The Stack: "Assembling Apollo" ~ 1966 NASA Project Apollo Digest

more at http://quickfound.net/

The stack: the three-stage launch vehicle, Saturn V, topped by its payload, the Apollo spacecraft.

Originally a public domain film from NASA, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_(spacecraft)

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The Apollo spacecraft was composed of three parts designed to accomplish the American Apollo program's goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning them safely to Earth. The expendable (single-use) spacecraft consisted of a combined command and service module (CSM) and an Apollo Lunar Module (LM). Two additional components complemented the spacecraft stack for space vehicle assembly: a spacecraft–LM adapter (SLA) designed to shield the LM from the aerodynamic stress of launch and to connect the CSM to the Saturn launch vehicle; and a launch escape system (LES) to carry the crew in the command module safely away from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch emergency.

The design was based on the lunar orbit rendezvous approach: two docked spacecraft were sent to the Moon and went into lunar orbit. While the LM separated and landed, the CSM remained in orbit. After the lunar excursion, the two craft rendezvoused and docked in lunar orbit, and the CSM returned the crew to Earth. The command module was the only part of the space vehicle that returned with the crew to the Earth's surface.

The LES was jettisoned during launch upon reaching the point where it was no longer needed, and the SLA remained attached to the launch vehicle's upper stage. Two uncrewed CSM's, one uncrewed LM and one crewed CSM were carried into space by Saturn IB launch vehicles for low Earth orbit Apollo missions. Larger Saturn Vs launched two uncrewed CSM's on high Earth orbit test flights, the CSM on one crewed lunar mission, the complete spacecraft on one crewed low Earth orbit mission and eight crewed lunar missions. After conclusion of the Apollo program, four CSM's were launched on Saturn IBs for three Skylab Earth orbital missions and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project...

The spacecraft–LM adapter (SLA), built by North American Aviation (Rockwell), was a conical aluminum structure which supported the service module above the Saturn S-IVB rocket stage. It protected the LM, the service propulsion system engine nozzle, and the launch vehicle to service module umbilical during launch and ascent through the atmosphere.

The SLA was composed of four fixed 7-foot (2.1 m) tall panels bolted to the Instrument Unit on top of the S-IVB stage, which were connected via hinges to four 21-foot-tall (6.4 m) panels which would open from the top similar to flower petals.

The SLA was made from 1.7-inch (43 mm) thick aluminum honeycomb material. The exterior of the SLA was covered by a thin (0.03–0.2 inches or 0.76–5.08 millimetres) layer of cork and painted white to minimize thermal stresses during launch and ascent.

The service module was bolted to a flange at the top of the longer panels, and power to the SLA multiply-redundant pyrotechnics was provided by an umbilical. Because a failure to separate from the S-IVB stage could leave the crew stranded in orbit, the separation system used multiple signal paths, multiple detonators and multiple explosive charges where the detonation of one charge would set off another even if the detonator on that charge failed to function...