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00:00I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out
00:10of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.
00:15In the 1960s, an impossible dream came true when human beings walked on another world.
00:24In all, 24 Americans went to the moon.
00:32But it took an unseen army of over 400,000 engineers and technicians to make it possible.
00:39This is the story of the men and women who built the machines that took us to the moon.
00:54During the late 1950s and early 60s, the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States
01:06took an ominous turn, which shocked the American people.
01:11Wait a minute.
01:12They put a satellite in orbit around the earth?
01:17I think I said something like, golly gee, son of a gun.
01:20I mean, I didn't really say it that way, but similar.
01:25A group of us actually climbed to the top railings of the test stands and watched Sputnik go over
01:30as a white dot going across the sky like a meteor.
01:34And of course, all I was doing was going beep, beep, beep, beep.
01:38But hey, they put it up there, you know.
01:42The new strategic high ground was space.
01:45And the Russians continued to chalk up an impressive list of firsts.
01:52They had launched the first man, Yuri Gagarin.
01:57They had launched the first lady.
01:59And they were really in all areas way ahead of us.
02:03So we said, we better get cracking.
02:07The Russian space program called for a response.
02:10In May, 1961, President Kennedy galvanized the American people with an audacious challenge.
02:19To reach for the moon.
02:23We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things.
02:27Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.
02:31Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.
02:39Because that challenge is one that we're willing to accept.
02:42One we are unwilling to postpone.
02:45And one we intend to win.
02:47I was so proud of him.
02:55I was jumping out of my pants, practically.
02:57I mean, and I was so excited.
03:00Because I knew I was going to be able to be a part of it.
03:04I didn't realize the magnitude of the challenge.
03:07Or some of the technical requirements.
03:10But I still felt that, you know, we could do anything at that time.
03:13We were all young.
03:16We didn't know what failure meant.
03:19And we knew we could do it.
03:24Reality sets in for a moment and say, well, how are we going to do that?
03:28Ten years?
03:30That's a short time.
03:31And so it was a mixture of exhilaration and maybe even depression to think about how are you going to do this?
03:38To many, Kennedy's goals seemed almost impossible.
03:45But the president knew more than he was letting on.
03:48The key to his confidence lay in a small town in Alabama.
03:58In the 1950s, Huntsville was a sleepy little town.
04:03When I first came here, the population was about 18,000 people.
04:07Soon, we newcomers outnumbered the old-timers.
04:14It was a happy time.
04:17Among the newcomers was an unlikely group of people with a valuable set of skills.
04:22German rocket engineers.
04:25Led by Werner von Braun, the Germans had already mastered the basics of rocket propulsion.
04:31During World War II, they built the V-2, the world's first ballistic missile.
04:40Engineer, Conrad Dannenberg.
04:43When we came to the United States, we brought with us the V-2, all the plans for the V-2.
04:51The people in the United States were very impressed by the capability of the V-2.
04:58This technology was very important for the growth of the space program.
05:10Because these engines are more efficient, they can be controlled,
05:15and you really have a capability to work with your engines during your flight.
05:21The German people who came over were indeed very skilled people.
05:30They were, all of them, dedicated to rocketry and wanted to continue that,
05:34not from the standpoint of having rockets to launch on enemies,
05:39but the whole thing behind their thoughts was going into space, going to the moon.
05:44With the Russians leading the space race and America desperate to catch up,
05:50von Braun saw an opportunity to fulfill his lifelong dream.
05:55Von Braun was always thinking in the back of his head,
05:58we're going to the moon.
06:00That's what he wanted to do.
06:02And it infused everybody.
06:05We all wanted to go to the moon.
06:06All he had to do was talk to him five minutes and you're ready to go.
06:10He was very charismatic.
06:11You know, he could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo.
06:16Von Braun turned his persuasive skills on the new president.
06:22And that, of course, was what eventually led President Kennedy to announce the trip to the moon.
06:30I'm sure he had been influenced by Bernard von Braun.
06:33Even before Kennedy's announcement, von Braun's team was designing a family of rockets they called Saturn.
06:47First on the pad was the Saturn I, almost 200 feet tall and with a thrust of 1.5 million pounds.
06:55When it lifted off, the engineers could not suppress their excitement.
07:03Ignition.
07:04All engines running.
07:06Press commit.
07:07Launch commit.
07:08Lift off.
07:09Go.
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07:26This was the concept of staging, in effect stacking
07:30multiple rockets, one on top of the other.
07:34If you tried to go to orbit with all one stage the amount of fuel and the size of the engines
07:41required would have to push the entire weight of that first stage to that full velocity.
07:48I learned that through analysis that the best way to do it was to get to orbit using multiple
07:53stages.
07:54So that the first stage would give you a certain amount of what they call delta V,
07:57change in velocity from zero to certain speed.
08:00And then you would drop off that whole stage, all of its tanks, all of its engines,
08:04and all the weight associated with it,
08:06so the second stage had much less mass to push.
08:10But to go beyond Earth's orbit would require more than two stages.
08:15And when you do the calculations, the most efficient way to build a moon rocket,
08:21one to get to the moon, turned out to be a three-stage vehicle.
08:24On paper, the three-stage concept looked like this.
08:32Stage 1 would have a cluster of five engines, the likes of which had never been built before,
08:38called the F-1.
08:40On liftoff, each one would need to burn almost three tons of fuel a second,
08:45just to lift the enormous rocket off the pad.
08:48Stage 2 would also cluster five engines, the smaller J-2.
08:54The third stage would use a single J-2 engine, which would have to fire more than once,
09:00to place the elements of the Apollo spacecraft,
09:03first into Earth's orbit, and then on a course to the moon.
09:09When assembled, it would be the largest flying machine the world had ever seen.
09:15On paper, the Saturn V was capable of taking men to the moon.
09:29But could drawings be successfully turned into reality?
09:34The first stage of the giant rocket would be the largest.
09:37It needed to provide the initial thrust to lift the vehicle off the pad to a height of around 35 miles.
09:45The cluster of F-1 engines designed to do this would require a huge leap forward in technology.
09:56Although they'd only burn for two and a half minutes,
09:59the pipes and valves would have to withstand immense pressures and temperatures.
10:03If successful, it would be the largest liquid-fueled engine ever flown.
10:10To oversee its production at the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
10:16Von Braun turned to a young engineer called Sonny Marea.
10:19He gave me the responsibility for a one-billion-dollar program.
10:26One billion in those dollars, not today's dollars.
10:28And he picked on this young guy who was 28 years old,
10:32didn't have very much experience,
10:33and gave me the challenge of being the manager of that program.
10:38Greatest decision that I think the man could make.
10:41Building such a large rocket engine would also require a test facility on a similar scale.
10:53When you fired the first stage engines of the Saturn V,
10:58you developed seven and a half million pounds of thrust.
11:01That's tremendous kinetic energy coming out of those exhausts.
11:05And, of course, you couldn't let it project the exhaust directly in the ground
11:13because pretty soon your test stand would fall over.
11:15So, instead, you use a flame bucket to catch the exhaust gases
11:21and then deflect them outward.
11:26The huge amounts of energy unleashed posed problems for those living nearby.
11:31Under certain weather conditions,
11:34the shock waves from the engines would become trapped close to the ground
11:38and travel a long way cross-country.
11:42In fact, the first few firings,
11:44we were breaking windows in downtown Huntsville,
11:47which is over the hills to the rear here.
11:51And we knew we couldn't keep doing that very long
11:54or we're going to lose the support for the space program in the city of Huntsville.
11:58But the tests had to continue
12:03and they soon revealed something unforeseen was happening
12:07as the fuel burned in the combustion chamber.
12:12One of the big problems we ran across
12:14was the problem of combustion instability.
12:17By that, we were dealing with rotation of the flame
12:23of the burning process within the thrust chamber
12:26of like 2,000 cycles a second.
12:31The rapidly rotating flame could destroy the whole engine
12:35in a matter of seconds.
12:41It was a showstopper.
12:43There was no question about it.
12:45We had to find a way to make the engine run stable.
12:48The thing that was so overwhelming to me
12:52was that unless we solved this problem,
12:55we would not be going to the moon with a man.
12:59Combustion instability took thousands of man hours
13:03and many agonizing months to solve.
13:07Keep in mind that back in those days,
13:09we were designing rocket engines basically with slide rules.
13:14The answer lay in the way the fuel was injected
13:19into the combustion chamber.
13:21The solution to the problem is shown
13:23by that series of copper baffles
13:26that you see on the face of the injector.
13:29And that particular arrangement baffled the oscillations
13:33so that we now had stable combustion.
13:37So it was a very nice, unique solution
13:39to a very serious problem
13:41that was a big showstopper in the program
13:43had it not been solved.
13:50With the construction of the first stage well underway,
13:53the building of the second fell to the engineers
13:56at North American Aviation in California.
14:00Stage 2 was a technical challenge of the first order.
14:04We had some unique manufacturing problems.
14:08We had interesting design problems.
14:11And it was probably the biggest challenge of the Saturn V.
14:17The main headache for the Stage 2 team
14:21was that the Apollo spacecraft,
14:23the command and lunar modules
14:25sitting on top of the Saturn V,
14:27kept getting heavier as their designs evolved.
14:31That inevitably meant
14:32that the rocket below them
14:34had to be made lighter.
14:37One of the engineers feeling the pressure
14:39was George Phelps.
14:41When they gave us a weight reduction problem,
14:43we said, well,
14:44it would take something out of the first stage,
14:46some out of the third stage,
14:47and the second stage.
14:48No, the first stage is too far along,
14:51and so is the third stage.
14:55And so we've got to take it out of the second stage.
15:01A radical solution was needed
15:03to shed weight from the second stage.
15:07Normally, two separate tanks
15:09stored the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fuels,
15:13with a temperature difference between them
15:15of over 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
15:20At both ends of each tank
15:21was a strong, relatively heavy,
15:24dome-shaped bulkhead.
15:27So to save weight,
15:29somebody came up with the idea
15:30to eliminate one bulkhead.
15:33This was the biggest,
15:34I think, the biggest challenge on that stage,
15:36to have one bulkhead
15:38to separate the two fuels.
15:41The stage would now have only one tank,
15:46and the fuels would be separated
15:48by just one divider,
15:50known as the common bulkhead.
15:53This arrangement had a double benefit.
15:55It got rid of one of the heavy bulkheads,
15:57and it reduced the overall length of the stage.
16:00But it also meant that two liquids
16:04at vastly different temperatures
16:06were right next to each other.
16:08And we had a divider
16:11that was about that thick.
16:14That was the most difficult problem
16:19that we had to solve,
16:21but we did it,
16:22because engineers can just about do anything.
16:24But the greatest temperature problem
16:33was not keeping the intensely cold liquid fuels
16:37insulated from each other.
16:38It was keeping both of them from boiling
16:41in the hot Florida sun.
16:46We insulated the liquid hydrogen tank
16:49in the early days
16:50with the honeycomb insulation.
16:51We put it on in big vacuum chambers,
16:55and we sucked the honeycomb down
16:58onto the metal,
17:00pulled it tight,
17:01and let the adhesive set.
17:04But all through the early stages,
17:07we had problems
17:08with the honeycomb insulation
17:10popping off the vessel.
17:12The engineers realized
17:14they were doing something wrong.
17:16To fix it,
17:17they would need specialist help.
17:21We were manufacturing the vehicle
17:26at Seal Beach
17:26in Southern California.
17:30And Seal Beach
17:31is a big surfing town.
17:34And we found that the surfers
17:37had been using honeycomb insulation
17:39to make their surfboards,
17:40and they were very skilled
17:42at using it.
17:43And we finally started hiring the surfers,
17:46and they did a great job with it.
17:47The only downside of those guys
17:51was that when the surf was up,
17:53there was a big absentee problem.
17:54They were out there doing their trick.
17:57But they were a great bunch of guys,
17:59and they really brought
18:00a unique skill to the space program
18:03that I don't think we appreciated
18:05at the time
18:06until it was pretty well over.
18:07The Saturn V's third stage
18:17was also under construction
18:18in California
18:19at the Douglas Aircraft Company.
18:24The third stage
18:25had the job of propelling
18:27the Apollo spacecraft
18:28out of Earth orbit
18:29on a trajectory to the moon.
18:32Among the engineers working on it
18:34was Don Brinka.
18:35Well, the third stage for us
18:37at Douglas
18:38was one of the biggest stages
18:40we've ever made.
18:42It was 22 feet in diameter.
18:46As with every part
18:47of the Saturn's hardware,
18:49testing was critical
18:50in ironing out the problems
18:52which had been overlooked.
18:56We were preparing to test
18:58the third stage at our facility,
19:01and I was a director
19:03of test operations.
19:04I was responsible
19:04for all testing.
19:06I was sitting at my table
19:08in the control room
19:09monitoring all the other events
19:12that were going on
19:13and watching for any problems
19:16and following the countdown.
19:20The stage was fully tanked
19:22and fully pressurized.
19:24We were progressed satisfactorily
19:27up until the point
19:28moments before ignition,
19:29and when we had
19:31a component fail.
19:40It was not hard to tell
19:42something was wrong.
19:43The whole blockhouse shook.
19:45Everything rattled
19:46and the screens all went white.
19:48And so we knew
19:48there was a major calamity.
19:50It was kind of a heart-stopping moment
19:55when that occurred,
19:56and we knew that the work
19:59was cut out for us
20:00to get this one resolved.
20:04Once the fire was out,
20:06the team began
20:07a painstaking investigation.
20:09Attention soon focused
20:11on a metal sphere
20:12which had held pressurized helium.
20:14In the process of going around
20:17and looking in the test stand,
20:19we noticed that
20:19one of the spheres,
20:21we could only find
20:23a half of it.
20:25And that was an important clue
20:27as to what it caused
20:28the explosion.
20:29So that's when we
20:30zeroed in on the conclusion
20:31that the sphere came apart.
20:34So then we did a series of tests
20:35and found that
20:36the wrong material
20:37had been used
20:38to weld the spheres together
20:39and found that
20:41under pressure
20:41it would come apart.
20:42It was a real exercise
20:45for the engineering staff.
20:47It was very stressful.
20:49Long hours
20:49because you wanted
20:51to find it
20:51as soon as possible.
20:53We had a flight stage failure
20:55and without that stage
20:57you would not get to the moon.
21:00Douglas wasn't the only company
21:02having problems
21:02with their welds.
21:04Welding was the best method
21:05for constructing the Saturn V.
21:07It was far lighter
21:08than using rivets.
21:10But thousands of feet
21:11of welds were needed.
21:12And welding was proving
21:14a real problem
21:15for engineers
21:15like Bob Schwinghammer.
21:18We could not weld it.
21:19For weeks and weeks
21:21we could not weld it.
21:23And, you know,
21:24they kept telling me
21:24if we don't solve this problem
21:26there won't be a Saturn V.
21:29In order to save weight
21:30we varied the thickness
21:31of the metal
21:32from the top to the bottom.
21:33And so to weld two pieces together
21:36of different thicknesses
21:38gives you a different
21:39heat flow pattern
21:40that makes the welding
21:41all the more difficult.
21:45And what we had to do
21:47was tear into the welding machines
21:49and redesign them ourselves.
21:51You know, one thing
21:55after another
21:56came up
21:57and there were problems
21:58you had to solve
21:58and they were new things.
22:00That was unplowed ground.
22:02Other people
22:02had never had to do that
22:04and so we found out
22:05and figured out ways
22:06to do it.
22:08With time
22:09and perseverance
22:10the rocket engineers
22:12solved problem
22:13after problem.
22:14However,
22:15time was a luxury
22:16the Apollo program
22:18did not have.
22:25Early in the Apollo program
22:27NASA realized
22:29it would have to
22:30drastically accelerate
22:31the development
22:32of the Saturn V
22:33in order to meet
22:34the deadline
22:35of placing a man
22:36on the moon
22:36by the end of the decade.
22:39NASA headquarters
22:40had made the proposal
22:41to skip
22:43one of the missions
22:44that from Brown
22:46had initially proposed
22:47and to go
22:51what later on
22:52became
22:53as the all-up concept.
22:55And what that meant
22:56was that we take
22:57all the stages
22:58and we take them
22:59to Cape Kennedy
23:00we stack them
23:02pile them up
23:03on each other
23:04and then we would
23:05run the test.
23:06Well the risk
23:07of all-up testing
23:07is that if anything
23:09failed
23:09any part failed
23:10we would lose
23:12the vehicle.
23:16November 9th
23:211967
23:22Finally
23:24after more than
23:25half a decade
23:26of technological
23:27achievement
23:28the Saturn V
23:29was poised
23:30for its first
23:31unmanned
23:31all-up test.
23:34The flight
23:35would be known
23:35as Apollo 4.
23:38Apollo 4
23:39was a tense time
23:40because
23:40those of us
23:42who were working
23:42on the individual stages
23:43we're not sure
23:45that if we didn't
23:46do the individual
23:47stage tests
23:48at the time
23:49something might
23:50go wrong.
23:52Testing to date
23:53had been successful
23:54and so we had
23:56reason to believe
23:58that everything
23:58would work
23:59but always
24:00there's a little
24:00something that happens
24:01you never know about.
24:04I looked at it
24:05and I remember
24:06thinking
24:06you know
24:07my God
24:07we've done this
24:08we've gotten it built
24:09and we've got one
24:10ready to fly
24:11it's probably got
24:13a million pieces
24:13in it
24:14and they all
24:15got to work
24:15at the same time.
24:19Liquid hydrogen tank
24:21in the second stage
24:22now pressurizing
24:23T minus 60 seconds
24:25and counting
24:25T minus 60.
24:26I was in awe
24:27of what was going on
24:29because I realized
24:30that not only
24:31was my F1 engine
24:32so important
24:33but so many
24:34other systems
24:34went through
24:35that same sort
24:36of experience.
24:37They all had
24:38their major unknowns
24:39they all had
24:39their teams
24:40that had to do
24:41their jobs
24:42perfectly
24:42or that vehicle
24:43would not work.
24:45T minus 50 seconds
24:46and counting
24:47we have transferred
24:48to wind power
24:48internal power
24:49the transfer
24:50is satisfactory.
24:52As it comes up
24:54to ignition point
24:54you're trying
24:56to run over
24:56in your mind
24:57all the things
24:58that you thought
24:59might need checking
25:00again
25:01you know
25:01well I think
25:03this is okay
25:04and yeah
25:05it has to be
25:06we checked it
25:06so many times.
25:08We knew the countdown
25:08was going down
25:09we knew a time
25:10that was supposed
25:10to launch
25:11so we were all
25:11just transfixed
25:12on the launch pad.
25:1415, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9
25:21ignition sequence starts
25:235, 4
25:26we have ignition
25:27all engines are running
25:31we have liftoff
25:34we have liftoff
25:35at 7 a.m.
25:36Eastern Standard Time
25:38the tower has been cleared
25:43the tower has been cleared
25:45you see it move off
26:06very slowly
26:07oh what's wrong
26:09it's never going to go
26:09come on go go go go
26:11you want to coax it
26:13you know
26:13get off of there
26:14I say my god
26:15that's you know
26:16thousands of tons
26:18and it's moving
26:19so slow
26:19you think
26:20it's going to fall over
26:21shock wave
26:23is progressing
26:24across the water
26:25coming towards you
26:26it's pretty impressive
26:27you know
26:28I had never felt
26:30this much power
26:31and energy
26:32from that distance
26:34we were going like
26:34the ground was shaking
26:36like an earthquake
26:36in California
26:37it was absolutely
26:39incredible
26:40you thought that you
26:41were going to be
26:41knocked over
26:42with the power of that
26:43I did hear women
26:44saying
26:45oh
26:46oh
26:46oh
26:47oh
26:48oh
26:49oh
26:49oh
26:50and then clapping
26:51it was the dawn
26:58of a new era
26:59in spaceflight
27:00with five engines
27:02guzzling 15 tons
27:04of fuel a second
27:05to generate
27:06160 million horsepower
27:08the 6.1 million pound
27:11Saturn rocket
27:11soared skyward
27:13I was
27:17you know
27:17so nervous
27:18when it
27:18finally
27:19the ignition
27:19was on the first stage
27:21took off
27:21and it fired properly
27:23and that was wonderful
27:24and then
27:25all I'm worried about
27:26is what are we going to do
27:27after the first stage
27:28burns out
27:29is ours going to start
27:30and
27:32so we're watching the data
27:38and we're watching the data
27:39and we're watching the data
27:40I don't think I breathe
27:42for eight and a half minutes
27:43we drop the interstage
27:48which is pretty neat
27:48and we ignite the J2 engines
27:51and they all come up to thrust
27:52and we say
27:53it's working
27:54it's working
27:55it's working
27:56phew
27:56and that's what we thought
27:58phew
27:59and we ran out of fuel
28:02and the fuel cutoff sensors
28:03said we're out of gas
28:05and then the S4B
28:06ignited
28:07and it took off
28:08and
28:09to me
28:10I was all over it
28:11by that time
28:12my part was done
28:14Apollo 4 had been
28:19a near perfect flight
28:21suddenly
28:23the president's goal
28:24seemed much closer
28:26after the success
28:32of Apollo 4
28:33the Saturn V
28:34second all-up test
28:35Apollo 6
28:36was set for five months later
28:38in April 1968
28:40the men who had built her
28:42felt confident
28:43we have liftoff
28:47liftoff
28:47at 7 a.m.
28:49eastern standard time
28:50we figured
28:52let's just sit back
28:54and relax
28:54because there's no other problem
28:56that could occur
28:57I mean
28:57we flew it
28:58we did an all-ups test
28:59and it flew perfectly
29:00and so
29:01no problem
29:02as Apollo 6
29:09lifted off the pad
29:10the mission
29:11looked like
29:11it was going to be
29:12another textbook performance
29:14but less than
29:18two minutes
29:18into the flight
29:19things started
29:20to go seriously wrong
29:22the engines
29:24were firing
29:25and they were vibrating
29:27we expected them
29:27to vibrate
29:28and they're attached
29:29to a thrust structure
29:30and the thrust structure
29:32was being excited
29:33by the engines
29:35and it was vibrating
29:37within seconds
29:41the vibration
29:42strengthened
29:42and began to oscillate
29:44up and down
29:45the entire length
29:46of the rocket
29:46if you
29:50were unlucky enough
29:52to get the oscillation
29:54in the thrust chamber
29:55tuned
29:56to the oscillations
29:57in the pipe itself
29:59then they would tend
30:00to amplify each other
30:01the rocket
30:03was experiencing
30:04a phenomenon
30:04called resonance
30:06an example of that
30:07is the opera singer
30:08in the wine glass
30:09where she hits a note
30:11that's exactly
30:11the same frequency
30:12that the wine glass
30:14will tingle at
30:15if you tink it
30:16and if led to
30:17its own devices
30:18the resonance can
30:19in essence destroy
30:20whatever it is
30:22that's resonating
30:23and all these vibrations
30:26came together
30:26all at once
30:27and created
30:28a humongous vibration
30:30that moved
30:32all the way up
30:33to the spacecraft
30:34had there been
30:36astronauts in there
30:37we would have had
30:37to abort
30:38the mission
30:40because of
30:41that vibration level
30:43as the first stage
30:47finished its burn
30:48the vibration stopped
30:50but the problems
30:53with apollo 6
30:54were just beginning
30:55flight
30:57do you come
30:57go ahead
30:58water baller's okay
30:59and the cabin's holding in 6
31:01roger
31:01gmc
31:02how are you
31:02oh we're looking
31:03pretty good
31:04last time we had data
31:05it was like
31:05four and a half minutes
31:07into the stage 2 burn
31:09mission control
31:10noticed a j2 engine
31:11begin to falter
31:12all we knew
31:14was that the
31:15chamber pressure
31:16for one of the
31:17outboard engines
31:18was deteriorating
31:20was dropping off
31:21we didn't have
31:23any idea
31:24as to the cause
31:25but it was
31:26it was failing
31:27and the
31:28chamber pressure
31:29started to oscillate
31:30and
31:30and finally
31:31the engine
31:33shut itself down
31:34within seconds
31:39of the first engine
31:40shutting down
31:41another j2 engine
31:43cut out
31:43flight booster
31:45go
31:46we've lost
31:47engine 2
31:48and engine 3
31:49lost the engines
31:50that's affirmative
31:51right
31:52therefore we had
31:54only 3 engines
31:56on the second stage
31:57whereas we
31:57required 5
31:59propulsion guys
32:00were saying
32:01good and sakes
32:03golly gee whiz
32:05what happened
32:06sort of
32:07think we have
32:082 engines out
32:09don't get nervous
32:09right
32:10it seemed
32:12the unthinkable
32:13was about to happen
32:14they were going
32:15to lose
32:16the saturn
32:16altogether
32:17the stage
32:19then
32:20instead of
32:21flying its
32:21original trajectory
32:22naturally
32:23with 2 engines
32:23out
32:24it keeled over
32:25and eventually
32:27running about
32:28parallel to earth
32:29it righted itself
32:31as the
32:32remaining engines
32:33gimballed
32:34to try to get it
32:35righted again
32:36flight booster 2
32:38we seem to have
32:38good control
32:39at this time
32:39roger
32:40guidance system
32:41perform anomaly
32:42flight
32:42roger
32:42you sure
32:43booster
32:43it was a close
32:45call
32:45but apollo 6
32:47managed to limp
32:48into orbit
32:49roger
32:49immediately
32:51the head scratching
32:52began
32:53we were highly
32:55disappointed
32:55knew that we
32:56had a lot of work
32:57to do
32:58to diagnose
33:00the problem
33:01and resolve it
33:02before the
33:03next launch
33:04the resonance
33:07effect proved
33:08relatively easy
33:09to fix
33:10what we did
33:11was in the
33:12subsequent stages
33:13we put a
33:14what we call
33:15an accumulator
33:15in there
33:16which is nothing
33:16more than
33:17a shock absorber
33:20like you have
33:21in your car
33:21so we put
33:23the accumulator
33:24in there
33:24which is a
33:25pressure vessel
33:27and solve
33:29and solve that
33:29problem
33:29but what about
33:33the second stage
33:35why had two
33:36engines
33:36suddenly failed
33:37sifting through
33:41the data
33:42the fault
33:42was narrowed
33:43down to a
33:44small flexible
33:45pipe
33:45which fed
33:46fuel to the
33:47augmented spark
33:48igniter
33:48the spark
33:52igniter
33:52was a crucial
33:53part of the
33:54Saturn V
33:54engines
33:55like a spark
33:56plug
33:56it ignited
33:57fuel from the
33:58flexible pipe
33:59which in turn
34:00lit the main
34:01engine
34:01during the
34:05flight of
34:06Apollo 6
34:06the pipe
34:07feeding fuel
34:08to the spark
34:09igniter
34:09had ruptured
34:10without an
34:11ignition source
34:12the J2
34:13engine began
34:14to splutter
34:14and then shut
34:15down
34:15altogether
34:16it was a
34:20failure the
34:20engineers had
34:21never seen
34:21before
34:22despite all
34:23their tests
34:23when you
34:25tested it
34:26on the
34:26ground
34:26ice would
34:28form
34:28because the
34:28hydrogen
34:29was so
34:29cold
34:30and freeze
34:31and make
34:31the line
34:32actually be
34:32a stiff
34:33line
34:33but as one
34:35flies into
34:36space
34:37and eventually
34:37there is
34:38no moisture
34:39and therefore
34:40there's no
34:41ice to form
34:41and nothing
34:43to dampen
34:43the vibration
34:44of the spark
34:45igniter
34:45the vibrations
34:47had led to
34:48the line
34:48flexing
34:49and rupturing
34:50we figured
34:51out if it's
34:52rigid on
34:52the ground
34:53and didn't
34:53have to be
34:54flexible
34:55when we're
34:56flying
34:57and so we
34:58put a solid
34:58pipe in
34:59and that
34:59solved the
34:59problem
35:00but why
35:02had the
35:02second engine
35:03failed so
35:03abruptly
35:04the fact that
35:05the second
35:06engine shut
35:07down all
35:07by itself
35:08with no
35:09other indication
35:10was a
35:11complete surprise
35:12we had no
35:13idea at the
35:13time it
35:14occurred that
35:15there was
35:16anything wrong
35:17with the way
35:18it was operating
35:18actually there
35:19was nothing
35:20wrong with the
35:20way it was
35:21operating
35:22the reason for
35:24the failure
35:24was somewhat
35:25embarrassing
35:26the computer
35:27sensed that
35:29there was a
35:30problem with
35:30an engine
35:31so it
35:32commanded that
35:33engine to
35:33shut down
35:34but the
35:36signal never
35:36reached the
35:37faulty engine
35:38where the pipe
35:38had ruptured
35:39instead it
35:40shut down a
35:41perfectly
35:41healthy
35:42engine
35:42we didn't
35:45realize but
35:46the wiring
35:48for the
35:49two engines
35:50had been
35:50crossed
35:50a simple
35:54mistake
35:55had almost
35:55wrecked the
35:56flight of
35:57Apollo 6
35:57but at least
35:58the fix
35:59was easy
36:00and so
36:01what we did
36:01was we
36:02made sure
36:02that the
36:03wirings were
36:03shortened
36:03so that
36:04they couldn't
36:04cross
36:05so that's
36:08what we
36:08did
36:08the near
36:12failure of
36:12Apollo 6
36:13came at a
36:14bad time
36:15in 1968
36:16the possibility
36:17of America
36:18being upstaged
36:19by the Russians
36:20was still
36:21very real
36:22NASA felt
36:24they couldn't
36:24delay any
36:25further
36:25the third
36:26flight of
36:27the Saturn
36:275 would
36:28carry astronauts
36:29not to orbit
36:30the Earth
36:30as everyone
36:31had expected
36:32but to orbit
36:33the Moon
36:34in December
36:391968
36:40with little
36:41more than
36:41a year
36:42to the end
36:42of the decade
36:43the race
36:44for the Moon
36:44was intensifying
36:45despite the
36:47near loss
36:47of Apollo 6
36:48NASA was
36:49pushing ahead
36:50with Apollo 8
36:51the third
36:52flight of the
36:53Saturn 5
36:53and the first
36:54to carry a crew
36:56well Apollo 8
36:58launch was a bold
36:58move again
36:59because there's
37:00always a possibility
37:01of another
37:01problem occurring
37:02but NASA
37:04felt that
37:04they were ready
37:05for it
37:05we felt
37:06we were ready
37:06for it
37:07so I believe
37:08it was
37:09a step
37:10that had to be
37:11taken
37:11if we were
37:12going to get
37:12to the Moon
37:13we were determined
37:17to make the
37:18Apollo 8 flight
37:19and we put
37:20lots and lots
37:21and lots
37:21and lots
37:21and lots
37:22and lots
37:22of hours in
37:23in order to
37:24meet that flight
37:25I recall
37:26I'd leave
37:27for work
37:27about 6
37:28in the morning
37:29and I'd get
37:30home at 8
37:31or 9
37:31or 10
37:32o'clock
37:32at night
37:32and you know
37:34my kids
37:35were asleep
37:35by this time
37:36my wife
37:38wasn't speaking
37:39to me
37:39probably
37:39I think
37:41most of the
37:41wives felt
37:42that we had
37:44a mistress
37:45and we did
37:46and it was
37:48this launch
37:48vehicle
37:49with the
37:51years of
37:51toil
37:52and testing
37:53behind them
37:53it was time
37:54for the
37:55engineers
37:55to place
37:56their vehicle
37:56in the hands
37:57of the
37:58astronauts
37:58Frank Borman
38:01along with
38:02Bill Anders
38:03and Jim Lovell
38:04were the crew
38:05selected for the
38:06flight of
38:06Apollo 8
38:07for the
38:08engineers
38:09now came
38:10the realization
38:10that human
38:11lives were
38:12at stake
38:13and for some
38:14it was
38:14an uncomfortable
38:15prospect
38:16when we got
38:17right up
38:18to the point
38:19of launching
38:19astronauts
38:20then all the
38:22fears and
38:23worries
38:23really came
38:24into existence
38:25you worried
38:25along the way
38:26but you realized
38:27that no human
38:28life was at
38:29risk at that
38:29moment
38:30but suddenly
38:31when you're
38:31coming up
38:32to your final
38:33flight review
38:33time
38:34you realize
38:35that there
38:36were three
38:37lives that
38:37were depending
38:38on whether
38:39you and your
38:40team did
38:41their work
38:41properly
38:41and understood
38:42what they
38:43were doing
38:43and I'll
38:44never forget
38:45the one
38:45meeting that
38:45I had
38:46where Frank
38:47Borman
38:47was in
38:48the meeting
38:49with us
38:49and I
38:50was suddenly
38:50overwhelmed
38:51by the fact
38:52that we
38:53were now
38:53committing
38:53the lives
38:54of these
38:54three
38:54astronauts
38:55and so
38:57during my
38:58presentation
38:58I may not
38:59have come
39:00over exactly
39:01overconfident
39:02and Frank
39:04Borman
39:04picked up
39:05on that
39:05and as we
39:06broke for
39:07lunch
39:07he grabbed
39:08onto my
39:08shoulder
39:09going out
39:09the door
39:09of the room
39:10and he
39:10said
39:10Sonny
39:11you guys
39:12have done
39:12the best
39:13job you
39:13possibly can
39:14do
39:14we followed
39:15the program
39:16we understand
39:17what's going
39:18on
39:18we know
39:18what the
39:19risks are
39:19and we're
39:19prepared to
39:20take them
39:20don't sweat
39:21it
39:21we're ready
39:23to go
39:23and that
39:25made me feel
39:26great
39:26that was
39:26probably the
39:27greatest moment
39:28in my life
39:28during that
39:29program
39:29we have
39:42we have
39:55we have
39:56liftoff
39:57liftoff
39:57at 751
39:59a.m.
40:00this is
40:00standing
40:01down
40:01a.m.
40:222009
40:23i
40:23it
40:251
40:261
40:261
40:263
40:2600
40:27K
40:270
40:281
40:280
40:29I remember when I drove away from the launch control center after the launch and I looked
40:51out at the pad and it was gone.
40:54And I actually felt like I lost one of my kids.
40:58It was just, you know, a tragic loss to me.
41:02And I never felt that way about any of the subsequent launches, but that one, a piece
41:06of me went up and went down range and fell in the Indian Ocean somewhere.
41:21After the first and second stages were spent, the astronauts now relied on the final third
41:27stage.
41:28It's first task was to place the Apollo spacecraft in a parking orbit, 215 miles above the earth.
41:40And then to send them to the moon.
41:42As the third stage was orbiting the earth and the checkouts were in process, the engine
41:49had to be reignited.
41:51That's called Translunar Injection.
41:53And that was very tense because the whole program depended on that engine starting appropriately.
42:05was always a tense time for the entire team.
42:10And yours truly certainly was an intense time because we were counting on that engine igniting
42:15precisely at the right time and burned precisely as long as it needed to burn to give us the
42:21precise velocities that we needed to reach the moon properly.
42:35With the Translunar Injection Burn successfully completed, the crew began the three day cruise
42:41to the moon.
42:42The job of the Saturn V was over.
42:46For each two week Apollo mission, the rocket fired for less than 15 minutes.
42:53But for those involved in building it, the journey had taken the best part of a decade.
42:59And those years would remain with them for the rest of their lives.
43:04I'm 94 years old right now, but I still look fondly about the good old days when we worked
43:14on the Apollo Saturn program with Werner von Braun.
43:18It was one of the highlights of my career.
43:23Some of the problems that we solved and the solutions were so elegant.
43:27It just brings tears to you already sometimes when you think of, you know, that was the problem
43:33and this is how we solved it and we solved it really well.
43:37It was such an incredible thought that man could leave the planet and actually go to the
43:43moon that man has been looking at for thousands of years and then you say, we're up there.
44:03going on.
44:08Thanks, everyone.
44:11Bye.
44:13Bye.
44:14Such a unbelievable story.
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