#apollo 5

Grumman Photo no. 802083

Standing tall. The Saturn IB AS-204 is poised & waiting on the launch pad in Cape Canaveral for Apollo 5, Jan 1968. A5 was an 11-hour flight which performed the 1st uncrewed spaceflight of the Lunar Module. The 7 🌍 orbit flight tested the descent & ascent engine systems of the LM & its ability to separate during these stages. The descent engine of the Lunar Module became the 1st throttleable rocket engine to fire in space as it descended to the lunar surface.

Apollo 5, unmanned orbital test of the Lunar Module

(22 Jan. 1968) --- Dr. Robert R. Gilruth (right), MSC Director, sits with Dr. Christopher C. Kraft Jr., MSC director of flight operations, at his flight operations director console in the Mission Control Center, Building 30, during the Apollo 5 (LM-1/Saturn 204) unmanned space mission.

Launching aboard Saturn IB SA-204, the Lunar Module, LM-1, makes its debut flight on January 22, 1968. As with many of the Apollo systems, the Lunar Module, built by Grumman Aircraft, experienced delays in the manufacturing and fabrication process, further delaying the launch that was originally scheduled for April 1967. The success of Apollo 5 in demonstrating the flight worthiness of the LM prompted NASA to cancel the second unmanned flight of the LM. Instead, LM-3 would launch aboard Apollo 9 in March of 1969, the first manned flight of the Lunar Module. Interestingly, SA-204 was originally intended for the first manned flight of the Apollo program, Apollo 1.

(NASA)

NASA ID: 67-H-430, 67-H-460

Grumman Aircraft Corporation photo: LPS-18-981, LPS-250-221