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At T plus 40 seconds Apollo 8 went supersonic and the ride smoothed out. Now it was quite again, but Borman kept a watchful eye on the trajectory readouts. If there was a Saturn malfunction he could whisk the capsule away just by twisting the abort handle. This would trigger the escape rocket.
Apollo 8 Lunar Plan
Apollo 8 Staging
View from Apollo 8 in Earth orbit
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Until now the astronauts knew, in the back of their minds, there was a possibility that a malfunction would turn this countdown into just another practice run and they would have to get out and try again another day. But, as the count reached T minus 15 minutes, there was no doubt, they were really going.
Command Module Main Control Panel
Launch of Apollo 8 with Crescent Moon
Apollo 8 Clears the Tower
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When Deke Slayton and Stu Roosa arrived at pad 34 they saw ambulances waiting in vain at the base of the launch tower. They boarded the small elevator and rode to level A-8, 218 feet up, and headed across the swing arm to the clean room…
Exterior of the Command Module was blackened from eruption of the fire after the cabin wall failed
Interior of Apollo 1 Command Module after the fire
Apollo 1 Environmental Control System, located in the forward section near the floor. The fire may have started in this area.
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As contractors worried about technical problems with the Atlas, Once again NASA, faced the necessity for a quick recovery plan when a target vehicle failed to reach orbit. You may recall the first time was with Gemini 6. But this time Nasa had something in the hangar, an alternate vehicle – the Augment Target Docking Adapter also known as the ATDA…
Angry Alligator
Stafford in Orbit
ATDA
