A-001
A-001 left the ground at 12:59:59.7 UTC on the 13th of May 1964, a launch time recorded to a tenth of a second. It was the second abort test of the Apollo spacecraft. The goal was not to reach space but to prove that a crew capsule could be pulled away from a rocket in trouble. Why did engineers choose this particular moment in a rocket's climb to stage an emergency? What did the test prove about the escape system? And what went wrong with the parachutes on the way down?
Pad Abort Test 1 had already shown what happened when the launch escape system fired at ground level. A-001 asked a harder question. Engineers wanted to see the escape system carry the command module away from a launch vehicle in the transonic region of the Saturn trajectory. That region is marked by high dynamic pressure, meaning the air pushes hard against anything moving through it. An emergency there would be punishing, and the test was designed to show that the escape system could still do its job. A-001 was therefore the second in a series, each step built to cover a different abort condition.
Little Joe II was the launch vehicle for A-001, the second rocket in a series of that name. It had been developed so that the launch escape system could be tested early and economically. Seven solid-propellant motors powered it. One was an Algol sustainer motor, which supplied thrust for about 42 seconds. Six Recruit motors surrounded it, and they burned out roughly 1.5 seconds after ignition. On top sat the launch escape system and a boilerplate command and service module, designated BP-12. A boilerplate is a stand-in built to match the real spacecraft rather than a flight-ready one.
Wind conditions on the first attempt were unacceptable, and the launch was pushed back by 24 hours. The next try went ahead. A ground-commanded abort signal then triggered a chain of events. The Algol motor casing was deliberately ruptured, which ended the thrust of the launch vehicle. The launch escape and pitch control motors ignited, and the command module separated from the service module. The command module's aft heat shield suffered some structural damage when it struck the booster again as thrust ended. At about 44 seconds, the tower jettison motor fired and cleanly separated the escape tower from the command module.
The Earth landing sequence ran normally until a riser on one of the three main parachutes snapped. It had been rubbing against the structure on the command module upper deck. That parachute separated, leaving two to carry the load. The capsule came down at 30 to 26 feet per second, faster than the predicted 24 feet per second with three parachutes. It landed 22,400 feet downrange. That happened 350.2 seconds after it had reached its peak of 29,772 feet above mean sea level. Apart from the parachute failure, every test objective was met.
The A-001 boilerplate survives today at the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey, California. Visitors there can see the hardware that stood in for an Apollo command module during this early abort test.
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Common questions
What was the A-001 Apollo abort test?
A-001 was the second abort test of the Apollo spacecraft, flown on the 13th of May 1964. It tested whether the launch escape system could pull the command module away from a launch vehicle.
Why was A-001 flown in the transonic region?
A-001 was flown to show the escape system could propel the command module away from a launch vehicle in the high-dynamic-pressure transonic region of the Saturn trajectory. Pad Abort Test 1 had only covered ignition at ground level.
What rocket launched A-001?
A-001 was launched on the second Little Joe II vehicle. It used one Algol sustainer motor, which gave thrust for about 42 seconds, and six Recruit motors, which burned out about 1.5 seconds after ignition.
What went wrong during the A-001 landing?
One of the three main parachutes on the A-001 command module failed when its riser broke from rubbing against the upper deck structure. The module descended on two parachutes at 30 to 26 feet per second instead of the predicted 24.
Was the A-001 test considered a success?
Yes, except for the parachute failure, all A-001 test objectives were satisfied. The command module landed 22,400 feet downrange, 350.2 seconds after reaching 29,772 feet above mean sea level.
Where is the A-001 boilerplate today?
The A-001 boilerplate is at the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey, California.