The Explorers' Club, № MXLVIII

Operation AXIOM: Destination Moon—The 60th Anniversary of AS-102
18 September 1964: AS-102 (Saturn I S.A.-7) lifted off from Florida's Cape Kennedy A.F.S., the second flight of a boilerplate Apollo C.S.M.; the Launch Escape System was jettisoned for the first time & AS-102 was the first flight to carry a reprogrammable guidance computer; the search for the eight in-flight camera pods was thwarted by Hurricane Gladys, but two of those later washed ashore.

Commentary: The flight test lasted for five orbits; after fifty-nine orbits, the boilerplate C.S.M. re-entered the atmosphere & crashed into the Indian Ocean (22 September).

Ex Luna, scientia.