Section 7.4 of this chapter covers in detail the major malfunctions and problems that affected all the Apollo missions.Īs regards the “catastrophic explosions on the test stand,” that’s why rocket designers have tests and use test stands: to iron out the worst kinks before actual flights. Changes made for Apollo 14 finally made the problem manageable.

For Apollo 13, vibrations were so intense that the central J-2 engine of the second stage had to be shut down automatically during ascent to Earth orbit to prevent it from tearing the spacecraft to pieces. It always got the job done, but nearly all flights reported substantial problems.įar from working “perfectly” after Apollo 10, as Bennett and Percy claim, the Saturn V was troubled by the pogo effect during Apollo 11 and 12 as well, leading to violent vibrations of the central F-1 engine of the first stage. The “manned orbiting lab” is Skylab.Īctually, if you check these claims against the mission reports, it turns out that the Saturn V’s performance wasn’t “flawless” at all. 127-128 Bill Kaysing, We Never Went to the Moon, p.

* Mary Bennett and David Percy, Dark Moon, p. But the early Saturn V F-1 engine tests were absolutely disastrous, with catastrophic explosions on the test stand.” They add that “The problem of combustion instability known as the ‘pogo effect’ (the industry term for those internal oscillations we mentioned earlier) was in evidence from early testing of the Saturn rocket right through to the ‘Apollo 10’ launch – after which everything worked perfectly!” And Bill Kaysing asked “Why was Apollo 6, a total fiasco, followed by six perfect moon missions which in turn were followed by the manned orbiting lab debacle?”* THE DETAILS: A recurring argument among hoax theorists is that the early Apollo missions were plagued with problems, leading to very public delays and cancellations, but all the troubles magically disappeared just in time for the flights to the Moon.įor example, Mary Bennett and David Percy claim that “ performed flawlessly throughout the entire Apollo program.

Problems occurred throughout all the missions and the first uncrewed flights were designed, as usual, to shake down the vehicles and correct or reduce their defects before the actual crewed missions were flown.

Apollo 4 combustion instability