#bp-06

Recovery of the Apollo Boilerplate Command Module (BP-06) and Launch Escape System motor of Pad Abort Test 1 following its successful launch and landing. The spacecraft was lifted to 5,193 feet in 16 seconds by the LES (Launch Escape System) solid fuel rocket motor, landing 4,657 feet from the launch pad.

Date: November 7, 1963

Preparations for Apollo Pad Abort Test 1 (PA-1), using Apollo Boilerplate (BP-06) spacecraft, and launch escape system on adapter ring in firing position at Apollo-Little Joe II launch area, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

Date: October-November 1963

The Pad Abort (BP-6/PA-1) vehicle lifting off from LC-36 at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. This test flight was to investigate the effects on the Apollo spacecraft during an abort from the pad. It also tested the pitch motor and launch escape motor of the Launch Escape System (LES).

"The LES had to be able to pull the spacecraft away from an exploding rocket on the launch pad. The LES then had to gain enough altitude to allow the command module's parachutes to open, preferably with the spacecraft over water and not land.

The flight featured a production model LES and a boilerplate (BP-06) Apollo spacecraft, the first mission to feature one. The spacecraft carried no instruments for measuring structural loads as the capsule's boilerplate structure did not represent that of a real spacecraft."

-Information from Wikipedia: link

source

Date: November 7, 1963

North American Aviation photo: 7004-75-2A, 7004-75-2C

NM Museum of Space History: 1-0001, 1-0005, 1-0003

"Apollo Boilerplate no. 6, destined for Pad Abort Test no. 1 (PA-1), quietly & unassumingly - albeit with a police escort - passing through the main gate of White Sands Missile Range."

Date: July 1963

NASA ID: S63-3047, S63-3035, S63-3034, S63-3091, link

The Apollo Boilerplate (BP-06) being prepared for Pad Abort Test 1 (PA-1) at the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), New Mexico. This was the first abort test of the Apollo spacecraft, launched on November 7, 1963.

“A test version of the Apollo moon capsule will be fired 5,000 feet into the air Thursday at the White Sands (New Mexico) missile range. The escape tower rockets will lift the capsule from the pad. After reaching the desired altitude, three parachutes will return the capsule to earth.

NASA Photo via AP Wirephoto”

Note: the clam-shell structure next to the vehicle to shelter it against the elements.

Date: 1963

Posted on Flickr by Mike Acs.

"An artist's rendering of a pad abort test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Quoting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): 'This Project Apollo Pad Abort test sequence shows the vehicle from launch escape motor ignition jettison motor ignition and launch escape tower release drogue parachute deployment main parachutes in reefed condition and main chutes fully inflated. The purpose of the Apollo Mission Pad Abort #1 is to determine the stability and operational characteristics of the Apollo escape configuration during a pad abort. This is the first phase of testing of hardware to land U.S. astronauts on the Moon.'"

Date: November 5, 1963

“Overall view of BP-06 command module and launch escape system on adapter ring in firing position at Apollo-Little Joe II launch area, WSMR, N. M.”

Date: November 1963

The Apollo Boilerplate Command Module (BP-06) cone being placed over the flight Apollo configuration housing drogue and main chites for the first Pad Abort Test (AP-1). This mission was to determine stability during pad abort.

Date: November 5, 1963