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Apollo 1

Apollo 1

Apollo One is the name given to the Apollo/Saturn 204 (AS-204) spacecraft after it was destroyed by fire during a training exercise on January 27, 1967, at Pad 34 atop a Saturn IB rocket. Its crew were the astronauts selected for the initial Apollo program mission and all three died in the accident: Command Pilot Virgil I. Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee.

Crew

Roger B. Chaffee and Virgil Grissom.]]

- Virgil Grissom (flew on Mercury 4 & Gemini 3), Command Pilot
- Ed White (flew on Gemini 4), Senior Pilot
- Roger Chaffee (never flew in space), Pilot

Backup Crew


- April - December, 1966
  - James McDivitt, Command Pilot
  - David Scott, Senior Pilot
  - Rusty Schweickart, Pilot This crew became the crew of Apollo 9.
- December, 1966 - January, 1967
  - Walter Schirra, Command Pilot
  - Donn Eisele, Senior Pilot
  - Walter Cunningham, Pilot This crew became the crew of Apollo 7.

The accident

Apollo 7 The Apollo 1 Command Module was a "Block I" design, built for spaceflight but never intended for a trip to the moon, as it lacked the necessary docking equipment. Immediately prior to the accident, the crew members were reclining in their horizontal couches, running through a checklist of things they would do in space while a communication system problem was being fixed. Suddenly, a voice (now believed to be Chaffee's, as his was the only clear channel) was heard over the COM link, "We've got fire in the cockpit." A few seconds later the transmissions ended with a cry of pain. On the television monitors, Ed White was seen to be attempting to open the hatch. However, the two-piece hatch was of a design which required that the crew undo several bolts in order to remove the inner section, and was impossible to open quickly. Furthermore, the inner portion of hatch opened inwards, an intentional design feature intended to exploit the cabin's air pressure in order to further tighten the hatch seal during spaceflight. The hot gasses produced by the fire held the hatch shut, and within a few seconds the air pressure had risen enough to prevent the crew from escaping (and in fact the air pressure rose so high as to rupture the capsule).

Cause

The fire is believed to have been caused by a spark somewhere in the capsule's 30 miles (50 km) of wiring. Due to the pure oxygen inside the capsule (which was at a pressure of 15 psi or 100 kPa) the fire was quickly out of control. The Apollo 204 Review Board determined that a silver-plated copper wire running through an environmental control unit near the command module pilot's couch had become stripped of its insulation and abraded by repeated opening and closing of an associated access door. This weak point in the wiring also happened to pass near a junction in a ethylene glycol / water cooling line, which had developed a leak. The electrolysis of ethylene glycol solution with the anode made of silver resulted in a violent exothermic reaction that ignited the ethylene glycol mixture, which in turn was able to burn in the atmosphere of pure pressurized oxygen.[http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4009/v4p2b.htm] A similar March 1961 incident had previously claimed the life of Soviet cosmonaut trainee Valentin Bondarenko when the pure oxygen atmosphere in the isolation chamber he had been occupying had caught fire, a calamity the USSR had, for years, concealed from the public.

The fire

The fire spread quickly and it took the ground crew five minutes to open the hatch and suppress it. The fire had melted the astronauts' space suits and the air lines which connected them to the capsule's life support systems. Grissom's and White's suits were found to have fused together. It was later confirmed that the crew had actually died of smoke inhalation rather than burns. According to the Report of the Apollo 204 Review Board - Appendix D Panel 11, (link provided below), Grissom suffered third degree burns on 36% of his body (1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns covered 60% of his body) and his spacesuit was 70% destroyed. White suffered third degree burns on 40% of his body (1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns covered 48% of his body) and his spacesuit was 25% destroyed. Chaffee suffered third degree burns on 23% of his body (1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns covered 29% of his body) and his spacesuit was 15% destroyed. . The company that produced the command module, North American Aviation, had originally suggested that the hatch open outward and be able to open with explosive bolts in case of emergency. They had also suggested that the atmosphere be an oxygen/nitrogen mixture, like the air around us. NASA didn't agree, arguing that the hatch could be accidentally opened (this is what caused Liberty Bell 7 - ironically, piloted by Grissom - to sink into the ocean during splashdown recovery operations), and that if too much nitrogen were released into the atmosphere, the astronauts would pass out and then die. They also argued that since a pure oxygen atmosphere was used safely in Mercury and Gemini, it should be safe to use for Apollo. Furthermore, such a design saved weight. After the fire, Apollo was grounded pending a redesign, with the following results:
- The atmosphere would not be pressurized to 2 lbf/in² (14 kPa) above atmospheric pressure
- The hatch would open outward, and more quickly
- Flammable materials were replaced with self-extinguishing materials
- Plumbing and wiring were covered with protective insulation
- 1,407 wiring problems were corrected
- Nylon suits were replaced with coated glass fabric suits When North American Aviation shipped Spacecraft CM-012 to Kennedy Space Center, it bore a banner proclaiming it "Apollo One" and Grissom's crew had received approval for an "Apollo 1" patch in June 1966, but NASA was planning to call that mission "AS-204." After the fire, the astronauts' widows asked that "Apollo 1" be reserved for the flight their husbands would never make. For a time, mission planners called the next scheduled launch "Apollo 2." Suggestions were made that the flights should be called "Apollo 1" (AS-204), "Apollo 1A" (AS-201), "Apollo 2" (AS-202), and "Apollo 3" (AS-203). Finally, the NASA Project Designation Committee approved "Apollo 4" for the first (unmanned) Apollo-Saturn V mission (AS-501), but declared that there would be no retroactive renaming of AS-201, -202, or -203. The Apollo 1 (AS-204) Saturn IB rocket was taken down from Launch Complex 34 and later reassembled at Launch Complex 37B. It was used to launch the Apollo 5 LM-1 into earth orbit for the first Lunar Module test mission.

Memorial

Lunar Module While Launch Complex 34 has been essentially dismantled, the cement and steel-reinforced launch platform remains at the site. The platform bears two plaques for the 3 men who perished. One says:
LAUNCH COMPLEX 34
Friday, 27 January 1967
1831 Hours

Dedicated to the living memory of the crew of the Apollo 1:

U.S.A.F. Lt. Colonel Virgil I. Grissom
U.S.A.F. Lt. Colonel Edward H. White, II
U.S.N. Lt. Commander Roger B. Chaffee

They gave their lives in service to their country in the ongoing exploration of humankind's final frontier. Remember them not for how they died but for those ideals for which they lived.

Lunar Module The other says:
IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE SO OTHERS COULD REACH FOR THE STARS

AD ASTRA PER ASPERA
(A ROUGH ROAD LEADS TO THE STARS)

GOD SPEED TO THE CREW OF APOLLO 1
This plaque was featured in the film Armageddon. In addition to both, a college classmate of one of the astronauts fashioned three granite benches, one for each member of the crew. The benches were installed in January 2005. Each year the families of the Apollo 1 crew are invited to the site for a memorial, and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center offers a visit to the site for those who choose to take a special tour to the older launch sites that are on Cape Canaveral. Three stars, Navi, Dnoces and Regor were named in honor of the crew. The names are "Ivan," "Second" and "Roger" spelled backwards. Ivan was Grissom's middle name and White was Edward H. White the Second. The crew used the stars to calibrate their equipment and, as a practical joke, recorded the names in official NASA documentation. The names eventually stuck as a posthumous honor.

Controversy

The USENET newsgroups sci.space.history and sci.space.policy frequently see semi-anonymous postings, which accuse NASA and / or other US authorities of arson and conspiring to assassinate the crew of Apollo 1. It is often claimed NASA people held Grissom personally responsible for the loss of the Liberty Bell 7 capsule to sea and wanted to avenge this agency-wide loss of face. According to the Star tabloid, Grissom's son Scott Grissom, a pilot himself, demanded a renewed investigation into the Apollo-1 disaster back in 1999. Nonetheless, the above said newsgroup postings are generally considered as trolling by the USENET community. The "Apollo 1" website [http://www.apollo1.info] which is owned by Scott Grissom, explicitly prosecutes the thesis that the Apollo 1 astronauts "died from an act of sabotage".

References


- http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/a15.postland.html Search the page for "regor" to find the reference.

See also

List of space disasters

External links


- [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollo204/ NASA Apollo 1 website]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19730061045_1973061045.pdf Apollo spacecraft 012 (Apollo 1) Operations Handbook (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066930_1982066930.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066928_1982066928.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix A: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066927_1982066927.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix B: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066925_1982066925.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix C Section 1: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066936_1982066936.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix C Section 2: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066931_1982066931.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix D Panels 1 through 4: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066926_1982066926.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix D Panel 5: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066932_1982066932.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix D Panels 6 through 10: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066929_1982066929.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix D Panel 11: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066933_1982066933.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix D Panels 12 through 17: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066923_1982066923.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix D Panel 18: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066934_1982066934.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix D Panels 19 through 21: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066935_1982066935.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix E: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820066537_1982066537.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix F: (PDF)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820067189_1982067189.pdf Report of the Apollo 204 (Apollo 1) Accident Review Board - Appendix G: (PDF)] Apollo 01 Category:Space Program Deaths ja:アポロ1号

Fire

Fire is a form of combustion. Linguistically, the word fire refers to the combination of the brilliant glow and large amount of heat released during a rapid, self-sustaining burning of combustible fuel. Technically, fire is not a state of matter; it is an exothermic oxidation process by which heat and light energy are given out. Fire starts when a fuel with adequate oxygen supply is subjected to enough heat, and it is sustained by the further release of heat energy in the process, as well as a continuous supply of oxygen and combustible fuel. A match or lighter is usually used to start a fire (which can then propagate to other combustibles) because matches and lighters are designed with materials of low burning point. Fire is extinguished when one or more of heat, oxygen, and fuel is removed. Flames can conduct electricity, as a small portion of any fire is ionized. This has been demonstrated in the laboratory and also in large wildfires that occur in the vicinity of power lines.

Controlling fire

wildfire wildfire Controlling fire for the purposes of providing heat and light was one of humankind's first great achievements. The ability of fire to generate heat and light made possible migration to colder climates and enabled people to cook food — a decisive step in the perennial fight against disease. Smoke signals were an early use of fire for communication, and fire soon enabled advancements in metallurgy such as smelting and forging. Archaeology indicates that ancestors of modern humans such as Homo erectus seem to have been using controlled fire as early as some 790,000 years ago. The Cradle of Humankind site has evidence for controlled fire 1 million years ago. By the time of the Neolithic introduction of grain based agriculture, people the world over used fire as a tool in landscape management. These fires were typically controlled "cool fires," as opposed to uncontrolled "hot fires" that damage the soil. Such hot fires destroy plants and animals, and endanger communities. All too often this is a problem in the forests of today where traditional burning is prevented in order to encourage the growth of timber crops. Cool fires are generally conducted in the spring and fall. They clear undergrowth, burning up biomass that could trigger a hot fire should it get too dense. They provide a greater variety of environments, which encourages game and plant diversity. For humans, they make dense, impassable forests traversable. Today, the applications of fire are numerous. In its broadest sense, fire is used by nearly every human being on earth in a controlled setting every day. Owners of internal combustion vehicles use fire every time they drive. Thermal power stations provide electricity for a large percentage of humanity. However, fire is also used more directly; many nomadic peoples still use fire for cooking. It is also used for smoking, and as a weapon. In fact, the use of fire by militaries has a long history up to the present day. Homer detailed its use by Greek commandoes who hid in a wooden horse to burn Troy during the Trojan war. Later the Byzantine fleet (late Romans) used Greek Fire to attack ships and men. In the Vietnam War, the Americans dropped a modern version, Napalm, from the air. More recently many villages were burned during the Rwandan Genocide. Aerial bombing of cities, including firebombing (using incendiary bombs) was also frequently used during World War II. See also :Category:Incendiary weapons. Molotov cocktails are in common use as well.

Fire and religion

Fires and burning have often been used in religious rites and symbolism, as the smoke of the fire disperses into the heavens. Fire is one of the four classical elements, as well as one of the five Chinese elements. In Hinduism fire is one of five sacred elements of which all living creatures are comprised and is considered an eternal witness essential to sacred religious ceremonies. In Christianity, fire is a symbol of the Holy Ghost and is often used in descriptions of Hell. Fire is a symbol of Ahura Mazda, or God, of the Zoroastrian religion. A Zoroastrian church is known as a Fire Temple. Fire is also an important part of Calcination, the fire operation in the art of alchemy. In Greek mythology, Prometheus is the Titan chiefly honored for stealing fire from the gods in the stalk of a fennel plant and giving it to mortals for their use. In Judaism fire also has great significance, candles are lit to usher in holidays and to separate Shabbat from the rest of the week, as well as to remember the dead; another important fire symbol is the Eternal Flame, which was a fire kept in the First and Second Temple was never supposed to go out. Fire worship can also relate to Sun worship, especially as the sun viewed as the most expressive and emphatic exhibition of beneficent divine power.

Fire as a power source

Fire has supplied much of the energy which has helped humans since ancient times, from the wood fires which served many prehistoric purposes to the oil, gas and coal power stations of today which supplies the vast majority of the world's electricity (nearly 80%1). Mexico is typical with thermal energy providing 76% of all energy2. The burning of wood is often the first association to the word "fire". It is common in a developing country for wood to be the primary energy source as well. For instance, in Africa, 65% of the energy used comes from the burning of biomass3. What is less obvious is that wood burning power stations are less environmentally destructive than the fired oil power station in two major respects. E.ON UK is soon to build a 44 megawatt wood fired power station in Britain for these reasons, as reported in the Guardian newspaper in October 20054: first, wood is a renewable resource, especially if trees are grown in a modern, sustainable way. Second, the carbon dioxide emissions are negligible because no more carbon dioxide can be produced by burning than would be produced by the natural rotting of wood. Thus, over a 100-year timescale, the effect is carbon-neutral5. It is also claimed that this power station will be more efficient than coal: accelerants can be used to spread fire faster or have it burn hotter. The fire in a power station is used to heat water, creating steam that drives turbines. The turbines are linked to an electrical generator.

Uncontrolled fire

electrical generator The self-sustaining nature of fire makes it extremely dangerous if uncontrolled. Fire can consume structures and forests and can severely injure or kill living things through burns or smoke inhalation. Structure fires can be started by cooking accidents, electrical faults, fuel leaks, children playing with lighters and/or matches, and accidents involving candles and cigarettes. Fire can propagate rapidly to other structures, especially where proper building standards are not met. Purposefully starting destructive fires constitutes arson and is a criminal offense in most jurisdictions. The destructive capacity of fire has led most municipalities to offer fire fighting services to quickly extinguish fires. Trained firefighters use fire trucks, fire hydrants, and an array of other equipment to combat the spread of fires. Municipal buildings such as schools and government buildings often conduct fire drills to inform and prepare citizens on how to react to a building fire. Outside of urban settings, wildfires can consume large areas of forest and brush and often damage nearby settlements. There are many different classification systems used for uncontrolled fires; in Europe and Australasia six groups are used:
- Class A: Fires that involve flammable solids such as wood, cloth, rubber, paper, and some types of plastics.
- Class B: Fires that involve flammable liquids or liquefiable solids such as petrol/gasoline, oil, paint, some waxes & plastics, but not cooking fats or oils.
- Class C: Fires that involve flammable gases, such as natural gas, hydrogen, propane, butane.
- Class D: Fires that involve combustible metals, such as sodium, magnesium, and potassium.
- Shock Risk (formerly known as Class E): Fires that involve any of the materials found in Class A and B fires, but with the introduction of an electrical appliances, wiring, or other electrically energized objects in the vicinity of the fire, with a resultant electrical shock risk if a conductive agent is used to control the fire.
- Class F: Fires involving cooking fats and oils. The high temperature of the oils when on fire far exceeds that of other flammable liquids making normal extinguishing agents ineffective. conductive In the U.S., fires are generally classified into four groups: A, B, C, and D.
- Class A: Fires that involve wood, cloth, rubber, paper, and some types of plastics.
- Class B: Fires that involve gasoline, oil, paint, natural and propane gases, and flammable liquids, gases, and greases.
- Class C: Fires that involve any of the materials found in Class A and B fires, but with the introduction of an electrical appliances, wiring, or other electrically energized objects in the vicinity of the fire.
- Class D: Fires that involve combustible metals, such as sodium, magnesium, and potassium. A fifth group, Class K, is sometimes added. It refers to fires involving large amounts of grease or oil. Although, by definition, Class K is a subclass of Class B, the special characteristics of these types of fires are considered important enough to recognize. U.S. iron.]]

Science of fire

A flame is a self-sustaining oxidizing chemical reaction producing energy and ionized gas (plasma). It consists of reacting gases emitting visible and infrared light, the frequency spectrum of which is dependent on the chemical composition of the burning elements and intermediate reaction products. In many cases such as burning organic matter like wood or incomplete combustion of gas, incandescent solid particles (soot) produce the familiar red-orange 'fire' color light. This light has a continuous spectrum. Complete combustion of gas has a dim blue color due to the emission of single wavelength radiations from various electron transitions in the excited molecules formed in the flame. Usually oxygen is involved, but hydrogen burning in chlorine produces a flame as well, producing toxic hydrogen chloride (HCl). Other possible combinations producing flames (amongst many more) are fluorine and hydrogen or hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. The glow of a flame is somewhat complex, due to a mix of black-body radiation emitted from soot, gas, and fuel particles (though the soot particles are too small to behave like perfect blackbodies), and from photon emission by de-excited atoms and molecules in the gases. Much of the radiation is emitted in the visible and infrared bands. The color depends on temperature for the black-body radiation, and chemical makeup for the emission spectra. emission spectra

See also


- Backdraft
- Bonfire
- Bushfire
- Campfire
- Explosion - another form of combustion/oxidation
- Fire eater
- Fire hydrant
- Fire point
- Fire-retardant material
- Firestorm
- Firewall
- Flash point
- Flashover
- Flint and steel fire
- Glossary of firefighting equipment
- Glossary of firefighting terms
- Glossary of wildland fire terms
- Immolation
- List of historic fires
- Reckless burning
- Rust - another form of combustion/oxidation
- Tinder
- Trench effect
- Wildfire, also known as a forest fire

References


- [http://www.iea.org/statlist/index.htm "Share of Total Primary Energy Supply", 2002; International Energy Agency]
- [http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/national_energy_grid/mexico/index.shtml "Mexico Grid Summary", 2000; Global Energy Network Institute]; thermal energy defined as oil, gas and coal
- [http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/archives/africa/chapter3.html "Energy in Africa - Chapter 3"], US Energy information administration
- [http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1592854,00.html "How Can Burning Wood Help Reduce Global Warming"], The Guardian
- [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/021122.html The Straight Dope: What exactly is fire?]. Adams, C.(2002).Retrieved Dec. 19, 2004.
- Dave Reay, "Climate Change Begins at Home"

External links


- [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/021122.html What exactly is fire?] (from The Straight Dope)
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3670017.stm Early human fire mastery revealed] BBC article on archeological discoveries
- [http://www.northmason.wednet.edu/NMHSonline/student_gallery/fire/pg19_candleflame.html Parts of a candle flame]
- [http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/combustion/cfm/cfm_index.htm Flames in microgravity]
- [http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast12may_1.htm Spiral flames in microgravity]
- [http://www.moebuildingcontrol.co.uk moebuildingcontrol.co.uk - UK Guidance on fire safety codes and fire engineering] Category:Firefighting Category:Chemistry ja:火 ko:불 simple:Fire

1967

1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January


- January 4 - Algerian revolutionary Mohammed Khider is shot in Madrid.
- January 6 - Vietnam War: USMC and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta.
- January 10 - Segregationist Lester Maddox inaugurated as governor of Georgia.
- January 13 - Military coup in Togo under the leadership of Etienne Eyadema.
- January 14 - The New York Times reports that the US Army is conducting secret germ warfare experiments.
- January 15 - Louis Leakey announces that he has found prehuman fossils from Kenya - he names the species Kenyapitchecus Africanus.
- January 15 - United Kingdom enters the first round of negotiations for EEC membership in Rome.
- January 16 - Italy announces support for United Kingdom's EEC membership.
- January 18 - Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler," is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life in prison.
- January 18 - Jeremy Thorpe becomes leader of the Liberal Party
- January 23 - In Munich, trial begins against Wilhelm Harster, accused of murder of 82,856 Jews (including Anne Frank) when he led German security police during the German occupation of Netherlands. He is eventually sentenced to 15 years in prison.
- January 26 - Parliament of the United Kingdom decides to nationalize 90% of British steel industry.
- January 27 - Apollo 1: US astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee are killed when fire erupts in their Apollo spacecraft during a test on the launch pad.
- January 27 - USA, Soviet Union and UK sign the Outer Space Treaty.
- January 31 - West Germany and Romania form diplomatic relations.

February


- February 2 - The American Basketball Association is formed.
- February 3 - Ronald Ryan becomes the last man hanged in Australia, executed for the murder of a prison guard, which he committed while escaping from prison in December 1965
- February 4 - Soviet Union protests the demonstrations before its embassy in Peking
- February 5 - Lunar Orbiter 3 is launched.
- February 5 - Italy's first guided missile cruiser, the Vittorio Veneto (C550), is launched.
- February 5 - General Anastasio Somoza Debayle becomes president of Nicaragua.
- February 6 - Aleksei Kosygin arrives in the UK for an eight-day visit. He meets the Queen on the 9th.
- February 7 - Chinese government announces that it can no longer guarantee safety of Soviet diplomats outside the Soviet embassy building
- February 7 - Serious brush fires in southern Tasmania claim 62 lives
- February 10 - The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified
- February 14 - King Constantine II of Greece flees the country when his coup attempt fails
- February 15 - Soviet Union announces that it has sent troops to near Chinese border
- February 18 - China sends three PLA divisions to Tibet
- February 18 - New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison claims he is going to solve the John F. Kennedy assassination and that it was planned in New Orleans
- February 22 - Suharto takes power from Sukarno in Indonesia.
- February 22 - Donald Sangster becomes the new Prime Minister of Jamaica, succeeding Alexander Bustamante.
- February 23 - Trinidad and Tobago are the first Commonwealth nation to join the OAS.
- February 24 - Moscow forbids its satellite states to form diplomatic relations to West Germany
- February 25 - Chinese government announces that it has ordered the army to help in the spring seeding.
- February 25 - Britain's second Polaris missile submarine, HMS Renown, is launched.
- February 26 - Soviet nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk.
- February 27 - Dutch government supports British EEC membership
- February 27 - Dominica gains independence from the United Kingdom.
- February 27 - The Outer Space Treaty was signed in Washington, London, and Moscow (entered into force October 10, 1967).

March


- March 1 - The city Hatogaya, located in Saitama, Japan is founded
- March 1 - Brazilian police arrest Franc Paul Stangli, ex-commander of Treblinka and Sobibór concentration camps
- March 1 - Red Guards return to schools in China.
- March 1 - The Queen Elizabeth Hall is opened in London.
- March 4 - The first North Sea gas is pumped ashore at Easington Co Durham.
- March 4 - Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, the disposed democratically elected prime minister of Iran, dies while under house arrest.
- March 7 - Jimmy Hoffa begins his 8-year sentence for attempted bribery of jury
- March 9 - Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva defects to USA via the US Delhi Embassy.
- March 12 - Indonesian State Assembly takes all presidential powers from Sukarno and names Suharto as acting president.
- March 13 - Moise Tshombe, ex-prime minister of Congo is sentenced to death in absentia
- March 14 - The body of President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery
- March 14 - Nine executives of the German pharmaceutical company Grunenthal are charged for breaking German drug laws because of thalidomide
- March 16 - In the Aspida case in Greece, 15 officers are sentenced to 2-18 years in prison accused of treason and intentions of coup
- March 18 - Supertanker Torrey Canyon runs aground in between Land's End and the Scilly Isles
- March 19 - Referendum in French Somaliland favors the connection to France
- March 21 - Military coup takes place in Sierra Leone.
- March 28 - Pope Paul VI issues the encyclical Populorum Progressio.
- March 29 - 13-day TV strike begins in USA.
- March 29-March 30 - RAF planes bomb the Torrey Canyon and sink it
- March 29 - The First French nuclear submrine, Le Redoutable, is launched.
- March 29 - The SEACOM cable system is inaugurated.
- March 31 - President Lyndon Johnson signs the Consular Treaty.

April


- April 2 - UN delegation arrives in Aden due to approaching independence. They leave April 7 and accuse British authorities for lack of cooperation. British say the delegation did not contact them.
- April 4 - Martin Luther King, Jr denounces Vietnam War during a religous service in New York City
- April 6 - Georges Pompidou begins to form the next French government.
- April 7 - Six-Day War: Israeli fighters shoot down seven Syrian MIG-21s.
- April 9 - The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) takes its maiden flight.
- April 13 - Conservatives win the Greater London Council elections.
- April 14 - 10,000 march against the Vietnam War in San Francisco.
- April 15 - Large demonstrations against the Vietnam War in New York City and San Francisco.
- April 20 - Surveyor 3 probe lands on the Moon.
- April 20 - A Swiss Britannia turboprop crashes at Toronto, Canada, killing 126.
- April 21 - Greece is taken over by military dictatorship led by George Papadopoulos, forcing King Constantine II to flee.
- April 23 - A group of young radicals are expelled from the Nicaraguan Socialist Party (PSN). This group goes on to found the Socialist Workers Party (POS).
- April 24 - Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies during reentry of Soyuz 1 after the spacecraft's parachutes fail to deploy properly.
- April 28 - Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses military service.
- April 28 - Montreal hosts Expo '67; it is to coincide with the centennial of Canadian Confederation.
- April 29 - Fidel Castro announces that all intellectual property belongs to all people and that Cuba intends to translate and publish technical literature without compensation.
- April 30 - Moscow's 537m-tall TV tower is finished.

May


- May 2 - The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup.
- May 2 - Harold Wilson announces that United Kingdom has decided to apply for EEC membership
- May 3 - Big gold robbery in London.
- May 4 - Lunar Orbiter 4 launched.
- May 6 - Dr Zakir Hussain is the first Muslim to become president of India.
- May 6 - 400 students seize the administration building at Cheyney State College, Pennsylvania
- May 8 - The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
- May 10 - Greek military government accused Andreas Papandreou of treason
- May 11 - United Kingdom and Ireland apply officially for EEC membership
- May 12 - Linda Ronstadt launches her first single 'Different Drum' with band The Stone Ponies.
- May 17 - Syria mobilizes against Israel
- May 17 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt demands withdrawal of the peacekeeping UN Emergency Force in Sinai. UN secretary-general U Thant complies (May 18). On May 23 Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran, blockading Israel's southern port of Eilat.
- May 18 - Tennessee Governor Ellington repeals the "Monkey Law" (see the Scopes Trial)
- May 18 - In Mexico, schoolteacher Lucio Cabañas begins a guerilla campaign in Atoyac de Alvarez, west of Acapulco in the state of Guerrero
- May 19 - The Soviet Union ratifies a treaty with the United States and United Kingdom banning nuclear weapons from outer space
- May 19 - Yuri Andropov becomes the chief of KGB
- May 22 - The Innovation department store in the centre of Brussels (Belgium) burns down. It is the most devastating fire in Belgian history, which results in 323 dead and missing and 150 wounded.
- May 22 - Nasser announces the closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.
- May 25 - Celtic F.C. become the first British team to reach a European Cup final and also to win it, beating Inter Milan 2-1 in normal time.
- May 27 - Naxalite Guerrilla War Beginning with a peasant uprising in the town of Naxalbari, this Marxist/Maoist rebellion sputters on in the Indian countryside. The guerrillas operate among the impoverished peasants and fight both the government security forces and the private paramilitary groups funded by wealthy landowners. Most fighting takes place in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.
- May 27 - The Australian referendum, 1967 passes with an overwhelming 90% support, allowing the Government of Australia to make special laws for Indigenous Australians.
- May 30 - Biafra, in eastern Nigeria, announces its independence.
- May 30 - At the Ascot Speedway in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined up in a row.

June

motorcycle
- June 1 - The Beatles release Sgt Pepper, one of rock's most acclaimed albums. The mythologised "Summer of Love" kicks into high gear.Moshe Dayan becomes Israel's Secretary of Defense.
- June 2 - Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran turn into fights, during which young Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June
- June 5-June 10 - Israel defeats Arab neighbours in Six-Day War, occupying West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai peninsula and Golan Heights
- June 5 - Murderer Richard Speck sentenced to death in electric chair for murder of nurses
- June 7 - Two Moby Grape members arrested for contributing to delinquency of minors
- June 8 - Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident - Four Israeli fighter jets and four Israeli warships fire at USS Liberty off Gaza, killing 34 and wounding 171
- June 10 - Israel and Syria agree to observe a United Nations-mediated cease-fire.
- June 10 - Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with Israel.
- June 10 - Margrethe, heir apparent to the throne of Denmark, marries French count Henri de Laborde de Monpezat.
- June 11 - A race riot in Tampa, Florida
- June 12 - The United States Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia declares all U.S. state law which prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional. [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/loving.html]
- June 12 - Venera program: Venera 4 is launched (it will become the first space probe to enter another planet's atmosphere and successfully return data)
- June 13 - Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall is nominated as the first African American justice of the United States Supreme Court - [http://www.supremecourthistory.org/02_history/subs_timeline/images_associates/082.html]
- June 14 - Mariner program: Mariner 5 is launched toward Venus
- June 14 - The People's Republic of China tests its first hydrogen bomb.[http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/china/nuke.htm]
- June 17 - The People's Republic of China announces a successful hydrogen bomb test.
- June 23 - Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference. [http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/diary/1967/670623.asp]
- June 26 - Pope ordinates 276 new cardinals (one of them Karol Wojtyła).
- June 27 - First automatic cash machine (voucher-based) is installed in the office of the Barclays Bank in Enfield, England.
- June 27 - A race riot in Buffalo, New York - 200 arrested
- June 28 - Israel declares annexation of East Jerusalem.
- June 30 - Moise Tshombe, former prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is kidnapped to Algeria.

July


- July 1 - Canada celebrates its first one hundred years of Confederation.
- July 1 - The first colour television broadcasts begin on BBC2 in UK on certain programmes. A full colour service began on BBC2 on December 2.
- July 1 - American Samoa's first constitution becomes effective.
- July 3 - A military rebellion led by a Belgian mercenary Jean Schramme begins in Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- July 4 - British parliament decriminalizes homosexuality
- July 5 - Troops of Belgian mercenary commander Jean Schramme revolt against Mobutu and try to take control of Stanleyville, Congo
- July 5 - Israel annexes Gaza
- July 6 - Nigerian forces invade Biafra following latter's secession May 30: beginning of the Biafran War.
- July 12 - Greek military regime strips 480 Greeks of their citizenship
- July 13 - Newark, New Jersey race riots.
- July 15 - Detroit race riots.
- July 16 - Prison riot in Jay, Florida - 37 dead
- July 18 - United Kingdom announces closing of its military bases in Malaysia and Singapore. Australia and USA do not approve
- July 18 - Humberto Castelo Branco, ex-president of Brazil, dies in a plane accident near Fortaleza
- July 20 - Pablo Neruda receives the first Viareggio-Versile prize
- July 22 - The town of Winneconne, Wisconsin, announces secession from the United States because it is not included in the official maps and declares war. Secession is repealed the next day
- July 23 - 12th Street Riot: In Detroit, Michigan, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city (43 killed, 342 injured and ~1,400 buildings burned)
- July 24 - During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! (Long live free Quebec!). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delighted many Quebecers but angered the Canadian government and many English Canadians.
- July 29 - Explosion and fire aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin leaves 134 dead.
- July 29 - Georges Bidault moves to Belgium where he gets an political asylum

August


- August 1 - Race riots in the United States spread to Washington, D.C.
- August 1 - Israel annexes East Jerusalem.
- August 3 - Sweden switches to right-hand traffic.
- August 7 - Vietnam War: The People's Republic of China agrees to give North Vietnam an undisclosed amount of aid in the form of a grant.
- August 7 - General strike in the old quarter of Jerusalem protests Israel's unification of the city.
- August 8 - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded.
- August 9 - Vietnam War: Operation Cochise initiated - United States Marines begin a new operation in the Que Son Valley.
- August 10 - Schramme's troops take border town of Bukavu.
- August 14 - UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act declares participation in offshore pirate radio illegal.
- August 15 - British Labour Government bans pirate radio stations.
- August 19 - West Germany receives 36 East Germany prisoners it has "purchased" through the border posts of Herleshausen and Wartha.
- August 21 - Truce in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- August 21 - The People's Republic of China announces that it has shot down American planes violating its airspace.
- August 25 - Leader of American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell, is shot dead.
- August 30 - Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

September


- September 1 - Ilse Koch, also known as the "Bitch of Buchenwald", commits suicide in the Bavarian prison of Aichach.
- September 2 - Roughs Tower claimed by Paddy Roy Bates and declared Principality of Sealand
- September 3 - Nguyen Van Thieu is elected President of South Vietnam
- September 3 - H-Day in Sweden. At 5:00 AM local time, all traffic in the country switched from left-hand traffic pattern to right-hand traffic.
- September 4 - Vietnam War: Operation Swift begins - The United States Marines launch a search and destroy mission in Quang Nam and Quang Tin Provinces. The ensuing 4-day battle in Que Son Valley kills 114 Americans and 376 North Vietnamese
- September 5 - Sweden changes to driving on the right
- September 10 - In Gibraltar, only 44 out of 12.182 voters support union with Spain.
- September 17 - Riot in a football match in Kaysei, Turkey - 44 dead, about 600 injured.
- September 17 - Jim Morrison and The Doors defy CBS censors on The Ed Sullivan Show when Morrison sang the word "higher" from their #1 hit Light My Fire when asked not to.
- September 27 - Queen Mary arrives Southampton at the end of her last transatlantic voyage
- September 30 - BBC Radio 1 launched.

October


- October - Patterson-Gimlin film of a purported bigfoot taken.
- October 2 - Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first black justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
- October 3 - An X-15 research aircraft with test pilot Pete Knight establishes an unofficial world fixed-wing speed record of Mach 6.7
- October 8 - Guerrilla leader Che Guevara and his men are captured in Bolivia. The next day Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution
- October 12 - Vietnam War: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states during a news conference that proposals by the U.S. Congress for peace initiatives were futile because of North Vietnam's opposition
- October 17 - Premiere of the musical Hair Off-Broadway.
- October 19 - Mariner 5 probe flies by Venus.
- October 21 - Egyptian surface-to-surface missile sinks the Israeli destroyer Eilat, killing 47 Israeli sailors. Israel retaliates by shelling Egyptian refineries along the Suez Canal.
- October 21 - Ten of thousands of Vietnam War protesters march in Washington, D.C.
- October 25 - Abortion bill passes in British parliament.
- October 26 - Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran is officially crowned.
- October 27 - Charles De Gaulle vetoes British entry into EEC – again.
- October 29 - Mobutu's trooops launch an offensive against mercenaries in Bukavu
- October 30 - British troops and Chinese demonstrators clash in the border of China and Hong Kong.
- October 30 - Mayor A.V. Sorensen of Omaha, Nebraska declares the following day to be Grace Bible Institute Day in the city of Omaha.

November


- November 2 - Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson holds a secret meeting with a group of the nation's most prestigious leaders ("the Wise Men") and asks them to suggest ways to unite the American people behind the war effort. They conclude that the American people should be given more optimistic reports on the progress of the war
- November 3 - Vietnam War: Battle of Dak To begins - Around Dak To (located about 280 miles north of Saigon near the Cambodian border) heavy casualties are suffered on both sides (the Americans narrowly won the battle on November 22).
- November 4-November 5 - Mercenaries of Jean Schramme and Jerry Puren withdraw from Bukavu over Shangugu Bridge to Rwanda
- November 5 - Hither Green rail crash - commuter train derails in South-East London - 40 dead, 80 injured
- November 6 - Rhodesian parliament passes pro-Apartheid laws.
- November 7 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- November 7 - Carl B. Stokes is elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the first African American mayor of a major United States city
- November 9 - Apollo program: NASA launches a Saturn V rocket carrying the unmanned Apollo 4 test spacecraft from Cape Kennedy
- November 11 - Vietnam War: In a propaganda ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, three American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong and turned over to "new left" antiwar activist Tom Hayden
- November 15 - Cyprus conflict eye-witness account: "In the afternoon of November 15 National Guard (Greek Cypriot Army) organised by General Grivas attacked two villages, Kophinou (Tr. Gecitkale) (a wholly Turkish Cypriot village) and Ayios Theodoros (Tr Bogazici) (a Greek/Turkish village) with an estimated 10000 men. The total T.Cypriot population in these villages was under 3000. 24 in all, some armed but mainly unarmed Turkish Cypriot civilians were killed - one 90 year old men in particular was wounded, and burnt to death in the front of his house where he fell. Women and children forced out of their houses were forced to pass by the burning corpse. In the morning of 16th of November, Turkey threatened invasion by bombing various Greek Cypriot army positions at which stage the National Guard withdrew releasing all civilians forcefully kept in various public places eg schools/cinemas in the two villages."
- November 17 - Vietnam War: Acting on optimistic reports he was given on November 13, US President Lyndon B. Johnson tells his nation that, while much remained to be done, "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making progress." (two months later the Tet Offensive makes him regret his words)
- November 17 - French author Regis Debray is sentenced to 30 years in Bolivia
- November 19 - UK pound devalued from 1 GBP = 2.80 USD to 1 GBP = 2.40 USD.
- November 21 - Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland tells news reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."
- November 22 - UN Security Council Resolution 242 is adopted by the UN Security Council, establishing a set of the principles aimed at guiding negotiations for an Arab-Israeli peace settlement
- November 24 - Cambodian triple agent Inchin Lam killed
- November 29 - Vietnam War: US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces his pending resignation and that he will become president of the World Bank. This action was the result of US President Lyndon B. Johnson's outright rejection of McNamara's early November recommendations to freeze troop levels, stop bombing North Vietnam and hand over ground fighting to South Vietnam
- November 30- The People's Republic of South Yemen becomes independent from the United Kingdom

December


-
- December 4, 1850 hours - A volcano erupts on Deception Island in Antarctica.
- December 4 - Vietnam War: US and South Vietnamese forces engage Viet Cong troops in the Mekong Delta (235 of the 300-strong Viet Cong battalion were killed).
- December 5 - Benjamin Spock and Allen Ginsberg arrested for protesting against Vietnam War
- December 9 - Nicolae Ceauşescu becomes the Chairman of the Romanian State Council - that is, de-facto dictator of Romania.
- December 11 - The Concorde is unveiled in Toulouse, France
- December 15 - Silver Bridge over Ohio River in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapses - 46 dead. It has been linked to the so-called Mothman mystery.
- December 17 - Harold Holt, Australian prime minister, disappears when swimming at a beach 60 km from Melbourne.
- December 19 - Professor John Archibald Wheeler uses the term

Project Apollo

:For other meanings, see Apollo (disambiguation). Apollo (disambiguation) Project Apollo was a series of human spaceflight missions undertaken by the United States of America using the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn launch vehicle, conducted during the years 1961–1972. It was devoted to the goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth within the decade of the 1960s. This goal was achieved with the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969. The program continued into the early 1970s to carry out the initial hands-on scientific exploration of the Moon, with a total of six successful landings. As of 2005, there has not been any further human spaceflight beyond low earth orbit. The later Skylab program and the joint American-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz Test Project used equipment originally produced for Apollo, and are often considered to be part of the overall program. The name Apollo, like earlier manned space-flight programs, was named after a god from classical civilizations, and comes from one of the Greek gods.

Background

The Apollo Program was originally conceived late in the Eisenhower administration as a follow-on to the Mercury program, doing advanced manned earth-orbital missions. In fact, it became the third program, following Gemini. The Apollo Program was dramatically reoriented to an aggressive lunar landing goal by President Kennedy with his announcement at a special joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961: :"...I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish..." (Excerpt from "Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs" [http://www.jfklibrary.org/j052561.htm])

Choosing a mission mode

Having settled upon the Moon as a target, the Apollo mission planners were faced with the challenge of designing a set of flights that would meet Kennedy's stated goal while minimizing risk to human life, cost and demands on technology and astronaut skill. Three possible plans were considered. 1961
- Direct ascent: This plan was to boost a spaceship directly to the moon. The entire spacecraft would land on and return from the moon. This would have required a Nova rocket far more powerful than any in existence at the time.
- Earth orbit rendezvous: This plan, known as Earth orbit rendezvous (EOR), would have required the launch of two Saturn V rockets, one containing the space ship and one containing fuel. The spaceship would have docked in earth orbit and be fueled with enough fuel to make it to the moon and back. Again, the entire spacecraft would have landed on the moon.
- Lunar orbit rendezvous: This plan, which was adopted, is credited to John Houbolt and used the technique of 'Lunar Orbit Rendezvous' (LOR). The spacecraft was modular, composed of a 'Command/Service Module' (CSM) and a 'Lunar Module' (LM; originally Lunar Excursion Module ). The CSM contained the life support systems for the three man crew's five day round trip to the moon and the heat shield for their reentry to Earth's atmosphere. The LM would separate from the CSM in lunar orbit and carry two astronauts for the descent to the lunar surface, then back up to the CSM. In contrast with the other plans, the LOR plan required only a small part of the spacecraft to land on the moon, thereby minimizing the mass to be launched from the moon's surface for the return trip. The mass to be launched was further minimized by leaving part of the LM (that with the descent engine) behind, on the moon. The Lunar Module itself was composed of a descent stage and an ascent stage, the former serving as a launch platform for the latter when the lunar exploration party blasted off for lunar orbit where they would dock with the CSM prior to returning to Earth. The plan had the advantage that since the LM was to be eventually discarded, it could be made very light, so the moon mission could be launched with a single Saturn V rocket. However, at the time that LOR was decided, some mission planners were uneasy at the large numbers of dockings and undockings called for by the plan. To learn lunar landing techniques, astronauts practiced in the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV), a flying vehicle that simulated (by means of a special, additional jet engine) the reduced gravity that the Lunar Module would actually fly in.

Flights

The Apollo program included eleven manned flights, designated Apollo 7 through Apollo 17, all launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Apollo 4 through Apollo 6 were unmanned test flights (officially there was no Apollo 2 or Apollo 3). The Apollo 1 designation was retroactively applied to the originally planned first manned flight which ended in a disastrous fire during a launch pad test that killed three astronauts, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White, and Roger B. Chaffee, in January 1967. The first of the manned flights employed the Saturn IB launch vehicle; the remaining flights all used the more powerful Saturn V. Two of the flights (Apollo 7 and Apollo 9) were Earth orbital missions, two of the flights (Apollo 8 and Apollo 10) were lunar orbital missions, and the remaining 7 flights were lunar landing missions (although one, Apollo 13, failed to land). Apollo 7 tested the Apollo command and service modules (CSM) in Earth orbit. Apollo 8 tested the CSM in lunar orbit. Apollo 9 tested the lunar module (LM) in earth orbit. Apollo 10 tested the LM in lunar orbit. Apollo 11 achieved the first human lunar landing. Apollo 12 achieved the first lunar landing at a precise location. Apollo 13 failed to achieve a lunar landing, but succeeded in returning the crew safely to earth following a potentially disastrous in-flight explosion. Apollo 14 resumed the lunar exploration program. Apollo 15 introduced a new level of lunar exploration capability, with a long-stay-time LM and a lunar roving vehicle. Apollo 16 was the first manned landing in the lunar highlands. Apollo 17, the final mission, was the first to include a scientist-astronaut, and the program's first manned night launch.

Apollo Applications Program

In the speech which initiated Apollo, Kennedy declared that no other program would have as great a long-range effect on America's ambitions in outer space. Following the success of Project Apollo, both NASA and its major contractors investigated several post-lunar applications for the Apollo hardware. The "Apollo Extension Series", later called the "Apollo Applications Program", proposed at least ten flights. Many of these would use the space that the lunar module took up in the Saturn rocket to carry scientific equipment. One plan involved using the Saturn IB to take the Command/Service Module (CSM) to a variety of low-earth orbits for missions lasting up to 45 days. Some missions would involve the docking of two CSMs, and transfer of supplies. The Saturn V would be necessary to take it to polar orbit, or sun-synchronous orbit (neither of which has yet been achieved by any manned spacecraft), and even to the geosynchronous orbit of Syncom 3, a communications satellite not quite in geostationary orbit. This was the first functioning communications satellite at that now-common great distance from the Earth, and it was small enough to be carried through the hatch and taken back to Earth for study as to the effects of radiation on its electronic components in that environment over a period of years. A return to the moon was also planned, this time to orbit for a longer time to map the surface with high-precision equipment. This mission would not include a landing. Of all the plans only two were implemented; the Skylab space station (May 1973 – February 1974), and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (July 1975). Skylab's fuselage was constructed from the second stage of a Saturn IB, and the station was equipped with the Apollo Telescope Mount, itself based on a lunar module. The station's three crews were ferried into orbit atop Saturn IBs, riding in CSMs; the station itself had been launched with a modified Saturn V. Skylab's last crew departed the station on February 8, 1974, whilst the station itself returned prematurely to Earth in 1979, by which time it had become the oldest operational Apollo component. The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project involved a docking in Earth orbit between an un-named CSM and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft. The mission lasted from July 15 to July 24, 1975. Although the Soviet Union continued to operate the Soyuz and Salyut space vehicles, NASA's next manned mission would not be until STS-1 on April 12, 1981.

End of the program

1981 Originally three additional lunar landing missions had been planned, as Apollo 18 through Apollo 20. In light of the drastically shrinking NASA budget and the decision not to produce a second batch of Saturn Vs, these missions were cancelled to make funds available for the development of the Space Shuttle, and to make their Apollo spacecraft and Saturn V launch vehicles available to the Skylab program. Only one of the Saturn Vs was actually used; the others became museum exhibits. Another excerpt from Kennedy's Special Message to Congress: :"I believe we should go to the moon. But I think every citizen of this country as well as the Members of the Congress should consider the matter carefully in making their judgment, to which we have given attention over many weeks and months, because it is a heavy burden, and there is no sense in agreeing or desiring that the United States take an affirmative position in outer space, unless we are prepared to do the work and bear the burdens to make it successful. If we are not, we should decide today and this year. Skylab :"This decision demands a major national commitment of scientific and technical manpower, material and facilities, and the possibility of their diversion from other important activities where they are already thinly spread. It means a degree of dedication, organization and discipline which have not always characterized our research and development efforts. It means we cannot afford undue work stoppages, inflated costs of material or talent, wasteful interagency rivalries, or a high turnover of key personnel. :"New objectives and new money cannot solve these problems. They could in fact, aggravate them further--unless every scientist, every engineer, every serviceman, every technician, contractor, and civil servant gives his personal pledge that this nation will move forward, with the full speed of freedom, in the exciting adventure of space." (Excerpt from "Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs")

Reasons for Apollo

The Apollo program was at least partly motivated by psycho-political considerations, in response to persistent perceptions of American inferiority in space technology vis-a-vis the Soviets, in the context of the Cold War and the Space Race. In this respect it succeeded brilliantly. In fact, American superiority in manned spaceflight was achieved in the precursory Gemini program, even before the first Apollo flight. The Apollo program stimulated many areas of technology. The flight computer design used in both the lunar and command modules was, along with the Minuteman Missile System, the driving force behind early research into integrated circuits. The fuel cell developed for this program was the first practical fuel cell. Computer controlled machining (CNC) was pioneered in fabricating Apollo structural components. Many astronauts and cosmonauts have commented on the profound effects that seeing earth from space has had on them. One of the most important legacies of the Apollo program was the now-common, but not universal view of Earth as a fragile, small planet, captured in the photographs taken by the astronauts during the lunar missions. The most famous of these photographs, taken by the Apollo 17 astronauts, is "The Blue Marble." These photographs have also motivated many people toward environmentalism and space colonization.

Miscellaneous information


- The cost of the entire Apollo program: USD $25.4 billion -1969 Dollars ($135-billion in 2005 Dollars). See NASA Budget. (Includes Mercury, Gemini, Ranger, Surveyor, Lunar Orbitar, Apollo programs.) Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rocket cost alone, was about $ 83-billion 2005 Dollars (Apollo spacecraft cost $ 28-billion (CS/M $ 17-billion; LM $ 11-billion), Saturn I, IB, V costs about $ 46-billion 2005 dollars).
- Amount of moon material brought back by the Apollo program: 381.7 kg (841.5 lb). Most of the material is stored at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston.

Missions

Lunar Receiving Laboratory The Apollo program used four types of launch vehicles:
- Little Joe II - unmanned suborbital launch escape system development.
- Saturn I - unmanned suborbital and orbital hardware development.
- Saturn IB - unmanned and manned earth orbit development and operational missions.
- Saturn V - unmanned and manned earth orbit and lunar missions. Something to note with Apollo flights is that Marshall Space Flight Center, which designed the Saturn rockets, referred to the flights as Saturn-Apollo (SA), while Kennedy Space Center referred to the flights as Apollo-Saturn (AS). This is why the unmanned Saturn 1 flights are referred to as SA and the unmanned Saturn 1B are referred to as AS. Dates given below are dates of launch.

Unmanned Saturn I


- SA-1 - October 27, 1961. Test of the S-1 Rocket
- SA-2 - April 25, 1962. Test of the S-1 Rocket and carried 109 m³ of water into the upper atmosphere to investigate effects on radio transmission and changes in local weather conditions.
- SA-3 - November 16, 1962. Same as SA-2
- SA-4 - March 28, 1963. Test effects of premature engine shutdown
- SA-5 - January 29, 1964. First flight of live second stage
- A-101 - May 28, 1964. Tested the structural integrity of a boilerplate Apollo Command and Service Module
- A-102 - September 18, 1964. Carried the first programmable computer on the Saturn I vehicle; last test flight
- A-103 - February 16, 1965. Carried Pegasus A micrometeorite satellite
- A-104 - Ma