50 years since the first Saturn V launch, the Apollo 4 mission

Video from the channel Fabio Baccaglioni about Apollo 4, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 15:49. Language: English. Video type: Archive footage.

A copy of NASA's 1967 film on Apollo 4, the first uncrewed flight of the Saturn V. It opens with the rocket's industrial supply chain: about 3 million parts from 20,000 companies, universities and public facilities, with stages built and tested across several states. It then covers the move on the crawler-transporter, the countdown and liftoff. Onboard cameras film the separation of the first stage and the interstage ring. Animations show the work of the second stage, which fired for more than 6 minutes and carried the spacecraft above 100 miles. Photographs of Earth taken from the spacecraft's window also appear. This copy cuts off when the spacecraft engine reignites, and then repeats the beginning of the film.

Kennedy Space Center. The countdown began at 6:00 a.m. on November 7, 1967, and liftoff came one second past 7:00 a.m. on November 9, 1967.

The complete vehicle flew from the first mission onward. The first stage produced 7.5 million pounds of thrust and burned out at 2 min 32 s. The second stage had caused major development problems but performed as planned. After about 11 minutes, the third stage left the spacecraft in a circular orbit. It later reignited, after controllers corrected the sequence because of a valve that appeared to be open. The spacecraft reached an altitude of 11,232 miles at 5 h 46 min 48 s after liftoff.