During the 1960s to early 1970s, Project Apollo sought out to explore the moon. Apollo 11 achieved this goal when Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon and said, "That's one small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind." Landing on the moon was a major milestone for “mankind,” but was not the only goal of Apollo. New spacecrafts were invented such as the command module, the service module, and the lunar module. Procedures for getting to the moon and exploring its surface were created or improved for every mission. New equipment was created to aid in lunar exploration such as the Lunar Roving Vehicle. After landing on the moon, the following six missions focused on lunar surface exploration. Communication was also improved
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The first mission ended in tragedy, but led to new safety and precautionary measures. The spacecraft, Saturn IB, consisted of the command module, “the crew's quarters and flight control section,” (NASA, "The Apollo Missions") and three crew members: Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger B. Chaffee. As the technicians and capsule communicators double checked the connections and systems of the capsule, tragedy struck. Around 6:31 pm on January 27th, 1967, Grissom stated, "there is a fire in here." With the double layered door system, it took the technicians about five minutes to get the door open, but it was too late. The crew had died from asphyxiation from toxic gas as a result of the fire, not the fire itself. Some astronauts from Projects Mercury and Gemini had died, “but none in duties directly associated with space flight” (Brooks et al. 217). For the next two months, NASA launched a full investigation into the tragedy: what caused the fire, why it happened, and how could it be prevented. The cause of the fire was never determined. As the next Saturn rocket was built, the plans were reexamined to include non-flammable materials wherever possible and a single layer door for easier entry (Brooks et al. 213-232). While Apollo 1 is a tragedy, it did result in the improvements of safety measures against potential fires, which made future missions safer for the next …show more content…
Before Apollo 4, there were test flights performed by NASA using Saturn IB rockets, but none were officially designated as Apollo missions (NASA, “Apollo 1”). The Apollo 4 unmanned mission tested the capabilities of the Saturn V rocket:
“The aim of the mission, in addition to testing the structural integrity and compatibility of the spacecraft-launch vehicle combination [Saturn V], was to boost the command and service modules into an elliptical orbit and then power-dive the command module (in an area over Hawaii) into the atmosphere as though it were returning from the moon to the earth” (Brooks et al. 232).
The Saturn V rocket consists of three stages: S-IC, S-II, and S-IVB. The S-IC is the first stage, and is at the bottom of the rocket typically used for launching the spacecraft. After the first stage is jettisoned, the second stage and its engines are used to propel the rocket toward orbiting Earth. After the second stage is jettisoned, the third stage engines propel the rocket out of Earth’s atmosphere. The S-IVB, the uppermost stage is attached to the payload area of the rocket, which contains the CM, SM and LM. This was the first mission to use the three-stage Saturn V rocket to simulate descending conditions for future lunar missions. If the Saturn V successfully preformed these tasks, as it did, it would be the launch vehicle that would
The first mission ended in tragedy, but led to new safety and precautionary measures. The spacecraft, Saturn IB, consisted of the command module, “the crew's quarters and flight control section,” (NASA, "The Apollo Missions") and three crew members: Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger B. Chaffee. As the technicians and capsule communicators double checked the connections and systems of the capsule, tragedy struck. Around 6:31 pm on January 27th, 1967, Grissom stated, "there is a fire in here." With the double layered door system, it took the technicians about five minutes to get the door open, but it was too late. The crew had died from asphyxiation from toxic gas as a result of the fire, not the fire itself. Some astronauts from Projects Mercury and Gemini had died, “but none in duties directly associated with space flight” (Brooks et al. 217). For the next two months, NASA launched a full investigation into the tragedy: what caused the fire, why it happened, and how could it be prevented. The cause of the fire was never determined. As the next Saturn rocket was built, the plans were reexamined to include non-flammable materials wherever possible and a single layer door for easier entry (Brooks et al. 213-232). While Apollo 1 is a tragedy, it did result in the improvements of safety measures against potential fires, which made future missions safer for the next …show more content…
Before Apollo 4, there were test flights performed by NASA using Saturn IB rockets, but none were officially designated as Apollo missions (NASA, “Apollo 1”). The Apollo 4 unmanned mission tested the capabilities of the Saturn V rocket:
“The aim of the mission, in addition to testing the structural integrity and compatibility of the spacecraft-launch vehicle combination [Saturn V], was to boost the command and service modules into an elliptical orbit and then power-dive the command module (in an area over Hawaii) into the atmosphere as though it were returning from the moon to the earth” (Brooks et al. 232).
The Saturn V rocket consists of three stages: S-IC, S-II, and S-IVB. The S-IC is the first stage, and is at the bottom of the rocket typically used for launching the spacecraft. After the first stage is jettisoned, the second stage and its engines are used to propel the rocket toward orbiting Earth. After the second stage is jettisoned, the third stage engines propel the rocket out of Earth’s atmosphere. The S-IVB, the uppermost stage is attached to the payload area of the rocket, which contains the CM, SM and LM. This was the first mission to use the three-stage Saturn V rocket to simulate descending conditions for future lunar missions. If the Saturn V successfully preformed these tasks, as it did, it would be the launch vehicle that would