|
Author
|
Topic: Apollo mission designations: AS-506 vs. AS-11
|
Mike_The_First
Member Posts: 436
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2014
|
posted 11-27-2014 08:24 AM
   
Some sources give the number following the AS as the Apollo mission number (that is to say that Apollo 11 is referred to as AS-11, 13 as AS-13, and so on), which is how I've always seen and done it.But in looking at my recovery ship covers and researching further, I've found that other sources give it as AS-50something. NASA's site is no help, as some pages give it one way and others the other. Which is accurate and why the discrepancy? |
Skylon
Member Posts: 277
From:
Registered: Sep 2010
|
posted 11-27-2014 08:35 AM
Sounds like it is based on the booster. For example, the Apollo 8 Saturn V was 503, 504 for Apollo 9, etc. The numbers should be fairly consistent since Saturn Vs 501 to 513 were all used for Apollo's 4, 6, 8 through 17 and Skylab 1. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 11-27-2014 08:39 AM
The AS-5XX numbering refers to the Saturn V rocket that launched the mission. AS-506 was the launch vehicle for Apollo 11."AS" in this use is Apollo/Saturn (it also appears as "SA"). The only official use that I am aware of "AS" with the mission number is in the NASA photo IDs, e.g. AS11-XX-XXXX. |
Ross
Member Posts: 479
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
|
posted 11-28-2014 07:17 AM
You can see the appropriate AS designations on my site up to Apollo 11. They don't seem to have been used for post Apollo 11 missions.SA designations were used for the earlier unmanned Apollo missions up to SA-10 on 29 June 1965. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 11-28-2014 07:39 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Ross:
They don't seem to have been used for post Apollo 11 missions.
By use, can you elaborate? What are you referencing to establish use. The press kits? |
Ronpur
Member Posts: 1220
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012
|
posted 11-28-2014 08:17 AM
The booster letters and mission letters were different. "SA" for any Saturn vehicle, SA-1-10 for Saturn 1, SA-2XX for Saturn 1B and SA-5XX for Saturn V. If an Apollo spacecraft was on the vehicle, it has an "AS" designation as well, for Apollo-Saturn. Or just "A" for the Saturn 1 launches!Of course, we know that Apollo 1 was the Apollo Fire mission that never flew. I have always assumed that since crews were named for Apollo 2 and 3 and never flown, that is why the first unmanned Saturn V was Apollo 4. (That is a whole other topic). I have observed that the "Apollo" designation was used more frequently (press kit, websites, etc.) than the "AS" title on manned flight. Unless of course, it was a "Skylab" 2, 3 or 4 launch. Maybe the AS was just an "internal" designation used by NASA? Take the unflown Skylab Rescue for Skylab 3 (which is the second Skylab crew) It had Booster SA-208, I have found mission number for the rescue of AS-208, but it flew as Skylab 4, the third crew. And don't even try to give the remaining Saturns a number, the stages don't even match serial numbers. It is rather confusing. Kind of makes the STS designations pre-Challenger seem rather simple. |
mikej
Member Posts: 481
From: Germantown, WI USA
Registered: Jan 2004
|
posted 11-29-2014 06:48 PM
Reports and photos coming from Marshall Space Flight Center generally used "SA-", because of course the Saturn launch vehicle was the most important part of the flight.Reports and photos coming from the Manned Spacecraft Center (currently JSC) generally used "AS-" because of course the Apollo spacecraft was the most important part of the flight. |
Ross
Member Posts: 479
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
|
posted 11-30-2014 07:25 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
What are you referencing to establish use.
I was talking generally. For example see some covers and some publications. Having just checked NASA press kits and mission reports it appears that NASA stopped referring to missions using an AS designation after the fire. Therefore, the last use was AS-204 with the mission renamed Apollo 1. The next mission was then Apollo 4. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 891
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
|
posted 11-30-2014 08:28 AM
NASA management continued to use the AS designation after the fire, but in a slightly modified fashion. As an example, the subject of the Apollo Program Director's 17 July 1971 advisory memorandum to NASA's A/Administrator reads, "Apollo 15 Mission (AS-510)." |
mmcmurrey
Member Posts: 115
From: Austin, TX, USA
Registered: Jun 2012
|
posted 11-30-2014 09:45 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Ross:
The next mission was then Apollo 4.
Apollo 4 had designation AS-501.
|
advertisement