#sa-6

The unmanned AS-101 Saturn I (BP-13/SA-6) on LC-37B, Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was the first Saturn rocket to carry an Apollo boilerplate spacecraft.

Date: May 1964

Apollo boilerplate BP-13 is mated to Saturn 6 vehicle at Complex 37.

Date: 1964

Lift off of AS-101 Saturn I (BP-13/SA-6) from Launch Complex 17, pad B, Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was the sixth flight of the Saturn I launch vehicle, and the first to carry the Apollo spacecraft (albeit the boilerplate version) into low Earth orbit.

Diagram of the SA-6 launch vehicle and spacecraft.

The primary objectives:

Launch vehicle propulsion, structural, and control demonstration.

First active closed loop ST-124 guidance flight.

First flight of the Apollo Spacecraft and Saturn Launch Vehicle configuration.

Determine structurally the launch escape tower separation characteristics.

S-I Stage and S-IV Stage separation and ignition.

The Secondary objectives:

Visual documentation by movie cameras of internal vehicle functions and stage separation.

Demonstrate Apollo Spacecraft launch and environmental parameters.

Demonstrate compatibility of research and development communications and instrumentation between the space ve-hicle and ground.

Concept art of S-I stage separation during AS-101 mission.

SDASM Archives: 08_01236

The ascent was normal up to 116.9 seconds after liftoff, at which point engine number eight shut off early. The onboard guidance computer compensated by burning the remaining fuel in the other seven engines for 2.7 seconds longer than planned. It was later determined to be caused by teeth on one of the gears in the turbopump in the H-1 rocket engine that were stripped.

Apollo spacecraft hardhat decal for BP-13. source

BP-13 stayed attached to the S-IV upper stage for four orbits (about six hours) during the test flight. It remained in orbit for an additional 50 orbits before reentering the atmosphere uncontrolled and crashing in the Pacific Ocean on June 1, 1964.

Date: May 28, 1964

NASA ID: SA6-003, SA6-005, SA6-006, SA6-007, 64-SA6-31, SA6-009

"Saturn Apollo Program

In this photograph, the Saturn I S-I stages for the SA-4, SA-6, and SA-7 missions were being assembled at the Fabrication and Assembly Engineering Division in the Marshall Space Flight Center building 4705. (Left to right: SA-6, SA-7 & SA-4.) Marshall designed, developed and managed the production of the Saturn I and the Saturn V rocket that took astronauts to the moon. SA-4, an uncrewed test flight of the Saturn I booster, was the final of a series of four tests of the Saturn I first stage."

Date: January 13, 1963

AS-101 Saturn I Block II (BP-15/SA-6) on the pad, prior to a radio frequency interference test at launch complex 37.

Date: April 24, 1964

AS-101 Saturn I Block II (BP-13/SA-6) on LC-37B. This was the first Saturn rocket to carry an Apollo "boilerplate" spacecraft. Its mission was to verify the launch aerodynamics of the Apollo CSM.

Date: April 4, 1964

Saturn I Block I and II rocket profiles SA-1 through SA-10