dsc09586.jpg

The sign accompanying Apollo 4. It reads

Apollo 4 Command Module

This Apollo command module was launched from Kennedy Space Center on November 9, 1967. It was unmanned and primarily used to test the thermal protection system during reentry.

The launch vehicle was AS-501 ... the first Saturn V ever launched. After successfully placing the command module in a 117-mile circular orbit, the third stage was reignited to place the vehicle in an elliptical orbit with a 10,800-mile apogoee.

Total mission time for the Apollo 4 was 08 hours 37 minutes 08 seconds.

The first and second stages of the Saturn V were tested here at SSC prior to being shipped to Kennedy Space Center for assembly and launch.

On loan from the Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum