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SA-3 (Apollo)
Encyclopedia
SA-3 was the third flight Saturn I
launch vehicle, the second flight of Project Highwater
and was part of the Apollo Program
.
. Each mission had a slight difference from the last, testing another aspect of the system. For SA-3, the major difference from SA-1 and SA-2
was that for the first time the first stage would be fully loaded with propellants, instead of the 83% that was carried on the first two flights.
Also on the agenda for this flight was a test of the retrorockets that fired to separate the first and second stages during a launch. On SA-3 these were not needed as the second stage was just a ballasted dummy. There were also other changes in the ability of the rocket to downlink data, as for the first time this was in a digital
stream, vital for the future automatic checking process that would go on before future launches.
And as with SA-2, this flight was part of Project Highwater
, in which the second stage was filled with 109,000 liters of water
. An explosive charge was detonated that exploded the rocket, forming an artificial cloud.
The third development flight of the SA-3 was on 16 November 1962. This was a tense time in the United States
, as it was only a couple of weeks after the Cuban Missile Crisis
. As such there were no outside visitors in the launch control center.
As this flight contained more fuel than the previous two rockets, the maximum height of the suborbital flight was 167 km, four minutes 53 seconds after launch. The extra fuel allowed the engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center
to see how the rocket reacted to a slower acceleration and longer burn time.
At the maximum height the charge was detonated, exploding the rocket. This happened correctly but poor telemetry made the results questionable.
Saturn I
The Saturn I was the United States' first heavy-lift dedicated space launcher, a rocket designed specifically to launch large payloads into low Earth orbit. Most of the rocket's power came from a clustered lower stage consisting of tanks taken from older rocket designs and strapped together to make...
launch vehicle, the second flight of Project Highwater
Project Highwater
Project Highwater was an experiment carried out as part of two of the test flights of NASA's Saturn I launch vehicle , successfully launched into a sub-orbital trajectory from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Highwater experiment sought to determine the effect of a large volume of water suddenly...
and was part of the Apollo Program
Project Apollo
The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...
.
Objectives
SA-3 continued the testing regimen that had started with SA-1SA-1 (Apollo)
SA-1 was the first Saturn I space launch vehicle, the first in the Saturn family, and was part of the American Apollo program. The rocket was launched on October 27, 1961 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.-Objectives:...
. Each mission had a slight difference from the last, testing another aspect of the system. For SA-3, the major difference from SA-1 and SA-2
SA-2 (Apollo)
SA-2 was the second flight of the Saturn I launch vehicle, the first flight of Project Highwater, and was part of the American Apollo program. The rocket was launched on April 25, 1962 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.-Objectives:...
was that for the first time the first stage would be fully loaded with propellants, instead of the 83% that was carried on the first two flights.
Also on the agenda for this flight was a test of the retrorockets that fired to separate the first and second stages during a launch. On SA-3 these were not needed as the second stage was just a ballasted dummy. There were also other changes in the ability of the rocket to downlink data, as for the first time this was in a digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
stream, vital for the future automatic checking process that would go on before future launches.
And as with SA-2, this flight was part of Project Highwater
Project Highwater
Project Highwater was an experiment carried out as part of two of the test flights of NASA's Saturn I launch vehicle , successfully launched into a sub-orbital trajectory from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Highwater experiment sought to determine the effect of a large volume of water suddenly...
, in which the second stage was filled with 109,000 liters of water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
. An explosive charge was detonated that exploded the rocket, forming an artificial cloud.
Flight
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as it was only a couple of weeks after the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
. As such there were no outside visitors in the launch control center.
As this flight contained more fuel than the previous two rockets, the maximum height of the suborbital flight was 167 km, four minutes 53 seconds after launch. The extra fuel allowed the engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center
Marshall Space Flight Center
The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. The largest center of NASA, MSFC's first mission was developing the Saturn launch vehicles for the Apollo moon program...
to see how the rocket reacted to a slower acceleration and longer burn time.
At the maximum height the charge was detonated, exploding the rocket. This happened correctly but poor telemetry made the results questionable.
External links
- http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=SATURNSA3
- Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations
- http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/sa-3/sa-3.html
- The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology