View from onboard Apollo 3's Saturn 1B rocket

[ApolloWasReal]

This is definitely a 2-stage Saturn IB; its S-IVB has 3 solid-fuel ullage rockets while the S-IVB on the Saturn V has only 2. From the one underperforming ullage rocket this appears to be AS-203, sometimes known as Apollo 2 (not 3). The ullage rockets actually fired for 4 seconds, so this appears to be at about 1/4 speed (96 fps).

[rickcain2320]

This shot was used repeatedly in the original "BattleStar Galactica" as a depiction of its main missiles firing at Cylon base ships.

[charliegoodboy]

Hard to believe it but that was normal speed--this was an unmanned mission and the stage containing the camera was "coasting" upward and purposely maneuvered to track the stage above, the camera lens was protected by thick glass, remember, in those days they had to recover the film for developing!

[ApolloWasReal]

@charliegoodboy I'm pretty sure this was not normal speed. According to the mission report, the three ullage rockets on the S-IVB fired for only 4 seconds but here we see them for 16. That implies a 4x camera frame rate, i.e., 96 fps or maybe 100 fps.

[malamagr]

Just FYI, this is very slow-mo. The staging happened quickly, in a couple of secs.

[DumbYankies]

any idea how many frames per second the camera is running at? This I imagine is a high speed camera and appears very slowed down ... im imagining that real separation to s-4b start was over in like 3 seconds?

[ApolloWasReal]

@DumbYankies According to the mission report the S-IVB ullage rockets fired for 4 seconds. Here they are seen for 16, so this would be slowed down by 4x.

[wiedep]

how was the camera recovered?

did it have a homing beacon?

what kind of shielding did the shielding have?

did they land on water or land?

[irish89055]

@wiedep as someone wrote earlier, watch the last two seconds and see the camera pod being ejected, to be recovered it had to have some type of shield, and may have been caught in the air as being parachuted, as earlier photographic satellite pods were recovered... and i'm sure it had a homing beacon... awesome footage..

[irish89055]

way kewl...



[kikaskilla]

Actually, this IS taken from a Saturn - 1B.... there was no Apollo 3 flight, and this is recorded on Apollo 7's Saturn S-1B stage. This same footage appears in the NASA original Apollo 7 flight video.

Also, this cannot be taken from an S-II because the S-II is 10m diameter, with a conical interstage, because the S-IV-B is 6.6m diameter. Seen here, the interstage is cylindrical. Because the S-IB stage is also 6.6m in diameter

[ApolloWasReal]

@kikaskilla I don't think there was an *official* Apollo 2 or 3 flight, but AS-203 (which this appears to be) is sometimes called Apollo 2 (not 3) and AS-202 is sometimes called Apollo 3 (not 2). There was of course no Apollo 1 flight, and the first "official" Apollo flight was Apollo 4, the first unmanned test flight of the Saturn V.

[Knohltorious]

Good comments. But what I realized is this: If this was taken from the S-II stage of Apollo 4 looking up at the S-IVB, how on Earth would they have been able to retrieve the video? S-IVB separated from an S-II at over 15,000 mph. The camera wouldn't have survived a re-entry at that speed--and it would have landed in the east Atlantic. This has to be from an S-IB looking up at an S-IVB of a Saturn IB.

[kargaroc386]

okay, it's from the separation of the second and third stage on Apollo 4

[ApolloWasReal]

@kargaroc386 Apollo 4 was the first unmanned test flight of the Saturn V, and this is definitely not a Saturn V. The 3 ullage rockets on the S-IVB give it away as a Saturn IB; the Saturn V version of the S-IVB had only 2 ullage rockets. This appears to be AS-203 (aka Apollo 2, not 3) as evidenced by the slightly underperforming ullage rocket. The ullage rockets on AS-202 (aka Apollo 3) were normal but one of the four *retrorockets* on the S-IB underperformed. Here they're normal.

[Zoomer30]

Right at the end you can see the camara pod getting ejected for its later recovery.

You youngins may not know this, but back in the old days, film had to go through a process called "development" whereby chemicals are used to make the the film viewable. How we got along is beyond me! Now we can see stuff like this 5 mins after a launch.

[davesnijder]

@Zoomer30 hey mister ''you youngins'' im 15 and i know how 35 and 8mm cameras work alright?xD dont u think were all stupid or something..

[matrix49A]

@davesnijder I guess Photoshop didn't have the right plugins back then hehe.

[matrix49A]

@davesnijder Sorry kid but the average 15 yo can't even keep his pants above his ass. But you are right not all of them are morons nowadays only most.

[guslary]

It is the second stage of a Saturn IB rocket, not the 2nd stage of a Saturn V rocket. It has only one J-2 engine and three solid propellant ulage engines. S V's second stage, the S-II, had five J-2 engines and four solid prop ullage engines. And S'V's third stage, the S-IVB-500, had one J-2 engine, but only two solid props

[NittanyTiger1]

This is from the second stage of a Saturn V of Apollo 4, not from a Saturn 1B.

[HumanHistoryArchive]

@NittanyTiger1 The first mission to use the saturn V was apollo 6. I'm pretty sure this is from the Second stage of apollo 6 flight. Can anyone confirm please.

[HumanHistoryArchive]

@HumanHistoryArchive ups sorry the 1st one was apollo 4...my mistake.

[SoeNeTjAn]

Great!

[don312000]

Great stuff! Although, the Saturn I-B was a two-stage rocket, not three. The S-IV-B stage that was the second stage of this rocket was also used as the third stage of the larger Saturn V moon rocket.

[ApolloWasReal]

@don312000 Right, though the S-IVBs were not identical between the Saturn IB and V. The IB version shown here had 3 ullage rockets and lacked a restart capability, as its entire delta V was needed just to achieve earth orbit. The S-IVB on the Saturn V had 2 ullage rockets and could be restarted once. The first firing, a fairly short one, achieved earth orbit and the second, longer firing after a parking orbit or two was for translunar injection.

[don312000]

@ApolloWasReal Didn't know that! Thanks!!!!! Learn something new everyday:)