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Much information about the Apollo spacecraft. Includes the AS-201 (SA-201) Saturn IB launch on February 26, 1966, the first Project Apollo flight test of a Block 1 Apollo spacecraft.
Reupload of a previously uploaded film with improved video & sound.
Public domain film from the US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
The Apollo spacecraft was composed of three parts designed to accomplish the American Apollo program’s goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning them safely to Earth. The expendable (single-use) spacecraft consisted of a combined Command/Service Module (CSM) and a Lunar Module (LM). Two additional components complemented the spacecraft stack for launch vehicle assembly: a Launch Escape System (LES) to be used only in the event of a launch emergency, and a Spacecraft/Lunar Module Adapter (SLA) designed to connect the CSM to the launch vehicle and to house the LM.
The design was based on the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous approach: two docked spacecraft were sent to the Moon and went into lunar orbit. While the LM separated and landed, the CSM remained in orbit. After the lunar excursion, the two craft rendezvoused and docked in lunar orbit, and the CSM returned the crew to Earth. The Command Module was the only part of the spacecraft that returned with the crew to the Earth’s surface…
After conclusion of the Apollo program, four CSM’s were launched on Saturn IBs for three Skylab Earth orbital missions and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project…
The major part of the Apollo spacecraft was a three-man vehicle designed for Earth orbital, translunar, and lunar orbital flight, and return to Earth. This consisted of a command module supported by a service module, built by North American Aviation (later North American Rockwell).
Command Module (CM)
The Command Module, was the control center for the Apollo spacecraft and living quarters for the three crewmen. It contained the pressurized main crew cabin, crew couches, control and instrument panel, optical and electronic guidance systems, communications systems, environmental control system, batteries, heat shield, reaction control system, forward docking hatch, side hatch, five windows and the parachute recovery system. It was the only part of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle that returned to Earth intact.
Service Module (SM)
The Service Module was unpressurized and contained a main service propulsion engine and propellant to enter and leave lunar orbit, a reaction control system to provide attitude control and translational capability, fuel cells with hydrogen and oxygen reactants, radiators to dump waste heat into space, and a high gain antenna. The oxygen was also used for breathing, and the fuel cells produced water for drinking and environmental control. On Apollo 15, 16 and 17 it also carried a scientific instrument package, with a mapping camera and a small sub-satellite to study the moon…
Lunar Module (LM)
The Lunar Module was a separate vehicle designed to land on the Moon and return to lunar orbit, and was the first true “spaceship” since it flew solely in the vacuum of space. It consisted of a descent stage and an ascent stage. It supplied life support systems for two astronauts for up to four to five days on the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions. The spacecraft was designed and manufactured by the Grumman Aircraft Company.
The descent stage contained the landing gear, landing radar antenna, descent rocket engine, and fuel to land on the moon. It also had several cargo compartments used to carry among other things, the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Packages ALSEP, the Modularized Equipment Transporter (MET) (a hand-pulled equipment cart used on Apollo 14), the Lunar Rover (Apollo 15, 16 and 17), surface television camera, surface tools, and lunar sample collection boxes.
The ascent stage contained the crew cabin, instrument panels, overhead hatch/docking port, forward hatch, optical and electronic guidance systems, reaction control system, radar and communications antennas, ascent rocket engine and fuel to return to lunar orbit and rendezvous with the Apollo Command and Service Modules…
