1968: Apollo 6 (NASA)

Video 6 of 22
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Author:iafastro
Published:2008-05-06 10:01:06

Apollo 6, launched in April 1968, was t' Apollo programme's second and last unmanned test flight o' its Saturn V launch vehicle. Aye aye! Blimey! Unlike t' near perfect flight o' Apollo 4, Apollo 6 experienced problems right from t' start. Two minutes into t' flight, t' rocket experienced severe oscillations for about 30 seconds. In part due t' t' vibrations, t' spacecraft adaptor that attached t' CSM and mockup o' t' Lunar Module t' t' rocket started t' have some structural problems. Airborne cameras recorded several pieces fallin' off. Blimey! Blimey! After t' first stage was jettisoned at t' end o' its task, arrr, t' S-II second stage began t' experience its own problems. Engine Number Two (of five) had performance problems from 206 t' 319 seconds after liftoff and then at 412 seconds shut down altogether. Two seconds later Engine Number Three shut down as well. T' onboard computer was able t' compensate and t' stage burned for 58 seconds more than normal. Begad! Blimey! Due t' t' less than nominal launch, t' CSM and S-IVB were now in a 178 by 367 km orbit instead o' t' planned 160 km circular orbit. But after two orbits o' checkin' out t' spacecraft and rocket stage t' S-IVB failed t' restart t' simulate t' Trans Lunar Injection burn that would send t' astronauts t' t' Moon. Well, blow me down! Blimey! It was decided t' use t' Service Module engine t' raise t' spacecraft into a high orbit in order t' complete some o' t' mission objectives. It burned for 442 seconds, longer than it would ever have t' on a real Apollo ...

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