AS-203
AS-203 (also known as SA-203 or Apollo 3) was an uncrewed flight of the Saturn IB rocket on July 5, 1966. It carried no command and service module, as its purpose was to verify the design of the S-IVB rocket stage restart capability that would later be used in the Apollo program to boost astronauts from Earth orbit to a trajectory towards the Moon. It achieved its objectives, but the stage was inadvertently destroyed after four orbits.
Launch of AS-203 | |
| Mission type | Launch vehicle development |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 1966-059A |
| SATCAT no. | 2289 |
| Mission duration | ~6 hours |
| Distance travelled | 161,900 kilometers (87,400 nmi) |
| Orbits completed | 4 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | None |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | July 5, 1966, 14:53:13 UTC |
| Rocket | Saturn IB SA-203 |
| Launch site | Cape Kennedy LC-37B |
| End of mission | |
| Destroyed | July 5, 1966 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 184 kilometers (99 nmi) |
| Apogee altitude | 214 kilometers (116 nmi) |
| Inclination | 31.9 degrees |
| Period | 88.47 minutes |
| Epoch | July 5, 1966 |
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