I believe that these unmanned launches were weighted with water just as the saturn 1Bs were, the IU and ground operations were in total control of the launch vehicle
it defies belief than an unimaginable colossus like this was built by human hands. even to my knowledgeable eye it seems as much alchemy and magic was put into the saturn V's construction as chemistry and metallurgy. tragic that it seems our leadership has lost such dreams.
Interesting fact;s....If the lift-off thrust ( 7.5 million pounds)) were converted to electrical power there would be enough electricity to light the entire east coast for the 2 minutes 39 seconds the first stage fired ....Each one of the 5 engines on the first stage gulped 3 ton s of fuel per second ,so, each second the rocket got 15 tons lighter.......I.m in awe of the great genius ( Werner Vaughn Braun ) who designed this and made it work perfectly for every manned flight.
I remember this launch in late 1967. I was getting ready to go to school and was fortunate to see it live. Nobody was prepared for the awesome sound and vibration that the Saturn V created as it left the pad...those rickety scaffolds and temporary press stands almost didn't survive, as you could hear in the commentary.
@ingareinar007 Yep it was unmanned! Though I bet there would have been a few in the astronaut office who would have volunteered to go. The 1st "all up test" of a USA manned vehicle without a previous unmanned test would be STS-1 in 1981. That flight, and this, are, IMHO, quite phenonimal moments in spaceflight.
@lunarmodule5 Thax for the info. I actually rememer Crippen and Young in 1981, as a 9 year old kid. Young must be of historys most experienced guys! He has done ehh.. a lot! :)))
@lunarmodule5 Thax for the info. I actually rembemer Crippen and Young in 1981, as a 9 year old kid. Young must be of historys most experienced guys! He has done ehh.. a lot! :)))
@lunarmodule5 Thax for the info. I actually remember Crippen and Young in 1981, as a 9 year old kid. Young must be of historys most experienced guys! He has done ehh.. a lot! :)))
Check out the NBC feed of this launch and you can hear Cronkite losing his mind in the backround. The mighty Saturn Five. Best name ever for a Launch Vehicle.
Lol. Gotta love Walter Cronkite. I remember watching those documentaries of his after he died. He said that at the launch of Apollo 4 he held the windows because they were shaking. He was later told that they could have broken because of that. XD
I'll be 45 in July and I remember the later launches of the Saturn V's. My uncle worked the launch that day for NASA and although my grandfather died in Florida that day, he could not get time off (until my father could get down there to take over) until the launch was done. I love all of your space videos and it is a shame we have stepped so far back. B-(
@NowhereMan1966 You will be happy to know we haven't stepped back at all. We now have multiple deep space systems in development, many with much more capability than Apollo. What we are in now is like a Gemini phase, and what we come out of it with will make Apollo look like mercury.
Woah..First Saturn V launch. I could just imagine their excitement.
Yes even the Saturn V's fuel was better. Now we have the Ares 1-CRAX with such nasty fuel it burned up 39B. Hm..Kerosene and Liquid Oxygen vs. Aluminum percloric cyanide toxic destroy the atmosphere 10000 degrees shit.
We lived 20 miles south of Cape Canaveral (Cape Kennedy at the time) and it rattled our windows. You should have seen the night launch they did. Don't remember which mission though. Lit up the sky like daytime.
@durdle1701 I think that was Apollo 17, the last one. Apollo 12 was launched in a thunderstorm (and was hit by lightning twice), but I don't know what time of day it was.
@durdle1701 That was Apollo 17, the final one of course. Due to only being 3 at the time and living in London couldn't get to see it. You are incredibly lucky :D
just way to cool. Now, here in 2011 what do we have? freaking hitchng rides with the russkies. isnt that some bullshit? if you told america that back then they would have said you were insane.
who is this guy?? wasn't he the Apollo 11 countdown announcer?..with the New York? accent.... Is that uncle Waldo?... never watched CBS during the launches or cared for Cronkite
That must have been quite a sight watching the first ever Saturn V go up. No one knew exactly what to expect. When that baby fired and when all hell broke loose, the media who were in attendance were blown away by the sheer power of that vehicle. God, I wish I could have been alive to see it.
@RebelYank -Can you imagine time going by ever so slow as that distant pencil across the lagoon (3 1/2 miles was the closest allowable distance) is shooting blinding flames and huge growing dark clouds thousands of feet into the sky, during this long wait you hear absolutely nothing and assume you're probably too far to hear it. After what seems an eternity you finally see motion. About the time they announce "tower clear" the lagoon suddenly flashes as the horiffic sound finally arrives.
This was an era. Unfortunate Apollo is more history than legacy. When America returns to manned deep space exploration, it will have to go from 200,000 skilled workmen to 2,000. The 'double-down' approach to going into space isn't an option; We've improved every aspect of technology in 50 years, but the challenge of getting 1 ton into orbit for every 80 to 100 tons of launch expenditure is still a problem. Personally, building spacecraft that can be ran like jets or trains is the way to go.
Thanks for posting this! I'm 43 and it brings back alot of memories ..more so the later apollo missions as when this bird flew i was like 8 months old..I get annoyed at "some" of the younger generations who claim it was all a hoax..B.S. Much more impressive then the damn shuttle program which to me, was a waiste of time and at a cost of 14 lives for mearly hauling shit into orbit...should have been like the Russians and stuck with the rockets...namley the saturn 1B for going into orbit
@RFKFANTS67 1B for getting into Orbit and Saturn V for deep space and assembly of an even bigger and cheaper space station! We'd be to Mars and back if we would have stuck to our original space platform. Imagine a Mars rocket built in LEO or on a moon base, mmm.
@RFKFANTS67 Both my folks worked in the space program, the twits who say it was all fake should have felt this rocket take off. It would rattle your teeth. Besides, a conspiracy of that magnitude could not be kept under wraps for over 40 years. Thanks for posting this.
Awesome and impressive. Please keep posting these. Brings back childhood memories of my mother waking me up (California) to watch the Apollo launches.
From the sound of Cronkite's voice, sounds like he had a rocking good time (I know bad pun on Rocket but couldn't resist it lol) but still great video of a good launch. I was wondering if there is any video from the 1st flight of the Lunar Module? I believe it was Apollo 3 in which it was flown
Great clip. I have just posted one similar with Walter Cronkite's commentary being followed when someone else had to grab a micophone and run outside to continue talking amid tape recorders falling off shelves!
I was delighted to see that the CBS-TV audio was included.
Waletr Cronkite and astronaut Wally Schirra were trying to describe the launch while preventing their anchor trailer from caving-in on them!
I'd like to see the video portion of the CBS coverage and see the brief cutaway from the rising rocket that showed Cronkite and Schirra trying to hold the window and ceiling up!
@altfactor well, just to update people who seem to be interested in this flight and the footage (that includes me!!). I have heard that the full version might be available for viewing soon! However, nothing is confirmed yet. Watch this space (no pun intended!).
Can anyone confirm that there was a Soviet trawler offshore watching this also? I heard that NASA had to really convince Von Braun and his team to do this all-up test because they feared an accident would heavily damage KSC.
@vitoduval Soviet trawlers were regularly seen off the Florida coast, outside of territorial limits, for virtually every major U.S. space launch from the beginning.
Love the reaction of the launch controllers at liftoff! And Cronkite's excited commentary as well! They must have known they were witnessing a truly one-of-a-kind vehicle!
Hi Ugowar - I think its sometimes the actual footage. Some of it was recorded years ago on VHS and has been transferred to DVD or digital. Some of the transfers I did a few years ago on a not so great DVDRecorder and some of the video didnt transfer to the best quality (I have to do it all again but that will take a lot of time). The other could be the way it is transferred from DVD to AVI or MPEG for upload to Utube.
@lunarmodule5 Aha, the VHS to digital transfer would explain it as the glitches look like classic cases of dropped frames (usually when the digital encoder/codec is not fast enough to keep up).
Thanks for these great historic clips again, especially this Apollo 4 stuff of which I've only seen a short liftoff segment also seen here. Even Cronkite's excited reporting was nowhere to be found up until the last several of months.
I believe that these unmanned launches were weighted with water just as the saturn 1Bs were, the IU and ground operations were in total control of the launch vehicle
Clitmukis 1 week ago
it defies belief than an unimaginable colossus like this was built by human hands. even to my knowledgeable eye it seems as much alchemy and magic was put into the saturn V's construction as chemistry and metallurgy. tragic that it seems our leadership has lost such dreams.
oldfrend 1 month ago
what mission made it to the moon apollo burnt apollo 13 didnt make it
rtti88 1 month ago
After our triumph during WWII, the Korean war, and followed by Apollo, then the downfall of our great nation started
akkalakakalakka 2 months ago
love hearing Walter describing this...classic. back then, we went places. not so much today.
usaeagle1776 3 months ago
that is pure power
railfanatic844 3 months ago
Cronkite in Beast Mode !
moboutmen 4 months ago
Interesting fact;s....If the lift-off thrust ( 7.5 million pounds)) were converted to electrical power there would be enough electricity to light the entire east coast for the 2 minutes 39 seconds the first stage fired ....Each one of the 5 engines on the first stage gulped 3 ton s of fuel per second ,so, each second the rocket got 15 tons lighter.......I.m in awe of the great genius ( Werner Vaughn Braun ) who designed this and made it work perfectly for every manned flight.
54analsex 5 months ago
I remember this launch in late 1967. I was getting ready to go to school and was fortunate to see it live. Nobody was prepared for the awesome sound and vibration that the Saturn V created as it left the pad...those rickety scaffolds and temporary press stands almost didn't survive, as you could hear in the commentary.
JBM425 6 months ago
Thanx for this video. Apollo 4 was unmanned right? It always amazes me to watch footage like this. Hope we can go back to the moon :)
ingareinar007 6 months ago
@ingareinar007 Yep it was unmanned! Though I bet there would have been a few in the astronaut office who would have volunteered to go. The 1st "all up test" of a USA manned vehicle without a previous unmanned test would be STS-1 in 1981. That flight, and this, are, IMHO, quite phenonimal moments in spaceflight.
lunarmodule5 6 months ago
@lunarmodule5 Thax for the info. I actually rememer Crippen and Young in 1981, as a 9 year old kid. Young must be of historys most experienced guys! He has done ehh.. a lot! :)))
ingareinar007 6 months ago
@lunarmodule5 Thax for the info. I actually rembemer Crippen and Young in 1981, as a 9 year old kid. Young must be of historys most experienced guys! He has done ehh.. a lot! :)))
ingareinar007 6 months ago
@lunarmodule5 Thax for the info. I actually remember Crippen and Young in 1981, as a 9 year old kid. Young must be of historys most experienced guys! He has done ehh.. a lot! :)))
ingareinar007 6 months ago
@ingareinar007 we wont go back to the moon somthing went wrong up there bad enough for us not to back to the moon
TheBEVERIDGE71 5 months ago
Check out the NBC feed of this launch and you can hear Cronkite losing his mind in the backround. The mighty Saturn Five. Best name ever for a Launch Vehicle.
moboutmen 7 months ago
The Mighty Saturn V. Best name ever.
moboutmen 7 months ago
Okay, rest of the world, time for you all to top that. I hear crickets. That's what I thought. LOL.
jakfuki 7 months ago
The nighttime launch was Apollo 17...I remember it well, it was delayed and took off after 12 midnight in Dec of 72.
saros61 7 months ago
Lol. Gotta love Walter Cronkite. I remember watching those documentaries of his after he died. He said that at the launch of Apollo 4 he held the windows because they were shaking. He was later told that they could have broken because of that. XD
KaTzaNdSTuFf 7 months ago
'BY GOD!! THE BUILDING'S SHAKING HERE!! THE BUILDING'S SHAKING!!'
What a moment that must have been.
ceredigio 9 months ago
I'll be 45 in July and I remember the later launches of the Saturn V's. My uncle worked the launch that day for NASA and although my grandfather died in Florida that day, he could not get time off (until my father could get down there to take over) until the launch was done. I love all of your space videos and it is a shame we have stepped so far back. B-(
NowhereMan1966 9 months ago
@NowhereMan1966 You will be happy to know we haven't stepped back at all. We now have multiple deep space systems in development, many with much more capability than Apollo. What we are in now is like a Gemini phase, and what we come out of it with will make Apollo look like mercury.
monokhem 8 months ago
Woah..First Saturn V launch. I could just imagine their excitement.
Yes even the Saturn V's fuel was better. Now we have the Ares 1-CRAX with such nasty fuel it burned up 39B. Hm..Kerosene and Liquid Oxygen vs. Aluminum percloric cyanide toxic destroy the atmosphere 10000 degrees shit.
mohammeddavis 9 months ago
I believe this was the first all up test of the "big"rocket stack and unmanned
stormrider620331 11 months ago
We lived 20 miles south of Cape Canaveral (Cape Kennedy at the time) and it rattled our windows. You should have seen the night launch they did. Don't remember which mission though. Lit up the sky like daytime.
durdle1701 11 months ago 4
@durdle1701 I think that was Apollo 17, the last one. Apollo 12 was launched in a thunderstorm (and was hit by lightning twice), but I don't know what time of day it was.
scabbarae 10 months ago
@scabbarae Apollo 12 lifted off at 1122 Eastern time on 14 November 1969.
ceredigio 6 months ago
@durdle1701 That was Apollo 17, the final one of course. Due to only being 3 at the time and living in London couldn't get to see it. You are incredibly lucky :D
DogmeUK 6 months ago
@durdle1701 IT WAS APOLLO 17
Virgocygni56 6 months ago
@durdle1701 The night launch was Apollo 17, the last lunar mission
witness2history 2 months ago
RIP Water Cronkite, a great newsman if there ever was one.
gamersedge 1 year ago
just way to cool. Now, here in 2011 what do we have? freaking hitchng rides with the russkies. isnt that some bullshit? if you told america that back then they would have said you were insane.
uzimodem 1 year ago 2
one of the greatest moments of the 20th century.
SkyyCaptainn 1 year ago
who is this guy?? wasn't he the Apollo 11 countdown announcer?..with the New York? accent.... Is that uncle Waldo?... never watched CBS during the launches or cared for Cronkite
irish89055 1 year ago
That must have been quite a sight watching the first ever Saturn V go up. No one knew exactly what to expect. When that baby fired and when all hell broke loose, the media who were in attendance were blown away by the sheer power of that vehicle. God, I wish I could have been alive to see it.
RebelYank 1 year ago
@RebelYank -Can you imagine time going by ever so slow as that distant pencil across the lagoon (3 1/2 miles was the closest allowable distance) is shooting blinding flames and huge growing dark clouds thousands of feet into the sky, during this long wait you hear absolutely nothing and assume you're probably too far to hear it. After what seems an eternity you finally see motion. About the time they announce "tower clear" the lagoon suddenly flashes as the horiffic sound finally arrives.
MightySaturn5 1 year ago
This was an era. Unfortunate Apollo is more history than legacy. When America returns to manned deep space exploration, it will have to go from 200,000 skilled workmen to 2,000. The 'double-down' approach to going into space isn't an option; We've improved every aspect of technology in 50 years, but the challenge of getting 1 ton into orbit for every 80 to 100 tons of launch expenditure is still a problem. Personally, building spacecraft that can be ran like jets or trains is the way to go.
granddad2002 1 year ago
Thanks for posting this! I'm 43 and it brings back alot of memories ..more so the later apollo missions as when this bird flew i was like 8 months old..I get annoyed at "some" of the younger generations who claim it was all a hoax..B.S. Much more impressive then the damn shuttle program which to me, was a waiste of time and at a cost of 14 lives for mearly hauling shit into orbit...should have been like the Russians and stuck with the rockets...namley the saturn 1B for going into orbit
RFKFANTS67 1 year ago 4
@RFKFANTS67 1B for getting into Orbit and Saturn V for deep space and assembly of an even bigger and cheaper space station! We'd be to Mars and back if we would have stuck to our original space platform. Imagine a Mars rocket built in LEO or on a moon base, mmm.
ModernGeek 1 year ago
@ModernGeek yes, a very reliable rocket... best ever..
irish89055 1 year ago
@RFKFANTS67 we should be throwing weekly payloads to mars on nuclear rockets by now - but hey at least our airports are safe amirite
yarahahrwe 1 year ago
@RFKFANTS67 Both my folks worked in the space program, the twits who say it was all fake should have felt this rocket take off. It would rattle your teeth. Besides, a conspiracy of that magnitude could not be kept under wraps for over 40 years. Thanks for posting this.
durdle1701 7 months ago
Awesome and impressive. Please keep posting these. Brings back childhood memories of my mother waking me up (California) to watch the Apollo launches.
DawnWeatherby 1 year ago
@DawnWeatherby Thanx for the comment....there will be more to come...watch this space!
lunarmodule5 1 year ago
freaking awesome..even 40 plus years later. Now we have nothing, going no where. disgusting.
uzimodem 1 year ago
From the sound of Cronkite's voice, sounds like he had a rocking good time (I know bad pun on Rocket but couldn't resist it lol) but still great video of a good launch. I was wondering if there is any video from the 1st flight of the Lunar Module? I believe it was Apollo 3 in which it was flown
Starwing1272 1 year ago
@Starwing1272 It was Apollo 5....flown on a Saturn 1....I will try and get some footage at some point ok?
lunarmodule5 1 year ago
Great clip. I have just posted one similar with Walter Cronkite's commentary being followed when someone else had to grab a micophone and run outside to continue talking amid tape recorders falling off shelves!
maxcockatoo 1 year ago
Ahhh The Saturn V... such a beautiful piece of Machinery.
Mode1charlie 1 year ago
I was delighted to see that the CBS-TV audio was included.
Waletr Cronkite and astronaut Wally Schirra were trying to describe the launch while preventing their anchor trailer from caving-in on them!
I'd like to see the video portion of the CBS coverage and see the brief cutaway from the rising rocket that showed Cronkite and Schirra trying to hold the window and ceiling up!
altfactor 1 year ago
@altfactor well, just to update people who seem to be interested in this flight and the footage (that includes me!!). I have heard that the full version might be available for viewing soon! However, nothing is confirmed yet. Watch this space (no pun intended!).
lunarmodule5 1 year ago
@lunarmodule5 and an update - The footage that wetought might be what we are all looking for isn't the one!!!! We will keep searching for it!
lunarmodule5 1 year ago
@altfactor I Have just put a video of Apollo4 with all of Walter
Cronkite's commentary.
maxcockatoo 1 year ago
wow, the 5 F-1 engines turned 7am into night
lolvks 1 year ago
@lolvks Didn't you mean the engines turned 7 A.M. into Noon??
altfactor 1 year ago
@altfactor heck it could turn midnight into midday.
What I meant was that it was so bright that the cameras turned the sky BLACK
lolvks 1 year ago
Can anyone confirm that there was a Soviet trawler offshore watching this also? I heard that NASA had to really convince Von Braun and his team to do this all-up test because they feared an accident would heavily damage KSC.
vitoduval 1 year ago
@vitoduval Soviet trawlers were regularly seen off the Florida coast, outside of territorial limits, for virtually every major U.S. space launch from the beginning.
altfactor 1 year ago
Great job and thanks
MightySaturn5 1 year ago
Love the reaction of the launch controllers at liftoff! And Cronkite's excited commentary as well! They must have known they were witnessing a truly one-of-a-kind vehicle!
ceredigio 1 year ago
@ceredigio I have just put a clip of Apollo4 on which includes Walter Cronkite's commentary. Just search for the launch of apollo 4.
maxcockatoo 1 year ago
Thanks for posting such a rare gem!!!
rollprogramhouston 1 year ago
Why do some of your videos freeze up momentarily at certain points - such as this one at 1:34 into the video and then again at 1:39?
Great stuff otherwise.
ugowar 1 year ago
Hi Ugowar - I think its sometimes the actual footage. Some of it was recorded years ago on VHS and has been transferred to DVD or digital. Some of the transfers I did a few years ago on a not so great DVDRecorder and some of the video didnt transfer to the best quality (I have to do it all again but that will take a lot of time). The other could be the way it is transferred from DVD to AVI or MPEG for upload to Utube.
lunarmodule5 1 year ago
@lunarmodule5 Aha, the VHS to digital transfer would explain it as the glitches look like classic cases of dropped frames (usually when the digital encoder/codec is not fast enough to keep up).
Thanks for these great historic clips again, especially this Apollo 4 stuff of which I've only seen a short liftoff segment also seen here. Even Cronkite's excited reporting was nowhere to be found up until the last several of months.
ugowar 1 year ago
@ugowar hopefully I will have a more complete version in the not too distant future.
lunarmodule5 1 year ago