Deep Space Apollo Command and Service Module
A crew launch and entry vehicle for proposed interplanetary missions to Mars and Venus, and powered by advanced fuel cells and batteries, the Deep Space Apollo was capable of a quiescent time of 36 months while docked to an interplanetary mission module. During interplanetary flight, the Deep Space Apollo had a backup communications and secondary science role, with enhanced communications antennae and a Planetary Instrument Module in the Service Module. Additionally, the powerful hypergolic Service Propulsion System (SPS) increased contingency abort flexibility throughout flight profiles.
Similar to contemporary Apollo Ferry’s, the Deep Space Apollo was the third generation of the reliable Command and Service Module (CSM) and compared to lunar and early Skylab flights, included updated internal fittings and avionics alongside lighter instrument panels and equipment.
Apollo DS-CSM-1
The test flight saw the CSM and a partially fuelled C-IVB inserted into an 102mi x 104mi parking orbit by a two-stage Saturn VE supported by twin Saturn Solid Rocket Boosters. After orbital checkout, the C-IVB lit six hours after launch to raise the vehicle into an elliptical Medium Earth Orbit. Over the next ten days, CSM and booster carried out a series of combined operations, testing both systems of the Deep Space Apollo and operation of the C-IVB as part of the Caelus Interplanetary Injection Booster Development Programme.
The C-IVB’s J-2V engine lit twice while over the next five days, changing orbits and operating elements of the Ares Navigation and Guidance System (ANGS) for the first time, while successfully demonstrating the J-2V’s throttleability. The C-IVB was the first manned vehicle to be fitted with active cooling systems to reduce cryogenic fuel boil off, powered by the vehicles two solar wings. On the sixth flight day, the CSM separated from the booster for the first time, redocking successfully with the Booster Docking Structure (BDS) before making two more successful engine burns — this time with the SPS.
Ahead of the flight, universities from across the United States had submitted experiments and camera packages for installation in the Planetary Instrument Module on the CSM and an analogue of the Primary Ares Science Pallet (PASP) that had been fitted to the C-IVB. On flight day ten, the crew spoke live to students from across the country on the scientific aspects of the mission.
After separation from the C-IVB on flight day thirteen, the C-IVB used its Auxiliary Propulsion System (APS) and the J-2V’s ‘Idle’ setting to actively station-keep with the CSM, while the crew completed a stand-up EVA to retrieve experiments from the PASP.
With the CSM retreating at a safe distance, Mission Control lit the J-2V for the fourth time — beyond its rated performance. The engine fired at a low throttle setting for 18 seconds until fuel exhaustion, ensuring a destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean.
Grissom, White & Chaffee remained in an elliptical orbit for four more days, completing a series of Earth observations and fluid dynamic experiments. Two further SPS firings then increased the craft’s speed ahead of re-entry, crew-rating the Command Module’s thickened heatshield at 50,000 ft/per second. Seventeen days long, it was the longest CSM only flight by some distance, and NASA was criticised by some for the conditions the crew were living in — particularly the lack of privacy for the female Astronaut. These complaints were pithily dismissed by Fisher herself, who remarked that “…there’s not much left to surprise a Mom.”
Like the recovery of crews from Skylab since 1980, the primary recovery ship for Grissom, White & Chaffee was a naval auxiliary — the replenishment oiler USS Roanoke. The crew splashed down 6 miles from the ship and were retrieved by helicopter. The Command Module is on display at the Roger Chaffee Planetarium in Grand Rapids, MI.
