What Ever Happened to Apollo 2-6? And What Would a Nuclear Explosion Look Like on the Moon?

As most know, on January 27, 1967, the Apollo Program, the United States’ first effort to land a man on the moon, was rocked by a horrific tragedy. During a “plugs-out” ground test of the brand-new Block 1 Apollo spacecraft, an electrical fault sparked a fire in the capsule. Fuelled by the pure oxygen environment in the cabin, the blaze spread rapidly, taking the lives of crew members Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee. The Apollo 1 fire halted the nascent lunar program dead in its tracks, forcing NASA to step back, reevaluate its equipment and procedures, and make hundreds of changes to the Apollo spacecraft, spacesuits, and other systems. It was not until October 11, 1968 - 21 months after the disaster - that Apollo 7, just 7, not 2, finally blasted off, carrying astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Eisle, and Walt Cunningham into low earth orbit. The mission was a success, proving the reliability of the redesigned Block II spacecraft and paving the way for more daring and historic missions: Apollo 8, the first to take men round the moon; Apollo 9, the first to test the Apollo Lunar Module in space; Apollo 10, a full dress rehearsal for the lunar landing; Apollo 11, the first to land men on the surface of the moon; and Apollos 12-17, which with one infamous exception all succeeded in landing men on the moon and exploring large areas of our closest celestial neighbour.

And at this point you may not be wondering- why did the mission numbers skip directly from 1 to 7? What happened to Apollos 2-6? Well, here now is the story of the forgotten Apollo missions, and the valuable modifications they contributed to the program and helping humans set foot on the moon. Along the way we’re also going to be covering how before America decided to step foot on the moon, the initial plan was, instead, to blow it up because, sure, why not? As well as just what a nuclear explosion would look like on the moon, and how effective a nuclear bomb would be as a weapon in space, which is probably very different than what you might think on both of those. More on all that later.

Author: Gilles Messier Host/Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila

0:00 Intro 3:41 The Pre-Apollo 1 Testing and Naming Scheme and Apollo 1-3 22:44 Why They Re-Named the Apollo Missions and Apollo 4 27:11 Apollo 5 29:24 Apollo 6 34:33 Carl Sagan and The United States' Plan to Nuke the Moon 36:32 What Would a Nuclear Explosion Look Like on the Moon? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices