|
I watched the launch as a kid but folk may not remember that Apollo 8 was the “first manned flight of a Saturn 5 booster”. Originally scheduled for an earth orbital mission it was later changed to a flight to the Moon ( Lunar orbit rendezvous or LOR )
The Saturn 5 booster was tested unmanned with Apollo 4, 5 and 6 but not without problems.
NB: Apollo 7 used the much smaller Saturn 1B booster ( lower risk ) for its earth orbital test of the command and service module.
If Apollo 8 wasn’t a massive risk ( bordering on madness ) I don’t know what is !!!
Good luck Artemis 2 !!!
|