![]() He closed the helium purge and vented the vehicle tank, which restarted the flow of hydrogen and reignited the fire. The system operator did not understand the severity of the situation, however. We immediately closed the vehicle tank vent valve and activated a helium purge to eliminate any hydrogen gas in the line and put out the fire. each, flying several hundred feet in the air. Inside the blockhouse, we hadn’t heard a thing, but Al reported seeing steel trench covers, which weighed about 300 lbs. Everything seemed to be working fine when Al Zeiler, who was watching the process through a periscope (we had very little closed-circuit television in those days), told us we’d had an explosion at the pad. We began filling the transfer line and chilling the stage tank while venting hydrogen down to its burn pond. For additional safety, we had two ponds where hydrogen that was vented during preparation could be safely burned off. The stage had six RL-10 engines, and the launch complex to support it contained a 125,000-gallon dewar for storing liquid hydrogen about 600 ft. We were ready to fuel the Saturn I block II vehicle, our first configuration with a liquid-hydrogen-and-oxygen-powered second stage. It has taken a lot of experience, including the experience of dramatic failures, to teach us just how dangerous it is and how carefully we need to treat it.Īugust 30, 1963. Both its explosiveness and the extremely low temperatures involved make handling it safely a challenge. ![]() Even small amounts of liquid hydrogen can be explosive when combined with air, and only a small amount of energy is required to ignite it. I was selected to be the engineer responsible for the design and operation of the new liquid storage and transfer systems these rockets needed. Smoke and flames belch from the huge S-1C test stand as the first stage booster of the Apollo/Saturn V space vehicle is static fired at the NASA Mississippi Test Facility, now Stennis Space Center.įollowing in parallel, and using a second stage fueled with liquid hydrogen, was the Saturn I block II vehicle.
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