Apollo 5

  1968-007A

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The Apollo 5 mission was the second to carry the AS-204 designation, since it used the same SA-204 launch vehicle that a year before its launch had sat below the ill-fated CSM 012 when that spacecraft burst into flames. The new AS-204 mission was to carry the prototype Lunar Module, LM 01, into Earth orbit for testing. The usual SLA adapter was topped with a specially designed MSFC nose cone giving the Saturn an unusual appearance.

Apollo 5 was launched on 1968 Jan 22 from pad 34. The S-IVB entered a 163 x 222 km orbit, and the nosecone was jettisoned. At 2343 the SLA opened and the LM separated from the rocket. First to be tested would be the Descent Propulsion System, the rocket in the descent stage. The first DPS burn a few hours later was intended to last 39s but was aborted after only 4 seconds because of a software error. Next the DPS was reignited for a 32s burn, a 32s coast period, and another 28s burn. As the final DPS burn was shutting down, the APS ascent engine ignited in a `Fire-In-The-Hole' abort simulation, and the ascent and descent stages were severed. The Descent Stage was left in a 170 x 356 km x 31.6 deg orbit. It reentered on 1968 Feb 12 and debris was found in Colombia. The APS burned for 60s and shut down. It was subsequently fired again for 6min 32s in a retrograde direction until the fuel ran out; attitude control was lost during the burn. According to some secondary sources the LM 1 AS (Ascent Stage) ended up in a low orbit and reentered on Jan 24, but the tracking data in the post-mission report shows that reentry was soon after the final burn with impact in the Pacific 600 km W of Central America.

LM 1 Mission Log
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1968 Jan 22	2248:08	Launch by SA-204
	2250:27	T+2:19 IECO 59km	-6155 x 125 x 31.74
	2250:30	T+2:22 OECO 62km	-6141 x 130 x 31.79
1968 Jan 22	2250:31	S-IB separation, S-IVB ignition
1968 Jan 22	2258:01	T+9:53 S-IVB cutoff	163 x 222 km x 31.84
1968 Jan 22	2258:46	T+10:38 Nosecone separation
1968 Jan 22	2308:01	T+19:53 SLA open
1968 Jan 22	2341:58	LM 1 separates from S-IVB-204	182 x 222 x 31.80
1968 Jan 23	0114	S-IVB depletion
	0119	S-IVB depletion complete
1968 Jan 23	0247:42	+X translation
	0247:49	DPS-1 burn, 4s at 214 km	182 x 222 x 31.8
	0247:53	DPS-1 MECO	184 x 223 x 31.8
1968 Jan 23	0458:49	DPS-2, at 174 km, 32s, throttle test	170 x 245 x 31.77
	0459:22	DPS-2 MECO
1968 Jan 23	0459:54	DPS-3, 28s (32s after DPS-2)
	0500:22	DPS-3 MECO	172 x 400 x 31.74
1968 Jan 23	0500:22	APS abort burn, 60s, during DPS-3 shutdown
	0501:22	APS MECO	171 x 980 x 31.59
1968 Jan 23	0632:20	APS-2 burn to depletion	168 x 967 x 31.62
	0638:11	APS-2 depletion	-619 x 222 x 30.98
	0638:49	Reentry 122 km	-620 x 222 x 30.98
	0640:18	AS LOS
	0642?	Impact 112.85W 18.10N
1968 Feb 12		DS reentry