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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
NASA ID: 63-Apollo-227, 63-Apollo-228, 63apollo231, PA01-03 no ID, link
The Apollo Pad Abort Test 1 (BP06/PA1) descending after a 15 second flight at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
"On November 7, 1963, an abort signal was sent to the LES at 09:00:01 local time. This began a sequence in which the main solid rockets fired to lift the spacecraft and smaller altitude rockets fired to move it laterally toward the ocean.
Photo from Mike Acs's Collection.
The LES separated after 15 seconds, allowing the spacecraft to take a ballistic trajectory. The parachute system worked perfectly: the drogue chute stabilized the spacecraft, then the three main parachutes slowed the descent to a leisurely 26 kilometers per hour.
The only problems found with the flight were that the LES rockets left soot on the spacecraft exterior and the stability of the spacecraft was less than predicted."
-Information from Wikipedia: link
Date: November 7, 1963
NASA ID: 63apollo229, 63apollo222, S63-20700
Launch of Apollo Pad Abort Test 1
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
NASA ID: S63-21053, S63-13889, link, 63apollo221
“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
NASA ID: S63-13884
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
Posted on Flickr by Drew Granston: link
Launch of Big Joe-1
Big Joe-1 Mercury Atlas launch vehicle lifting off at LC-14, Cape Canaveral, Florida, for a 13 minute suborbital test flight of the Mercury Boilerplate capsule.
Flight plan of Big Joe
"Mission Objective:
Test of ablation heatshield. The nose-cone capsule for Big Joe had no retrorocket package. The inner structure held only a half-sized instrumented pressure vessel instead of a pressurized cabin contoured to the outer configuration. Built in two segments, the lower half by Lewis and the upper by Langley, the main body of the spacecraft replica was fabricated with thin sheets of corrugated Inconel alloy in monocoque construction. This model of the Mercury capsule had more than one hundred thermocouples around the capsule skin to register temperatures inside and under the heatshield, sides and afterbody."
Posted on YouTube by Retro Space HD: link
"The Atlas 10-D was programmed to rise, pitch over horizontally to the Atlantic before it reached its 100-mile peak altitude, then pitch down slightly before releasing its corrugated nose cone at a shallow angle barely below the horizontal."
The flight was deemed a success and the second flight (Big Joe 2, Atlas-20D) was cancelled. Its launch vehicle was transferred to the Atlas-Able program.
Date: September 9, 1959
SDASM Archives: 44408123, 44406619, 4501588, 44406606, 43332816, 43332828, 43332828, 43332804
NASA ID: B59-00556, B59-00557
"Big Joe ready for launch at Cape Canaveral, FL. The objective of 'Big Joe' was to test the ablating heatshield. The flight was both a success and failure – the heatshield survived reentry and was in remarkably good condition when retrieved from the Atlantic. The Atlas-D booster, however, failed to stage and separated too late from the Mercury capsule."
Date: September 9, 1959
NASA ID: B-59-714
"A practice space capsule on a forklift. The capsule was used for practicing the recovery of astronaut Scott Carpenter and his Mercury capsule as part of the Mercury-Atlas 7 NASA mission. The forklift and capsule are on one of USS INTREPID's aircraft elevators. The capsule is black and white, and the forklift is yellow. There is a large pulley hanging in front of the capsule, and two officers in khakis stand near it. Both officers are wearing yellow cloth helmets with thick, yellow protective ear muffs and goggles on top of their heads. There are other crew members in dungarees surrounding the cart. In the background crew members in various uniforms are watching the events. Captioned by photographer/donor, 'Practice for Scott Carpenter recovery.'"
Date: May 1962
Intrepid Museum: P2014.126.94, P2014.126.96, P2014.126.97, P2014.126.91, P2014.126.90, P2014.126.98
