Feb 26 1966
From The Space Library
NASA’s Apollo/Saturn AS-201 mission was successfully launched from ETR at 11:12 a.m. EST. Unmanned Apollo spacecraft (009) was boosted into suborbital flight by two-stage Saturn I-B launch vehicle (SA-201) to qualify Command Module (CM) heat shielding and Service Module (SM) of spacecraft-launch vehicle combination and major spacecraft systems. Liftoff and powered flight events were as programmed. After ignition of liquid-hydrogen-powered 2nd stage (S-IVB), launch escape tower was jettisoned and recoverable cameras ejected. After seven-minute burn, 2nd stage and instrument unit separated from spacecraft; spacecraft reached 310-mi. (499-km.) altitude. Descending, Service Module performed ullage maneuver, firing reaction-control system rockets for 30 sec. to increase spacecraft’s reentry speed; SM’s main propulsion engine was fired twice-once for 100 sec. and once for 10 sec. SM was jettisoned and CM reentered at 27,500 fps-2,000 fps faster than Apollo reentry from earth orbit-testing ability of spacecraft’s ablative heat shield to withstand reentry heat of about 4,000° F. Three main parachutes deployed at 12,000-ft. altitude, lowering CM to splashdown in Atlantic at 11:51 a.m. EST within 35 mi. of target. Recovery was by helicopter from carrier U.S.S. Boxer. Spacecraft was in “good” condition. Mission was first launch of Saturn I-B and Apollo spacecraft. Saturn I-B, uprated version of Saturn I , was being developed under direction of MSFC and Apollo spacecraft, under direction of MSC. (NASA Release 66-32; NASA Proj. Off.; MSC Roundup, 3/4/66, 1-2; Stern, Wash. Post, 2/27/66, A1, A8; Hines, Wash. Sun. Star, 2/27/66, A1, A6; Wilford, NYT, 2/27/66, 1, 60)
Click here to listen to the launch of Apollo/Saturn AS-201.
At KSC post-launch conference, NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight Dr. George E. Mueller commented on AS-201: “This test was of extreme importance to the eventual manned lunar landing in that it provides us with the best test of the ablative characteristics of the heat shield protection for the Apollo spacecraft. It is the one test that we were unable to perform on the ground-the one test, therefore, that was a qualification test and which will be repeated again on 202, which is the next flight in the Apollo system.” (MCS Roundup, 3/4/66, 1-2)
NASA Nike-Apache sounding rocket launched from Sonmiani, Pakistan, carried sodium payload to 124-mi. (200-km.) altitude in experiment conducted for Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Committee to measure wind direction and speed at 50-to 124-mi. (80-to 200-km.) altitudes. No photography was possible since sodium flash, observed at +60 sec., was not followed by sodium cloud release. (NASA Rpt. SRL)
Prerecorded pictures of dogs Veterok and Ugolyek, transmitted from Soviet satellite COSMOS CX launched Feb. 22, were shown on Moscow television. Announcement described the dogs as subjects of biological studies and said such studies “will precede every new and important step of man in space.” Tass said “the condition of the space dogs is quite excellent.” (Krasnaya Zvezda, 2/27/66, USS-T Trans.; Pravda, 2/27/66,6, USS-T Trans.)
Astronauts Frank Borman and Walter M. Schirra, Jr., received rousing welcome on arrival at Seoul, South Korea. Many flag-waving schoolchildren had to be restrained by policemen during welcoming ceremonies at City Hall. (NYT, 2/27/66, 14; N.Y. J/Amer., 2/27/66, 28)
Astronaut James A. Lovell, Jr., and Astronaut Donald K. Slayton (MSC Assistant Director for Flight Crew Operations) received gold medallions from Gov. Warren P. Knowles in Madison, Wis., after two-day homecoming celebration. Lovell, who had attended high school in Milwaukee, in turn presented state with Wisconsin flag he had carried for 14 days in space during GEMINI VII flight Dec. 4-18, 1965. Slayton was born in Sparta, Wis. (AP, Chic. Trib., 2/25/66)
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