50 seconds, then the second stage and the instrument cluster were in orbit. The rocket behaved as planned, the engine could be re-ignited as planned. After four orbits the earth, the compressive strength of the second stage was tested by keeping it under pressure until it burst. A re-entry or even a rescue was not planned for this flight.

Impact on the Apollo program

All objectives of the mission were achieved. The S-IVB stage had been shown to be capable of being re-ignited in earth orbit in order to be able to carry an Apollo spacecraft to the moon in the future. Another Apollo test flight, albeit suborbital, was to be carried out with an airworthy copy of the Apollo spacecraft. A manned mission called AS-204 was then planned for the fourth flight of the Saturn IB . Since the spaceship caught fire during a ground test and the three astronauts were killed ( Apollo 1 ), the Apollo program was significantly delayed.

Web links

• NASA mission overview