PRESIDEN KENNEDY;
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.
ALDRlN:
Picking up some dust.
NARRATOR: In the 1960s,
an impossible dream came true
when human beings
walked on anotherworld.
ARMSTRONG:
The Eagle has landed.
NARRATOR: In all,
24 Americans went to the moon.
But it took an unseen army
of over 400,000 engineers
and technicians
to make it possible.
This is the story
of the men and women
who built the machines
that took us to the moon.
During the late 1950s
and early '60s,
the Cold War
between the Soviet Union
and the United States
took an ominous tum
which shocked
the American people.
PHELPS:
Wait a minute.
They put a satellite in orbit
around the Earth?.
I think I said something like,
"Golly, gee, son of a gun."
I didn't really say it that way,
but similar.
BRlNCKA:
A group of us actually climbed
to the top railings
ofthe test stands
and watched Sputnik go over
as a white dot
going across
the sky like a meteor.
PHELPS: And, of course,
all it was doing was going,
"Beep, beep, beep, beep."
[ Laughs ]
But, hey, they put it up there,
you know?.
NARRATOR: The new strategic
high ground was space.
And the Russians continued
to chalk up an impressive list
offirsts.
They had launched
the first man, Yuri Gagarin.
They had launched
the first lady,
and they were really,
in all areas, way ahead of us.
And so we said,
'We'd better get crackng."
NARRATOR:
The Russian space program
called For a response.
In May 1961, President Kennedy
galvanized the American people
with an audacious challenge.
To reach Forthe moon.
We choose to go to the moon
in this decade
and do the otherthings
not because they are easy
but because they are hard,
because that goal will serve
to organize and measure
the best of our energies
and sklls,
because that challenge is one
that we're willing to accept,
one we are unwilling
to postpone,
and one we iintend to win.
[ Cheers and applause ]
PHELPS:
I was so proud of him
I was jumping out of my pants,
practically.
I mean, and I was so excited
because I knew I was gonna
be able to be a part of it.
BlNNS: I didn't realize
the magnitude ofthe challenge
or some
ofthe technical requirements,
but I still Felt that, you know,
we could do anything
at that time.
SCHWlNGHAMER:
We were all young.
We didn't know
what failure meant,
and we knewwe could do it.
LUCAS:
Reality sets in For a moment,
and we say,
'Well, how are we gonna do that?.
10 years?.
Thats a short time."
And so it was a mixture
of exhilaration
and maybe even depression
to think about
how you're gonna do this.
NARRATOR: To many, Kennedy's
goal seemed almost impossible.
But the president knew
more than he was letting on.
The key to his confidence lay
in a small town in Alabama.
LUCAS: In the 1950s, Huntsville
was a sleepy little town.
When I first came here,
the population was
about 18,000 people.
Soon we newcomers outnumbered
the old-timers.
It was a happy time.
NARRATOR: Among the newcomers
was an unlikely group of people
with a valuable set of sklls,
German rocket engineers.
Led by Wemhervon Braun,
the Germans had already mastered
the basics of rocket propulsion.
During World War ll,
they built the V-2,
the world's
first ballistic missile.
Engineer Konrad Dannenberg.
When we came
to the United States,
we brought with us the V-2,
all the plans Forthe V-2.
The people in the United States
were very impressed
by the capability ofthe V-2.
This technology
was very important
Forthe growth
ofthe space program.
Because these engines
are more efficient,
they can be controlled,
and you really have a capability
to workwith your engines
during yourflight.
LUCAS: And the German people
who came over
were indeed very sklled people.
They were, all ofthem,
dedicated to rocketry
and wanted to continue that,
not from the standpoint
of having rockets
to launch on enemies,
but the whole thing
behind theirthoughts
was going into space,
going to the moon.
NARRATOR: With the Russians
leading the space race
and America desperate
to catch up,
von Braun saw an opportunity
to fulfill his lifelong dream.
SCHWlNGHAMER:
Von Braun was always thinkng
in the back of his head,
'We're going to the moon."
Thats what he wanted to do.
And it infused everybodyy.
We all wanted to go to the moon.
All you had to do was talk
to him five minutes,
and you were ready to go.
He was very charismatic.
You know, he could sell
a refrigeratorto an Eskmo.
NARRATOR: Von Braun
tumed his persuasive sklls
on the new president.
DANNENBERG: And that, of course,
was what eventually
Ied President Kennedy
to announce a trip to the moon.
I'm sure he had been influenced
by Wemhervon Braun.
NARRATOR: Even before
Kennedy's announcement,
von Braun's team was designing
a family of rockets
they called Satum.
First on the pad
was the Saturn I,
almost 200 Feet tall
and with a thrust
of 1.5 million pounds.
When it lifted off,
the engineers could not suppress
their excitement.
MAN: lgnition.
All engines running.
Thrust commence.
Launch commence.
Liftoff!.
Go, go, go!
Go, man! Go, go!
[ lndistinct shouting ]
NARRATOR: The Saturn I
successfully demonstrated
the key technique
which would be vital
in building
a much larger moon rocket.
This was the concept of staging.
In effect, stackng multiple
rockets one on top ofthe other.
DeMATTlA: lFyou try to go
to orbit with all one stage,
the amount offuel and the size
ofthe engines required
would have to push the entire
weight ofthat first stage
to that full velocity.
They leamed through analysis
that the best way to do it
was to get to orbit
using multiple stages,
so that the first stage
would give you a certain amount
ofwhat they call delta-V,
change in velocity
from zero to certain speed,
and then you would drop off
that whole stage,
all of ;its tanks,
all of ;its engines,
and all the weight
associated with it,
so the second stage
had much less mass to push.
NARRATOR:
But to go beyond Earth's orbit
would require
more than two stages.
DeMATTlA: And when you do
the calculations,
the most efficient way
to build a moon rocket,
one to get to the moon, tumed
out to be a three-stage vehicle.
NARRATOR: On paper,
the three-stage concept
Iooked like this.
Stage 1 would have a cluster
offive engines,
the likes ofwhich
had never been built before,
called the F-1.
On liftoff,
each one would need to bum
almost three tons offuel
a second
just to lift the enormous rocket
offthe pad.
Stage 2 would also cluster
five engines, the smaller J-2.
The third stage would use
a single J-2 engine,
which would have to fire
more than once
to place the elements
ofthe Apollo spacecraft
first into Earth's orbit and
then on a course to the moon.
When assembled, it would be
the largest flying machine
the world had ever seen.
On paper,
the Saturn V was capable
oftakng men to the moon.
But could drawings
be successfully tumed
into reality?.
The first stage ofthe giant
rocket would be the largest.
It needed to provide
the initial thrust
to lift the vehicle offthe pad
to a height of around 35 miles.
The cluster of F-1 engines
designed to do this
would require a huge leap
Forward in technology.
Although they'd only bum
For 2 1/2 minutes,
the pipes and valves
would have to withstand
immense pressures
and temperatures.
IF successful, it would be
the largest liquid-fueled engine
everflown.
To oversee its production
at the newly Formed
Marshall Space Flight Ceinter
in Huntsville,
von Braun tumed to a young
engineer called Sonny Morea.
MOREA:
He gave me the responsibility
For a $1-billion program -
$1 billion in those dollars,
not today's dollars.
And he picked on this young guy
who was 28 years old,
didn't have
very much experience,
and gave me the challenge
of being the manager
ofthat program.
Greatest decision
that I thinkthe man could make.
[ Laughs ]
NARRATOR: Building such
a large rocket engine
would also require a test
facility on a similar scale.
SCHWlNGHAMER: When you fire
the first-stage engines
ofthe Saturn V, you develop
7.5 million pounds ofthrust.
Thats tremendous knetic energy
coming out ofthose exhausts.
And, of course,
you couldn't let it
project the exhaust
directly in the ground
because pretty soon
yourtest stand would fall over.
So, insted,
you use a flame bucket
to catch the exhaust gases
and then deflect them outward.
NARRATOR: The huge amounts
of energy unleashed
posed problems
Forthose living nearby.
Under certain
weather conditions,
the shockwaves from the engines
would become trapped
close to the ground
and travel a long way
cross-country.
SCHWlNGHAMER:
In fact, the first Fewfirings,
we were breakng windows
in downtown Huntsville,
which is overthe hills
to the rear here.
And we knewwe couldn't
keep doing that very long
orwe're gonna losethe support
Forthe space program
in the city ofHuntsville.
NARRATOR:
But thetests had to continue.
And they soon revealed something
unforeseen was happening
asthefuel bumed
in the combustion chamber.
MOREA: One ofthe big problems
we ran across
wasthe problem
of combustion instability.
And by that, we were dealing
with rotation ofthe flame,
ofthe buming process
within the thrust chamber,
of like 2,000 cycles a second.
NARRATOR:
The rapidly rotating flame
could destroy the whole engine
in a matter of seconds.
MOREA: It was a showstopper.
There was no question about it.
We had to find a way to make
the engine run stable.
The thing that was
so overwhelming to me
was that unless we solve
this problem,
we would not be going
to the moon with a man.
NARRATOR: Combustion instability
tookthousands of man-hours
and many agonizing months
to solve.
MOREA: Keep in mind
that back in those days,
we were designing rocket engines
basically with slide rules.
NARRATOR:
The answer lay in the way
the fuel was injected
into the combustion chamber.
MOREA: The solution
to the problem is shown
by that series of copper baffles
that you see on the face
ofthe injector.
And that particular arrangement
baffled the oscillation
so that we now
had stable combustion.
So it was
a very nice, unique solution
to a very serious problem
that was a big showstopper
in the program
had it not been solved.
NARRATOR:
With the construction
ofthe first stage
well underway,
the building ofthe second
Fell to the engineers
at North American Aviation
in Califomia.
BlNNS: Stage 2 was a technical
challenge ofthe first order.
We had some unique
manufacturing problems.
We had iinteresting
design problems.
And it was probably the biggest
challenge ofthe Saturn V.
NARRATOR: The main headache
Forthe stage-two team
was that the Apollo spacecraft,
the command and lunar modules
sitting on top ofthe Saturn V,
kept getting heavier
as their designs evolved.
That inevitably meant
that the rocket belowthem
had to be made lighter.
One ofthe engineers Feeling
the pressure was George Phelps.
PHELPS: When they gave us
a weight-reduction problem,
we said, 'Well, we'll take
some out ofthe first stage,
some out ofthe third stage
and the second stage."
"No, the first stage
is too far along,
and so is the third stage.
And so we got to take it
out ofthe second stage."
NARRATOR:
A radical solution was needed
to shed weight
from the second stage.
Normally two separate tanks
stored the liquid-oxygen
and liquid-hydrogen fuels
with a temperature difference
between them
of over 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
At both ends of each tank
was a strong, relatively heavy,,
dome-shaped bulkhead.
PHELPS:
So to save weight,
somebodyy came up with the idea
to eliminate one bulkhead.
This was, I think, the biggest
challenge on that stage,
to have one bulkhead
to separate the two fuels.
NARRATOR: The stage
would now have only one tank,
and the fuels would be separated
by just one divider
known as the common bulkhead.
This arrangement
had a double benefit.
It got rid of
one ofthe heavy, bulkheads,
and it reduced the overall
length ofthe stage.
But it also meant
that two liquids
at vastly different temperatures
were right next to each other.
And we had a divider
that was about that thick
That was
the most difficult problem
that we had to solve,
but we did it because engineers
can just about do anything.
[ Laughs ]
NARRATOR: But the greatest
temperature problem
was not keeping
the iintensely cold liquid fuels
insulated from each other.
It was keeping both ofthem
from boiling
in the hot Florida sun.
BlNNS: We insulated
the liquid-hydrogen tank
in the early days
with a honeycomb insulation.
We put it on
in big vacuum chambers,
and we sucked the honeycomb
down onto the metal,
pulled it tight,
and let the adhesive set.
But all through
the early stages,
we had problems
with the honeycomb insulation
popping offthe vessell.
NARRATOR: The engineers realized
they were doing something wrong.
To fix it,
they would need specialist help.
BlNNS: We were manufacturing
the vehicle
at Seal Beach
in Southem Califomia.
And Seal Beach
is a big surfing town.
And we Found that the surfers
had been using
honeycomb insulation
to make their surfboards,
and they were very sklled
at using it.
And we finally started
hiring the surfers,
and they did a great job
with it.
The only downside ofthose guys
was that when the surfwas up,
there was
a big absentee problem.
They were out there
doing theirtrip.
But they were
a great bunch of guys,
and they really brought a unique
skll to the space program
that I don't think
we appreciated at the time
until it was pretty well over.
NARRATOR:
The Saturn V's third stage
was also under construction
in Califomia
at the Douglas Aircraft Company.
The third stage had the job
of propelling
the Apollo spacecraft
out of Earth orbit
on a trajectory to the moon.
Among the engineers
working on it was Don Brincka.
BRlNCKA: Well, the third stage
For us at Douglas
was one ofthe biggest stages
we've ever made.
It was 22 Feet in diameter.
NARRATOR: As with every part
ofthe Satum's hardware,
testing was critical
in ironing out the problems
which had been overlooked.
BRlNCKA: We were preparing
to test the third stage
at ourfacility.
And I was the director
oftest operations.
I was responsible
For all testing.
I was sitting at my table
in the control room,
monitoring all the other events
that were going on
and watching For any problems
and Followng the countdown.
The stage was fully tanked
and fully pressurized.
We were progressed
satisfactorily
up until the point
moments before ignition,
when we had a component fail.
[ Explosion ]
It was not hard to tell
something was wrong.
The whole blockhouse shook
Everything rattled,
and the screens all went white,
and so we knew
there was a major calamity.
It was knd of a heart-stopping
moment when that occurred,
and we knew
that the workwas cut out For us
to get this one resolved.
NARRATOR:
Once the fire was out,
the team began
a painstakng investigation.
Attention soon Focused
on a metal sphere
which had held
pressurized helium.
BRlNCKA:
In the process of going around
and lookng in the test stand,
we noticed
that one ofthe spheres,
we could only find a half of it.
NARRATOR:
And that was an important clue
as to what had caused
the explosion.
So thats when we zeroed in
on the conclusion
that the sphere came apart.
So then we did a series oftests
and Found that the wrong
material had been used
to weld the spheres together
and Found that under pressure,
it would come apart.
It was a real exercise
Forthe engineering staff..
It was very stressful,
Iong hours because you wanted
to find it as soon as possible.
We had a flight-stage failure,
and without that stage,
you would not get to the moon.
NARRATOR:
Douglas wasn't the only company
having problems
with theirwelds.
Welding was the best method
For constructing the Saturn V.
It was far lighter
than using rivets.
But thousands ofFeet ofwelds
were needed,
and welding was proving
a real problem
For engineers
like Bob Schwinghamer.
SCHWlNGHAMER:
We could not weld it.
Forweeks and weeks,
we could not weld it,
and they kept telling me,
"lFwe don't solve this problem,
there won't be a Saturn V."
LUCAS:
In orderto saveweight,
wevaried thethickness
ofthe metal
from thetopto the bottom,
and sotoweld
two piecestogether
of differentthicknesses
gives you a different
heat-flow pattem.
It makesthewelding
all the more difficult.
SCHWlNGHAMER:
And whatwe had to do
wastear into
thewelding machines
and redesign them ourselves.
You know, onething
after another came up,
and therewere problems
you had to solve,
and theywere newthings.
Thatwas unplowed ground.
Other people
had never had to do that,
and so we Found out
and figured out ways to do it.
NARRATOR:
With time and perseverance,
the rocket engineers
solved problem after problem.
However, time was a luxury
the Apollo program did not have.
Early in the Apollo program,
NASA realized it would
have to drastically accelerate
the development
ofthe Saturn V
in orderto meet the deadline
of placing a man on the moon
by the end ofthe decade.
DANNENBERG: NASA headquarters
had made the proposal
to skp one ofthe missions
that von Braun
had initially proposed
and to go what later on
became "the all-up concept."
And what that meant was
that we take all the stages,
and we take them
to Cape Kennedy,
we stackthem,
pile them up on each other,
and then we would run the test.
Well, the risk of all-up testing
is that if anything failed,
any part failed,
we would lose the vehicle.
NARRATOR:
November 9, 1967.
Finally,
after more than half a decade
oftechnological achievement,
the Saturn V was poised
For its first unmanned
all-up test.
The flight would be known
as Apollo 4.
PHELPS:
Apollo 4 was a tense time
because those of us who were
working on the individual stages
were not sure
that ifwe didn't do
the individual-stage tests
at the time,
something might go wrong.
BRlNCKA: Testing to date
had been successful,
and so we had reason to believe
that everything would work
But always there's
a little something that happens
you never know about.
BlNNS: I looked at it, and
I rememberthinkng, you know,
"My God, we've done this.
We've gotten it built,
and we got one ready to fly.
It's probably got
a million pieces in it,
and they all got to work
at the same time."
MAN: The hydrogen tank in the
second stage now pressurizing.
T-minus 60 seconds
and counting. T-minus 60.
MOREA: I was in awe
ofwhat was going on
because I realized that not only
was my F-1 engine so important,
but so many other systems
went through
that same sort of experience.
They all had
their major unknowns.
They all had theirteams that
had to do theirjobs perfectly
orthat vehicle would not work
MAN:
T-minus 50 seconds and counting.
We have transferred
to iintemal power.
The transfer is satisfactory.
LUCAS: As it comes up
to ignition point,
you're trying to run over
in your mind
all the things that you thought
might need checkng again.
You know,
'Well, I thinkthis is okay.'
And, "Yeah, it hasto be.
We checked it so manytimes.'
We knewthe countdown
was going down.
We knewwhattime
itwas supposed to launch.
Sowewere all justtransfixed
on the launchpad.
MAN:
15, 14, 13, 12,
1 1, 10, 9.
Ignition sequence start.
5, 4.
We have ignition.
All engines are running.
We have liftoff..
We have liftoff.at 7;:00 a.m.
Eastem Standard Time.
[ Cheering ]
Thetower has been cleared.
Thetower has been cleared.
PHELPS:
You see it move offvery slowly.
"Oh, whatswrong?.
It's never gonna go.
Come on.
Go, go, go, go!"
You want to coax it,
you know, "Get off ofthere.'
I said, "My God, thats,
you know, thousands oftons,
and it's moving so slowly.'
You think it's gonnafall over.
A shockwave is progressing
acrossthewater,
coming towards you.
It's pretty impressive,
you know?.
BRlNCKA: I had neverFelt
this much power and energy
from that distance.
Wewere going like -
the ground was shakng like
an earthquake in Califomia.
It was absolutely incredible.
You thought that you were
going to be knocked over
with the power ofthat.
I did hearwomen saying,
[ high-pitched voice ]
"Oh! Oh! Oh!"
"Ooh, ahh," and then clapping.
NARRATOR: ltwasthe dawn
of a new era in spaceflight.
With five engines guzzling
15tons offuel a second
to generate
160 million horsepower,
the 6. 1 million-pound
Satum rocket soared skyward.
BlNNS: I was, you know,
so nervous
when finallythe ignition was
on, thefirst stagetook off.
And it fired properly,
and thatwaswonderful.
And then
all I'm worried about is,
what arewe gonna do
afterthefirst stage bums out?.
Is ours gonna start?.
And sowe'rewatching the data
and we'rewatching the data
and we'rewatching the data.
I don'tthink I breathed
For 8 1/2 minutes.
BlNNS:
We dropped the iinterstage,
which was pretty neat,
and we ignite the J-2 engines,
and they all come upto thrust.
And we say, "It'sworking.
It'sworking. It'sworking.'
Whew.
And thatswhatwethought -
'Whew.' [ Laughs ]
BlNNS:
When we ran out offuel
and thefuel-cutoffsensor
said, 'We're out of gas,"
and then the S4B ignited,
and ittookoff.
And, to me, thatwas all over
bythattime.
[ Chuckles ]
My partwas done.
NARRATOR: Apollo 4
had been a near-perfectflight.
Suddenlythe president'ss goal
seemed much closer.
Afterthe success of Apollo 4,
the Saturn V's
second all-uptest, Apollo 6,
was set Forfive months later
in April 1968.
The men who had built her
Felt confident.
MAN:
We have liftoff..
Liftoff. at 7;:00 a.m.
Eastem Standard Time.
PHELPS: We figured,
"Let's just sit back and relax,"
becausethere's no other problem
that could occur.
I mean, weflew it,
we did an all-upstest,
and it flew perfectly,
and so no problem.
MAN:
Mark 1 minute, 25 seconds.
Passed through max "Q,"
still lookng good.
NARRATOR:
As Apollo 6 lifted offthe pad,
the mission looked like
itwas going to be
anothertextbook performance.
Iintermittent at thistime.
Standing by.
NARRATOR: But lessthan
two minutes into theflight,
things started to go
seriouslywrong.
PHELPS: The engineswerefiring,
and theywerevibrating.
We expected them tovibrate.
And they're attached
to athrust structure.
And thethrust structurewas
being excited bythe engines,
and itwasvibrating.
NARRATOR:
Within seconds,
thevibrations strengthened
and began to oscillate
up and down the entire length
ofthe rocket.
IFyou were unlucky enough
to get the oscillation
in thethrust chamber
tuned to the oscillations
in the pipe itself,
then they would tend
to amplify each other.
NARRATOR:
The rocket was experiencing
a phenomenon called resonance.
DeMATTlA:
An example ofthat
is the opera singer
and the wineglass,
where she hits a note thats
exactly the same frequency
that the wineglass
will tingle at ifyou tink it.
And if left to its own devices,
the resonance can, in essence,
destroy whatever
it is thats resonating.
PHELPS: Had all these vibrations
came together all at once
and created
a humongous vibration
that moved all the way
up to the spacecraft,
had there been astronauts
in there,
we would have had
to abort the mission
because ofthat vibration level.
NARRATOR: As the first stage
finished its bum,
the vibrations stopped.
But the problems with Apollo 6
were just beginning.
-MAN #1 : Flight E-com.
-MAN #2: Go ahead.
MAN #1 :
The water boiler's okay,
and the cabin's holding at 6.
MAN #2: Roger.
GNC, How are you?.
MAN #3:
Oh, we're lookng pretty good
Iast time we had data
in flight.
NARRATOR: 4.5 minutes
into the Stage 2 bum,
mission control noticed
a J-2 engine begin to falter.
FLOREY: All we knew
was that the chamber pressure
For one ofthe outboard engines
was deteriorating,
was dropping off.
We didn't have any idea
as to the cause,
but it was failing.
And the chamber pressure
started to oscillate,
and finally
the engine shut itself down.
NARRATOR: Within seconds of
the first engine shutting down,
another J-2 engine cut out.
-MAN #1 : Flight Booster?.
-MAN #2: Go.
MAN #1 : We've lost, uh,
engine 2 and engine 3.
MAN #2:
You've lost the engines?.
-Thats affirmative.
-Roger.
Therefore, we had only three
engines on the second stage,
whereas we required five.
Propulsion guys were saying,
"Goodness' sakes.
Golly, gee whiz, what happened? '
Sort of.
MAN #1 : I thinkwe have two
engines out. Don't get nervous.
MAN #2:
Roger. I understand.
NARRATOR: It seemed the
unthinkable was about to happen.
They were going to lose
the Satum altogether.
PHELPS:
The stage then,
insted offlying
its original trajectory,
naturally, with two engines out,
it keeled over.
And eventually,
running about parallel to Earth,
it righted itself
as the remaining engines gimbled
to try to get it righted again.
MAN #1 : Flight Booster Two,
we seem to have good control
-at this time.
-MAN #2: Roger.
MAN #3: Guidance system
performing nominally, Flight.
MAN #1 : Roger.
Are you sure, Booster?.
NARRATOR:
It was a close call,
but Apollo 6
managed to limp into orbit.
MAN: Roger.
NARRATOR: lmmediately,
the head-sctatching began.
FLOREY:
We were highly disappointed
and knewthat we had
a lot ofworkto do
to diagnosethe problem
and resolve it
beforethe next launch.
NARRATOR: The resonance effect
proved relatively easy to fix.
PHELPS: What we did was,
in the subsequent stages,
we put what we call
an accumulator in there,
which is nothing more
than a shock absorber
Iike you have in your car.
So we put
the accumulator in there,
which is a pressure vessell,
and solved that problem.
NARRATOR:
But what about the second stage?.
Why had two engines
suddenly failed?.
Sifting through the data,
the fault was narrowed down
to a small flexible pipe
which Fed fuel
to the augmented spark igniter.
The spark igniterwas a crucial
part ofthe Saturn V engines.
Like a spark plug, it ignited
fuel from the flexible pipe,
which, in tum,
lit the main engine.
During the flight of Apollo 6,
the pipe Feeding fuel to
the spark igniter had ruptured.
Without an ignition source,
the J-2 engine began to splutter
and then shut down altogether.
It was a failure the engineers
had never seen before,
despite all theirtests.
FLOREY;:When you tested it
on the ground,
ice would Form
because the hydrogen was so cold
and freeze and make the line
actually be a stiff line.
LUCAS:
But as one flies into space
and eventually
there is no moisture,
and, therefore,
there is no ice to Form
and nothing to dampen the
vibration ofthe spark igniter.
NARRATOR:
The vibrations had led
to the line
flexing and rupturing.
FLOREY;:We figured out
if it's rigid on the ground,
it doesn't have to be flexible
when we're flying.
And so we put a solid pipe in,
and that solved the problem.
NARRATOR: But why had the second
engine failed so abruptly?.
FLOREY:
The fact that the second engine
shut down all by itself
with no other indication
was a complete surprise.
We had no idea at the time
it occurred
that there was anything wrong
with the way it was operating.
Actually,
there was nothing wrong
with the way it was operating.
NARRATOR:
The reason Forthe failure
was somewhat embarrassing.
PHELPS:
The computer sensed
that there was a problem
with an engine.
So it commanded that engine
to shut down.
NARRATOR: But the signal
never reached the faulty engine
where the pipe had ruptured.
Insted, it shut down
a perfectly healthy engine.
PHELPS: We didn't realize, but
the wiring Forthe two engines
had been crossed.
NARRATOR:
A simple mistake
had almost wrecked
the flight of Apollo 6.
But at least the fixwas easy.
PHELPS: And so what we did was
we made sure that the wirings
were shortened
so that they couldn't cross.
So thats what we did.
NARRATOR: The nearfailure
of Apollo 6 came at a bad time.
In 1968,
the possibility of America
being upstaged by the Russians
was still very real.
NASA Felt they couldn't delay
any further.
The third flight ofthe Saturn V
would carry astronauts
not to orbit the Earth,
as everyone had expected,
but to orbit the moon.
In December 1968,
with little more than a year
to the end ofthe decade,
the race Forthe moon
was iintensifying.
Despite the near loss
of Apollo 6,
NASA was pushing ahead
with Apollo 8,
the third flight ofthe Saturn V
and the first to carry a crew.
BRlNCKA: Well, Apollo 8 launch
was a bold move, again,
because there's always
the possibility
of another problem occurring.
But NASA Felt
that they were ready For it.
We Felt we were ready For it.
So I believe it was a step
that had to be taken
ifwe were going to get
to the moon.
PHELPS: We were determined
to make the Apollo 8 flight.
And we put lots and lots
and lots and lots and lots
and lots of hours in
in orderto make that flight.
I recall I'd leave Forwork
about 6;:00 in the moming,
and I'd get home at 8;:00 or 9;:00
or 10;:00 at night.
And, you know, my kds
were asleep by this time.
My wife wasn't speakng
to me, probably.
I think most ofthe wives Felt
that we had a mistress.
And we did,
and it was this launch vehicle.
NARRATOR: With the years oftoil
and testing behind them,
it was time Forthe engineers
to place theirvehicle
in the hands ofthe astronauts.
Frank Borman, along with
Bill Anders and Jim Lovell,
were the crew selected
Forthe flight of Apollo 8.
Forthe engineers,
now came the realization
that human lives were at stake.
And For some, it was
an uncomfortable prospect.
MOREA: When we got
right up to the point
of launching astronauts,
then all the Fears and worries
really came into existence.
You worried along the way,
but you realized
that no human life was at risk
at that moment.
But, suddenly,
when you're coming up
to yourfinal
flight reviewtime,
you realize that there were
three lives that were depending
on whether you and yourteam
did theirwork properly
and understood
what they were doing.
And I'll neverForget
the one meeting that I had
where Frank Borman
was in the meeting with us,
and I was suddenly overwhelmed
by the fact
that we were now committing the
lives ofthese three astronauts.
And so during my presentation,
I may not have come over
exactly overconfident.
And Frank Borman
picked up on that.
And as we broke For lunch,
he grabbed onto my shoulder
going out the door ofthe room,
and he said, "Sonny," he says,
"you guys have done the best job
you possibly can do.
We Followed the program.
We understand whats going on.
We knowwhat the risks are,
and we're prepared to take them.
Don't sweat it.'
[ Laughs ]
'We're ready to go.'
And that made me Feel great.
That was probably
the greatest moment in my life
during that program.
MAN #2:
Engines alive.
4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
We have commenced.
We have liftoff..
Liftoff. at 7;:51 a.m.
Eastem Standard Time.
MAN #1 : Booster says
the F-1 will be
the first stage of liftoff..
[ lndistinct talkng ]
MAN #3: The crew confirms
their progress
in 50 seconds into the flight.
MAN #2:
Apollo 8, you're lookng good.
BlNNS:
I rememberwhen I drove away
from the launch control ceinter
afterthe launch,
and I looked out at the pad,
and it was gone.
And I actually Felt
like I lost one of my kds.
It was just, you know,
a tragic loss to me.
And I neverFelt that way about
any ofthe subsequent launches.
But that one, a piece of me
went up and went downrange
and Fell in the lndian ocean
somewhere.
NARRATOR: Afterthe first
and second stages were spent,
the astronauts now relied
on the final third stage.
Its first taskwas to place
the Apollo spacecraft
in a parking orbit
215 miles above the Earth.
MAN: Apollo 8, Houston.
You are go. Over.
NARRATOR: And then
to send them to the moon.
BRlNCKA: As the third stage
was orbiting the Earth
and the checkouts
were in process,
the engine had to be reignited.
Thats called
translunar injection.
And that was very tense
because the whole program
depended on that engine
starting appropriately.
MOREA: T.L. I. was always a tense
time Forthe entire team.
And yours truly
certainly was in an iintense time
because we were counting
on that engine igniting
precisely at the right time
and bum precisely
as long as it needed to bum
to give us
the precise velocities
that we needed
to reach the moon properly.
MAN #2: Apollo 8,
you are go For T.L. I.
Over.
NARRATOR: With
the translunar-injection bum
successfully completed,
the crew began the three-day
cruise to the moon.
The job ofthe Saturn V
was over.
For each two-week
Apollo mission,
the rocket fired
For less than 15 minutes.
But Forthose involved
in building it,
the joumey had taken
the best part of a decade,
and those years
would remain with them
Forthe rest oftheir lives.
I'm 94 years old right now,
but I still lookFondly
about the good old days
when we worked
on the Apollo/Satum program
with Wemhervon Braun.
It was one ofthe highlights
of my career.
Some ofthe problems
that we solved and solutions
were so elegant,
it just brings tears
to your eyes sometimes
when you think of, you know,
"That was the problem,
and this is how we solved it.'
And we solved it really well.
It was such
an incredible thought
that man could leave the planet
and actually go to the moon...
that man has been looking
at Forthousands of years,
and then you say,
'We were up there.'
