Hayadan > Apollo 7 – first manned flight that tested the technology for the moon landing a year later

Apollo 7 – first manned flight that tested the technology for the moon landing a year later

As with every subsequent space disaster, the Apollo 1 disaster led to a year and a half hiatus, during which only unmanned launches were carried out. The Apollo 7 crew were the first to fly the Apollo spacecraft

Apollo 1 disaster
Roger Chaffee, Edward Witt and Virgil Grissom should be considered the number 1 team in the Apollo program. This team was scheduled to orbit the Earth in the Apollo spacecraft on February 1, 1967.
January 27, 1967, was a routine test day, a few weeks before the launch a disaster happened that delayed the Apollo manned flights for a year and a half. As usual, tests of the space suits were carried out, gradual lowering of the pressure in the spaceship, testing of the communication devices, starting of engines and more. In accordance with practice, a countdown was conducted before a real launch, but instead of taking off as soon as the countdown reaches zero, the astronauts exit the spacecraft.

At the count of minus 10, the count was stopped due to electrical disturbances in the communication channels between the spacecraft and the technicians in the control center. It took 15 minutes to fix the system. All were ready for the renewal of the count. Suddenly some technicians noticed a blinding flash inside the spaceship accompanied by one of the astronauts calling out "Fire in the spaceship". Heavy smoke began to seep out of the spaceship and prevented any access to it. When the spacecraft hatch was opened it became clear that the flames had penetrated the astronauts' spacesuits and ended their lives.
In the investigation it became clear that Roger Chaffee first sounded a fire warning, accompanied by faint signs of traffic. Six seconds later, Witt reported a fire in the spaceship. The instruments of the control center showed that the pressure was increasing (initially it was stable. 1.1 atmospheres). Three seconds after Witt's report came another report from Chappie of a fire accompanied by the sound of people moving. When the pressure in the spaceship rose to two atmospheres, the connection with the spaceship was cut off and its sides were torn. In fact, the astronauts suffered relatively minor burns. Cause of death as recorded, suffocation as a result of smoke inhalation.

Apollo 7 launch

Walter Shira, Don Eisella and Walter Cunningham were the replacement crew for crew number 1. After a series of unmanned launches the new crew was launched in Apollo 7 for a trip around the Earth. In this flight they circled the earth 163 times in a time of 260 hours and 9 minutes. The spacecraft was launched on October 11, 1968 two minutes late. The launch was made using a Saturn 1B launch vehicle. 10 minutes after the launch, the spacecraft entered an orbit whose distance from the ground is 227.7 -283 km. Shira's heart rate during the launch reached 88 beats per minute.

Apollo 7 entered orbit with the launch vehicle next to it in the second stage. At this point, most of the fuel has already been used, although there are 1000 kg of liquid oxygen and hydrogen left in it. At the end of the first round, the excess materials were removed. The fluid flow provided thrust that increased the spacecraft's speed and raised the spacecraft's epigeo to 310.9. Then Shira activated a small explosive charge that detached the second stage from the spacecraft.

The lunar lander did not take part in this flight. The astronauts had to feel as comfortable as possible. They were not required to wear the space suits and could wash their faces with cold or hot water from regular taps. The water came from the toilet compartment of the spacecraft where the fuel cells that produce electrical power are located. When one of the astronauts is driving the spaceship his friends are sleeping.

The purpose of the flight was to conduct a series of complex and complicated experiments to confirm the spacecraft's ability to go on a journey to the moon and back, with each and every experiment including secondary, but no less important, objectives:
A. Meeting between the spacecraft and the second stage of the Saturn launcher. The meeting was held on the second day of the flight and was a complete success. The Apollo team found this stage of the launcher with a telescope and approached to within 23 meters of it. All this at an altitude of 150 km from the ground. Astronauts had the option of reducing the distance between the two bodies. Since the second stage of the launcher was moving in an uncontrolled manner, there was a fear of a collision, the astronauts preferred to keep a distance of 23 meters from it. All the while Shira navigated the spacecraft.
The goals of the experiment:

Conduct a general rehearsal for the flight to the moon.
To demonstrate one of the options for rescuing astronauts flying to the moon in the event that they are captured by the moon's gravity without the possibility of returning to Earth.
Explore the fog covering the windows of the spaceship. For the first time this phenomenon was encountered during the Gemini flights. The Apollo team had to test this phenomenon. This fog appeared when they met with the second stage of the launcher. At first one window was completely covered with fog and then the rest of the windows were covered.

B. Conduct simulated encounters with the lunar lander. Changing the flight direction and other maneuvers essential for lunar flights.

During the encounter with the second stage, the spacecraft moved away from it, made a 180 degree turn and returned to it.
Have a simulated encounter with a paratrooper.
Practice moving from one spacecraft to another.
After the 105th round of the Earth, the height of the orbit of the Aphigea spacecraft was raised and it was now 384 km instead of 245 km. The spacecraft engine ran for 70 seconds. The engine operations are controlled and supervised by a monitoring and navigation system. The purpose of this experiment was to estimate the amount of fuel consumed when changing the direction of flight.
In another experiment, the spacecraft was rocked freely to measure the amount of fuel consumed by the main engine and the extent of the impact of the shakes on the spacecraft and the crew. After a short time, the navigation engines were activated to stabilize the spacecraft.

third. Turn on the main engine in the toilet cabin eight times to test the maneuverability and movement of the spaceship and check with what accuracy the flight path of the spaceship can be corrected. The engine was activated during the encounters with the stage of the launcher. On October 14, the engine was turned on for nine seconds and put the spacecraft into a low orbit that is 162-287 km from the ground. On October 18, the engine was turned on for 66 seconds and the altitude was increased to 450 km.

Other experiments included testing the guidance and navigation system and the cooling units, filming a tropical storm approaching the USA (on October 13) and seven television broadcasts in which various operations were demonstrated and an explanation of the structure of the spacecraft was given. This flight went almost without incident. The only malfunctions were in the cooler and loss of electrical energy. On the first day of the flight the cooler froze and the systems related to it were temporarily silenced. On the 39th lap a short occurred due to the activation of many devices and a lot of energy was wasted. The faults were fixed by Walter Shira.

During the flight the astronauts suffered from colds (Shira was the first to catch a cold) and they took aspirin tablets. This cold caused many problems before landing. The astronauts were interested in wearing flight suits during landing or staying in their underwear. Shira suggested that their legs be attached to their chairs with duct tape that would be released after landing.

The astronauts feared that if they wore the helmets they would not be able to equalize the air pressure inside their ears, while without the helmets they could equalize the air pressure by blowing their noses. In the control center, the opinion was expressed that if they did not wear the space suits, their legs might break. Finally, it was decided that the astronauts would land wearing their spacesuits but without their helmets. After landing it turned out that this problem passed peacefully without any serious pain as they had initially feared. Shira suffered from slight dizziness upon landing. At Eisela's, fluids were discovered in her right ear after landing, since this is not serious, no problems arose.

On October 22, 10 days after the launch, the engine of the toilet compartment was activated for 11 seconds. 90 seconds later the lavatory cabin was disconnected and the command cabin entered the atmosphere. Apollo 7 landed 1750 km east of Cape Kennedy in the Atlantic Ocean, 12 km from the Ossex aircraft carrier.

The spacecraft landed upside down and due to this the antennas of the spacecraft sank in the water. This situation caused the disconnection with the spacecraft crew and anxiety arose for the fate of the astronauts. The spacecraft was soon found and brought aboard the aircraft carrier.

Additional chapters in the history of space exploration series:

The Apollo manned flight series