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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: Apollo 1A fire
Message-ID: <6437@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 26-Feb-86 14:00:32 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6437
Posted: Wed Feb 26 14:00:32 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Feb-86 14:00:32 EST
References: <8602230311.AA03779@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 28

> The Apollo flight [with the fire] was Apollo-1A...

Not quite right.  See one of the NASA History books, "Chariots for Apollo"
I think.  The only completely official designation for the mission beforehand
was "Apollo 204", which is analogous to "Shuttle mission 51L".  It was the
fourth flight of a Saturn booster, so the booster people were calling it
"Apollo 4".  It was the first manned Apollo, so the crew were calling it
"Apollo 1".  NASA HQ had not approved an official "Apollo n" designation,
although some of its actions could be construed as tacit approval for
"Apollo 1".  Somewhat after the fire, NASA HQ made the "Apollo 1" name
for the never-flown mission official.  The next Saturn launch, an unmanned
test, was officially named "Apollo 4".  This raised the question of whether
the earlier unmanned tests should be retroactively numbered this way, the
problem being that "Apollo 1" really ought to refer to the first unmanned
test.  It was proposed to call the three unmanned tests 1A, 2, and 3.  NASA
HQ didn't think much of the "1A" business, and the final official word was
as follows:

	- The never-flown Apollo 204, which had the fire, was "Apollo 1".
	- The post-fire missions started with "Apollo 4", the first post-
		fire unmanned test.
	- The pre-fire unmanned tests do not have "Apollo n" designations,
		and are known only by their "Apollo xxx" mission codes.
		Hence there was no "Apollo 2" or "Apollo 3", and also no
		"Apollo 1A".
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry