Fifty years ago today, Apollo 6 launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The uncrewed Apollo 6 mission was the final qualification flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle and the Apollo spacecraft. The primary objectives of the mission were to demonstrate structural and thermal integrity and compatibility of the launch vehicle and spacecraft, confirm launch loads and dynamic characteristics, and verify stage separations, propulsion, guidance and control, electrical systems, emergency detection system, and mission support facilities and operations, including Command Module recovery. Pictured here is the Apollo 6 launch vehicle as it leaves Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building on the transporter heading to launch pad 39-A.
The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage.
(NASA)