Science: Proof Positive

Compared to Orbiter’s lunar exploits, last week’s suborbital flight of the Apollo moonship seemed humdrum indeed —an almost old-fashioned journey only three-quarters of the way around the world. But that brief, 94-minute flight was final proof that the craft and its systems are spaceworthy, and that a novel re-entry technique is feasible. Apollo’s success set the stage for a three-man, 14-day orbital flight as early as next December.

Equipped with everything that it will carry to the moon except the astronauts and their sleeping couches, the Apollo system, weighing 56,900 lbs., or more than seven times the Gemini spacecraft, blasted off from Cape Kennedy riding the nose of a 22-story-high Saturn 1 rocket. After separating from the Saturn booster, Apollo fired its own rocket engine and soared to a peak altitude of 706 miles over South Africa. Then, as the space ship began to descend, its engine was fired three more times in successful tests of its capabilities.

When it hurtled back into the atmosphere, Apollo reached a speed of 19,000 m.p.h. At an altitude of 218,000 feet, small control rockets were fired, shifting Apollo so that its contoured heat shield provided a small amount of lift. As a result, Apollo literally bounced off the thickening atmosphere like a flat stone skipping across water; it rose to 264,500 feet before beginning to fall once more. The maneuver not only sliced some 3,000 m.p.h. off the craft’s dangerously high descent speed but enabled its heat shield to cool before the final plunge through the atmosphere.

When it finally splashed into the Pacific southeast of Wake Island, the charred Apollo was 230 miles short of the recovery carrier Hornet. But for all practical purposes, it was on target. It was obviously ready for the next step on its path to the moon.