SA-4: groundwork for Apollo’s ‘giant leap’

@Mark Ollig

The Saturn project was begun Aug. 15, 1958, by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) to develop heavy-lift launch vehicles.

ABMA was transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) July 1, 1960, which then became NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

Dr. Wernher von Braun, who developed the V-2 missile during WWII, played a key role in the development of what became the Saturn V rocket.

Today, 62 years ago, NASA launched the uncrewed Saturn I SA-4.

The Saturn-Apollo 4 (SA-4) flight was designed to assess the rocket’s guidance systems, engine redundancy and performance, structural integrity, and ability to handle an engine failure during flight.

At 2:11 p.m. CST (Minnesota time), March 28, 1963, NASA launched the uncrewed Saturn I SA-4 (Saturn-Apollo 4) rocket from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 34 (LC-34).

This fourth launch of a Saturn I vehicle was the last in the initial testing phase focused on the first stage.

According to the Apollo Program Summary Report, the rocket stood about 162 feet tall, and the total launch vehicle weight, including its dummy upper stages, was about 1,124,000 pounds.

The SA-4 mission was designed as a single-stage working rocket with a dummy second stage to evaluate the performance of the first stage (S-I).

This stage was engineered to generate around 1,500,000 pounds of thrust.

The S-IV “dummy” second stage served primarily for aerodynamic studies and produced no thrust.

Engine No. 5, in what was called an “engine-out” operation, was intentionally shut down 100 seconds after liftoff, with its fuel redistributed to the seven remaining engines.

The flight continued without issues, as the other engines burned two seconds longer to compensate for the loss of Engine No. 5.

This engine-out operation allowed engineers to confirm the SA-4 rocket’s stability and trajectory by using the remaining engines to counteract the loss of thrust from one engine.

As the rocket ascended, it passed through maximum dynamic pressure, showing no signs of failure or stress.

The SA-4 flight provided data on engine redundancy, aerodynamics, and structural behavior.

Engineers fitted the dummy SA-4 S-IV stage with camera pods and test fairings (structures reduce drag) to study future Saturn rocket configurations.

The Saturn I SA-4 obtained a peak velocity of 3,660 mph and reached an altitude of approximately 80 miles before returning to Earth 15 minutes later, where it splashed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The mission tested the spacecraft’s retrorocket system for future stage separation, structural stability, and guidance during engine failure.

The flight also aided the development of the Saturn V rocket for crewed lunar missions.

The Saturn I SA-4 rocket’s first stage featured eight RP-1 (Rocket Propellant-1, a highly refined form of kerosene) and liquid oxygen engines.

These engines directly contributed to the design and engineering of the larger and more advanced engines used in later Saturn rockets, including the Saturn V.

The Apollo 1 mission, intended as the first crewed Apollo flight on a Saturn IB rocket, was tragically never launched Jan. 27, 1967.

A fire in the command module during a launch rehearsal test at Cape Canaveral killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.

After the Apollo 1 fire, the command module was totally redesigned using a mixed oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. The crew cabin was reinforced, improved wiring was installed, and a redesigned hatch was added for safer crew exits.

NASA’s powerful new Saturn V rocket’s inaugural uncrewed launch, designated Apollo 4 and referred to as SA-501, took place Nov. 9, 1967, and was deemed a success.

Apollo 7, the first crewed mission aboard the Saturn IB rocket, was launched Oct. 11, 1968.

The Saturn IB’s first stage used eight H-1 engines to produce approximately 1.6 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.

It carried three astronauts who orbited the Earth 163 times more than nearly 11 days before returning to the Atlantic Ocean.

Commanded by astronaut Walter Schirra, Apollo 7 thoroughly tested the Apollo command module to ensure its reliability and readiness for future crewed missions to the moon.

Apollo 8, commanded by astronaut Frank Borman, was launched Dec. 21, 1968, using the Saturn V rocket.

At launch, the Saturn V was 363 feet tall, weighed about 6.2 million pounds, and produced 7.6 million pounds of thrust from its F-1 engines in the first stage.

Apollo 8 was notable as the first crewed mission to orbit the moon. It completed 10 orbits before safely returning to Earth.

NASA launched Artemis I, an uncrewed mission to the moon, Nov. 16, 2022, using the 322-foot-tall Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1 rocket, which weighed nearly six million pounds.

The SLS’s four RS-25 engines produced 8.8 million pounds of thrust for eight minutes at launch.

The Orion Crew Module, containing a human dummy, reached the vicinity of the moon on Nov. 21, 2022.

Sixty-two years ago, the Saturn I SA-4 rocket launch paved the way for Apollo 11’s “one giant leap for mankind.”

Watch the launch at https://bit.ly/4kTcTK4.

Ranger 9’s lunar impact

@Mark Ollig 

The Soviet Union’s Luna 2 became the first spacecraft from Earth to impact the moon Sept. 14, 1959.

It was not equipped with cameras.

The US launched Ranger 4 in 1962 with cameras to capture images of the moon; however, the spacecraft malfunctioned and failed to return any pictures before impacting the lunar surface April 26, 1962.

Ranger 5 passed within approximately 450 miles of the moon Oct. 21, 1962; an electrical malfunction led to power loss, preventing data transmission and camera imaging.

Ranger 6 reached the moon but crashed Feb. 2, 1964, without returning images due to a camera malfunction.

The US achieved its first successful lunar imaging mission with Ranger 7, which transmitted 4,308 images of the Mare Cognitum region before intentionally impacting the moon July 31, 1964.

Ranger 8 was launched Feb. 17, 1965, and returned 7,137 images of Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility) before impacting the moon Feb. 20, 1965.

Built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ranger 9 was designed to reach the moon, take high-quality images, and transmit them back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface.

Sixty years ago today, March 21, 1965, at 3:37:02 p.m. (Minnesota time), NASA launched the Ranger 9 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, FL.

The Ranger 9 spacecraft, weighing approximately 806 pounds, and it was launched aboard an Atlas LV-3A Agena B rocket.

The launch vehicle consisted of an Atlas LV-3A first stage combined with an Agena B upper stage.

The Atlas LV-3A, and the Atlas series of rockets in general, were directly derived from the SM-65 Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program.

The Atlas LV-3A was a specific variant adapted for space launch purposes. It was powered by two LR89-NA-5 booster engines and a single LR105-NA-7 sustainer engine, generating a total thrust of 367,000 pounds of thrust.

The Atlas-Agena B was a two-and-a-half-stage rocket consisting of an Atlas LV-3A first stage and an Agena B upper stage.

The Agena B upper stage produced 16,000 pounds of thrust using a single XLR81 (Model 8096) American liquid-propellant rocket engine.

The Atlas 204D first stage and Agena B 6009 upper stage successfully placed the Agena and Ranger 9 into a 100-nautical-mile (115 statute mile) parking orbit around Earth.

A 90-second burn of the Agena propelled Ranger 9 toward the moon, after which the Agena stage separated from the spacecraft.

At about 70 minutes after launch, Ranger 9 initiated the “delayed command sequence,” resulting in solar-panel extension and the release of the gyroscopes from a locked or constrained (caged) position, allowing them to spin freely and function.

The sequence also activated the high-gain-antenna drive circuitry.

Ranger 9 communicated using two antennas — a quasi-omnidirectional low-gain and a parabolic high-gain.

It carried three transmitters: two 60-watt television transmitters in the 960 MHz band (for its narrow-angle and wide-angle cameras) and a 3-watt transponder for telemetry and tracking.

The spacecraft’s telecommunications equipment converted the video signal elements into a radio frequency signal, transmitting it back to Earth through the spacecraft’s high-gain antenna.

Ranger 9 arrived at the moon March 24, 1965, and used six television cameras, two wide-angle and four narrow-angle, all directed to its descent path to capture detailed images of the lunar surface and its impact.

Millions of Americans (including me) followed the spacecraft’s descent via real-time television coverage.

Approximately 19 minutes before impact, Ranger 9 began capturing the first of 5,814 high-quality photographs. The initial images were taken from a distance of 1,438 miles to the lunar surface.

These images captured detailed views of the rim and floor of Alphonsus, a large crater about 12 degrees south of the lunar equator.

The best photographic resolution reached was about 10 to 12 inches before impact.

After 64.5 hours of flight, Ranger 9 struck the moon March 24, 1965, at 14:08:19.994 UT (8:08:20 a.m. Minnesota time) inside the Alphonsus crater.

The impact site, as determined from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images, was located at minus-12.828 degrees latitude and minus-2.665 degrees longitude.

Impact velocity was 5,972.62 mph, according to the NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive.

Fragment pieces of Ranger 9 are approximately 915 miles southwest from where the Apollo 11 lunar module, Eagle, would land four years later.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) camera system aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has been operational, orbiting the moon since 2009.

Use NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera QuickMap tool (quickmap.lroc.asu.edu/) to explore high-resolution images of the moon, the Ranger 9 impact site, and the Apollo 11 landing site.

You can enter the following coordinates to see the Ranger 9 impact site: latitude: minus-12.828 degrees south, longitude: minus -2.665 degrees west.

The Apollo 11 landing site (Tranquility Base) coordinates are latitude: 0.67408 degrees north; and longitude: 23.47297 degrees east.

The Minneapolis Star newspaper printed March 24, 1965, the front page headline “Moon Ranger a Hit.”

“Ranger obeyed 25 radio commands from Earth to maneuver itself within four miles of a prearranged target. The camera-laden probe impacted at 8:08 a.m. (Minneapolis time) in the floor of the crater Alphonsus, previously designated as a possible landing site for U.S. astronauts,” the article stated.

You can watch the Ranger 9 lunar impact as recorded by its onboard camera at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s YouTube channel: bit.ly/4kx0bAy.

The moon with blue dots showing the locations of Ranger 9 (debris field)
and the Apollo 11 landing site. The Apollo 11 landing site (Tranquility Base)
coordinates are: latitude, 0.67408 degrees north; and longitude, 23.47297 degrees east.
The Ranger 9 impact site is at: latitude, minus-12.828 degrees south; and
longitude, minus-2.665 degrees West.
(Submitted by Mark Ollig)

Remember ping and nslookup?

@Mark Ollig

The ping command tests a remote computer’s connectivity by sending a small data packet and measuring the response time.

Mike Muuss created the ping utility in December 1983 while at the Ballistic Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, MD, as part of the Unix-based Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) developed by the University of California, Berkeley.

Ping was developed for Unix and later adapted for DOS (disk operating system) in the late 1980s as networking expanded. Named after sonar “pings,” the term stands for “Packet InterNet Groper.”

Ping uses ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) to check if a device is reachable and to measure latency, which measures network performance by assessing the time it takes for data to travel back and forth.

When I ran the ping mn.gov from the command line in my Windows operating system, the output was: “Pinging mn.gov [66.225.237.206] with 32 bytes of data.”

While small, 32 bytes effectively represent a basic network interaction.

Within brackets, [66.225.237.206] displayed the Internet Protocol (IP) address for mn.gov.

Four replies showed that the ping received packets of 32 bytes: “Reply from 66.225.237.206: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=48,” “bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=48, bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=48, and bytes=32 time=59ms TTL=48.”

The repeated “Reply from 66.225.237.206” lines were reassuring, confirming I was getting responses back from that specific IP address.

TTL (Time To Live) limits the number of hops (routers) a packet can pass through before being discarded.

The “bytes=32” and “time=…” parts provided technical measurements about each reply packet.

The “bytes=32” indicates 32 bytes of data were received, and “time=…” shows the round-trip time, meaning it took a certain number of milliseconds for the packet to go to the IP address and come back to my computer.

Other ping replies showed varying round-trip times: 63 milliseconds, 61 milliseconds, 51 milliseconds, and 59 milliseconds, with “Ping statistics for 66.225.237.206:”

This section provided a summary of the entire ping test, which focused on IP address 66.225.237.206: “Packets: Sent = four, Received = four, Lost = zero (0% loss),” which is good news, meaning all four ping packets I sent were successfully received back with no packet loss.

Finally, it gave “Approximate round trip times in milliseconds: Minimum = 51 ms, Maximum = 63 ms, Average = 58 ms.” Lower round-trip times are generally better, as they indicate a faster connection.

These times summarized the packet travel duration to and from 66.225.237.206, indicating connection speed and website responsiveness.

Key points about ping and IP addresses for sites like mn.gov: ping relies on and uses the Domain Name System (DNS) behind the scenes.

When I typed “ping mn.gov” and pressed enter, the command first performed a DNS lookup to resolve the IP address. The DNS (Domain Name System) translates website names into numerical IP addresses.

Websites like mn.gov may have multiple IP addresses.

The ping command generally resolves a domain name to a single IP for testing.

The nslookup utility, originally developed for UNIX, queries DNS servers and is often used by administrators of BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) servers.

Developed at UC Berkeley in the 1980s by Douglas Terry, Mark Painter, and others, BIND evolved alongside the DNS, established in 1983 by Paul Mockapetris.

Nslookup was later ported to DOS in the late 1980s.

Using nslookup’s ability to resolve IP addresses to domain names makes it a valuable tool for network troubleshooting and DNS queries.

I used the “nslookup mn.gov” command to query DNS servers for information about the domain name.

The results showed:

Server: NCQ1338.mynetworksettings.com

Address: 192.168.0.1

This data indicated that the DNS server used for the lookup was NCQ1338.mynetworksettings.com, with an IP address of 192.168.0.1. and is likely the IP address of my local router, which is also acting as a DNS server.

The results also provided a “non-authoritative answer:”

Name: mn.gov, Address: 66.225.237.206.

This showed that the nslookup also found the IP address 66.225.237.206 for mn.gov.

The “non-authoritative answer” designation means this information came from a DNS server that is not the primary source of information for the mn.gov) domain, but rather a cached (collected) copy.

Unlike ping, tools like the “nslookup” command can retrieve multiple IP addresses for a domain if it has multiple DNS records, such as multiple A (IPv4) or AAAA (IPv6) records for versions 4 and 6).

The nslookup command returned a single IPv4 address for mn.gov: 66.225.237.206.

The ping of mn.gov revealed the same IPv4 address and confirmed basic connectivity, but 66.225.237.206 could be only one of mn.gov’s assigned IP addresses.

IPv4 and IPv6 are the two primary versions of IP addresses.

IPv4, the original version, was developed in the 1970s by pioneers like Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, evolving from their work at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).

IPv4, standardized in the early 1980s, uses a 32-bit “dotted decimal” format, allowing for about 4.3 billion unique addresses.

Initially, 4.3 billion was adequate, but rapid internet growth and the rise of various connected devices led to the depletion of IPv4 addresses.

The IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) officially ran out of IPv4 addresses in February 2011.

IPv4 remains in use because Network Address Translation (NAT) helps conserve addresses; its limitations led to the development of IPv6.

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) began developing IPv6 in the early 1990s to solve the problems of IPv4 address exhaustion and minimize the complexity of NAT.

Standardized in the late 1990s by Dr. Steve E. Deering and Robert M. Hinden, IPv6 uses a 128-bit hexadecimal format, allowing for around 340 undecillion (340 followed by 36 zeros) unique IP addresses.

I doubt that we will ever run out of IPv6 addresses.

Modern operating systems support the ping and nslookup commands for both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

During my time in the telephone industry, I used ping and nslookup to verify network connectivity to the IP addresses of voice and data-switching platforms.

Alexander Bell’s phone freed dad from the Pony Express

@Mark Ollig

The telephone revolutionized global communication and reshaped the world.

Controversy still exists over who actually invented the telephone first, which I addressed in my column published Sept. 29, 2023.

Alexander Graham Bell’s work with the hearing impaired greatly influenced his research on sound transmission, ultimately leading to his telephone patent.

Bell began his tenure at Boston University in 1873 as a professor of vocal physiology in the school of oratory.

There, he concentrated his research on the electrical transmission of sound, building upon the principles of telegraphy with a vibrating metal disc diaphragm to convert sound waves into electrical signals.

These electrical signals could be transmitted to another telephone, where they would be converted back into audible sound, forming the foundation of his telephone design.

Bell needed someone to bring his design to life, and that was Thomas A. Watson.

Watson, a skilled mechanical and electrical worker, would turn Bell’s ideas into a functioning telephone.

John Frederic Daniell invented the Daniell cell in 1836, a battery that uses solid copper and zinc metal parts immersed in special liquids (copper sulfate and zinc sulfate solutions) separated by a thin unglazed ceramic wall with tiny holes.

The Daniell cell provided a stable voltage source, 1.1 volts DC, and was used with telegraphs.

While working on the telephone, Bell and Watson used various electrochemical battery cells, including the Daniell cell, as power sources for their sound experiments.

Bell required a stable voltage for his electromagnetic transmitters and receivers, and using Daniell cells delivered the reliable output voltages he needed.

By connecting iron and steel telegraph wires to the cell’s electrodes, Bell and Watson effectively powered the transmission of intelligible speech over wire.

Years later, copper wire replaced iron and steel due to its superior conductivity, allowing for a more sufficient transmission of electrical audio signals for telecommunication systems.

Alexander Graham Bell achieved the first intelligible voice transmission over his telephone system March 10, 1876.

In his laboratory at 5 Exeter Place in Boston, MA, with the telephone’s transmitter and receiver connected by a battery-powered wired circuit, Bell wrote the following in his notebook, stored in the Library of Congress:

“Mr. Watson was stationed in one room with the receiving instrument. He pressed one ear closely against S [sound receiver] and closed his other ear with his hand. The transmitting instrument was placed in another room, and the doors of both rooms were closed.

I then shouted into M [mouthpiece] the following sentence: ‘Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.’

To my delight, he came and declared that he had heard and understood what I said. I asked him to repeat the words. He answered, ‘You said ‘Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.’

We then changed places, and I listened at S while Mr. Watson read a few passages from a book into the mouthpiece M.

It was undoubtedly the case that articulate sounds proceeded from S. The effect was loud, but indistinct and muffled.”

Bell likely meant the words were understandable, but the sound was muffled — unclear.

His drawing and notes for this can be seen on the Library of Congress website: bit.ly/43lA6xY.

Filed Feb. 14, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was issued March 7, 1876, US Patent 174,465 titled “Improvement to Telegraphy.”

Bell made a diagram drawing Aug. 21, 1876, writing on the bottom of it, “As far as I can remember, these are the first drawings made of any telephone — or instrument for the transmission of vocal utterances by telegraph.”

You can see it on the Library of Congress website: bit.ly/3DfBjMI.

The St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat newspaper reported Oct. 24, 1876, on an experiment conducted by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson on the evening of Oct. 9, 1876, in a lengthy piece titled “Telephony.”

Bell, situated at 69 Kilby St. in Boston, and Watson located in Cambridgeport, MA, tested his telephones using the two-mile stretch of telegraph line owned by the Walworth Manufacturing Co.

They installed telephones at both ends of the telegraph wire and replaced nine Daniell cells with ten Leclanché cell batteries, which provided a stronger and more stable current for improved voice transmission.

In their notes published in the newspaper article, Bell and Watson would occasionally change out the batteries to maintain voice transmission quality.

“Articulate conversation then took place through the wire. The sounds, at first faint and indistinct, became suddenly quite loud and intelligible,” the newspaper article said.

Bell and Watson conversed for about three hours on the telephone, and much of their conversation is published in the article.

Alexander Graham Bell was born March 3, 1847, and died Aug. 2, 1922, at age 75.

Thomas Augustus Watson, born Jan. 18, 1854, died Dec. 13, 1934, at the age of 80.

A century after Bell’s patent, March 7, 1976, my father, John Ollig, manager of the Winsted Telephone Co., commented on Bell’s invention in a local newspaper interview.

“I am thankful he invented the telephone,” my father said. “If he hadn’t, I would have probably ended up in the Pony Express business, and that would have presented a problem for me because I can’t ride a horse.”

Alexander Bell made a diagram drawing on Aug. 21, 1876,

writing on the bottom of it: 

"As far as I can remember these are the first drawings made 

of any telephone — or instrument for the transmission of vocal

utterances by telegraph."

Source- Library of Congress