Volume 5: Almost There
Apollo makes it into lunar orbit 1967-1968
The tragic launch pad fire aboard Apollo 1 in January 1967 claimed the lives of three astronauts and put an American Moon landing before 1970 in serious jeopardy.
With the Apollo Command Module in need of a major safety overhaul, the Lunar Module a year behind schedule, and the mighty Saturn V Moon rocket still months away from its first flight, time was running out for NASA.
The Soviet Union, too, ran into trouble as it took shortcuts to develop its own giant Moon rocket and to prepare Soyuz for docking in Earth orbit – culminating in the equally tragic death, in April 1967, of former Voskhod 1 cosmonaut Vladimir Komorov.
Shaken, but far from beaten, NASA bounced back from its setbacks magnificently. In the space of just 23 months, the Apollo program was reconfigured to work around the delays to the Lunar Module and the Saturn V was cleared for manned flight after just two launches. By Christmas 1968, the agency was ready to take its biggest gamble yet: the unforgettable flight that carried Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders into lunar orbit.
PLUS audio/video in the digital edition:
With the Apollo Command Module in need of a major safety overhaul, the Lunar Module a year behind schedule, and the mighty Saturn V Moon rocket still months away from its first flight, time was running out for NASA.
The Soviet Union, too, ran into trouble as it took shortcuts to develop its own giant Moon rocket and to prepare Soyuz for docking in Earth orbit – culminating in the equally tragic death, in April 1967, of former Voskhod 1 cosmonaut Vladimir Komorov.
Shaken, but far from beaten, NASA bounced back from its setbacks magnificently. In the space of just 23 months, the Apollo program was reconfigured to work around the delays to the Lunar Module and the Saturn V was cleared for manned flight after just two launches. By Christmas 1968, the agency was ready to take its biggest gamble yet: the unforgettable flight that carried Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders into lunar orbit.
PLUS audio/video in the digital edition:
• Remembering the crew of Apollo 1
• NASA's Lunar Orbiter program
• The Soyuz 1 disaster
• The Soviet Spiral Orbiter spaceplane
• Developing the Saturn V
• First Saturn V test: the launch of Apollo 4
• The launch of Apollo 7
• Soyuz 2 and 3 attempt to dock in orbit
• The L1/Zond circumlunar flights
• The USSR's Venera 4 Venus probe
• The launch of Apollo 8
• Remembering Apollo 8's flight around the Moon
• NASA's Lunar Orbiter program
• The Soyuz 1 disaster
• The Soviet Spiral Orbiter spaceplane
• Developing the Saturn V
• First Saturn V test: the launch of Apollo 4
• The launch of Apollo 7
• Soyuz 2 and 3 attempt to dock in orbit
• The L1/Zond circumlunar flights
• The USSR's Venera 4 Venus probe
• The launch of Apollo 8
• Remembering Apollo 8's flight around the Moon
