Apollo 6

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Mission emblem
Emblem of the Apollo program
Mission dates
Mission: Apollo 6
COSPAR-ID : 1968-025A
Command module: CM 020
Service module: SM 014
Lunar Module: LTA 2R
Launcher: Saturn-V
serial number SA-502
Crew: unmanned
Begin: April 4, 1968
12:00:01 UTC
Starting place: Kennedy Space Center
LC-39A
Landing: April 4, 1968
10:23:00 PM UTC
Landing place: Pacific
27 ° 40'N, 157 ° 59'W
Flight duration: 10 h 22 min 59 s
Earth orbits: 3
Recovery ship: USS Okinawa
◄ Before / After ►
Apollo 5
(unmanned) 		Apollo 7
(manned)

Apollo 6 (AS-502) was the last unmanned test flight of a Saturn rocket as part of the Apollo program . For the second time, the three-stage Saturn V was used, which now carried both the Apollo spacecraft and a non-functioning lunar module as a payload - the same configuration as it was intended for the flight to the moon .

Start of Apollo 6

The launch took place on April 4, 1968 at 12:00 UTC from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida . However, it did not go smoothly. Violent vibrations put a strain on the construction while the first stage burned. In the case of a manned flight, this would have led to the termination. After the separation from the first stage, there were far greater problems with the second stage, caused by the vibrations at the beginning of the start. Two of the five engines switched off too early, after which the burning time of the remaining engines had to be extended by 58 seconds. The vibrations caused some supply lines to tear, which was the cause of the first failure. The second engine was incorrectly deactivated by the control system because the control lines between the two engines were swapped. The third stage therefore also had to burn longer. Instead of being in a circular orbit 160 km above the earth's surface, Apollo 6 was now in an elliptical orbit with 167 km perigee and 367 km apogee .

After two orbits the earth, the third stage should be ignited a second time to simulate the entry into an orbit to the moon, but this did not succeed. A simulation of a crash during the transfer to the moon was planned. This should also achieve a speed on reentry that corresponds to a return from the moon. Here the main engine of the Apollo spacecraft had to compensate in order to reach the planned height of 22,000 km. Due to the longer burning time of the engine of the service module , the test of the heat shield had to be partially canceled. The capsule could not be brought up to the required speed due to lack of fuel .

The capsule watered the same day at 10:23 p.m. UTC about 80 km from the recovery ship USS Okinawa in the Pacific and was finally recovered by it.

Web links

Commons : Apollo 6  - collection of images, videos and audio files