by Sp4 Michael E.

Dunbar

s Apollo 17 thundered from its pad to begin a

A 238,900-mile journey to the Moon last December
7th, three silver-coated MI13 armored personnel car-
riers stood waiting, with engines running, 1,800 feet
from the Saturn V launch vehicle. Had it become nec-
essary to abort the mission and evacuate the Apollo
crew prior to ignition, Astronauts Gene Cernan, Ron-
ald Evans and Harrison Schmitt would have become
the responsibility of the 14 men in the nearby APCs.
Armor’s role in manned space exploration had its
beginnings early in the planning stages of the Mercury
Program. NASA’s first concern has always been
safety for its astronauts; and before man ever set foot
in a spacecraft, a detailed, practiced and re-practiced
method of getting him out of the spacecraft in the
event of danger had been developed. When Alan Shep-
ard opened space travel to man in May of 1961, an
APC was in position close to Freedom 7.
The M113s used by the astronaut rescue team have
been modified to withstand 2,000 degrees of heat for
durations of four to five minutes, and provide enough
insulation so that interior temperatures will not exceed
150 degrees. During the Mercury, Gemini and early
Apollo flights, this was accomplished by coating the
entire vehicle with layers of dyatherm-an asbestos-
like material. However, tests conducted late in the
Apollo Program indicated that adequate heat protec-
tion could be achieved by the use of reflective alumi-
num paint. Last summer, the APCs were sent to An-
niston Army Depot, Alabama, and coated with the
protective paint. Also, they were up-engined and mod-
ification kits were added to update them. These proce-
dures reduced vehicle weight and provided greater
speed and mobility-essential elements in a situation
where seconds become the critical factor between trag-
edy and survival.
During the six manned Mercury flights, the APCs
used as rescue vehicles were fitted with a special hy-
draulic lift unit attached to the front of the vehicle. If
conditions were such that the rocket was in immediate
danger of blowing on the pad and all normal routes of
exit were closed to the astronaut, the entire Mercury
capsule could be fired clear of the launch vehicle. Once
on the ground, it would be retrieved by the APC and
carried to a safe location. A similar hydraulic unit was
also attached to the APCs for the ten Gemini mis-
sions. However, due to the increased weight and size of
the Apollo Command Module, this hydraulic lift unit

ARMOR may-june 973 31

 n
of the
stands re
from the ba:
The slide- wire and cab
used to bring the
astronauts to
' the waiting
A PCs

During Mercury and Gemini

the spacecraft could
be carried to
safety bv
A PCs.

On
the move
towards one of
the three helicopter
pads ready for evacuation .
PHOTOS BY NA

32 ARMOR may-june 1973

 During a simulated emergency
a rescue team member
rushes to aid
the jight
crew

r
t eam
,800feet
beSaturn V

Thp A PC.7 shm- their new heat

protective paint in
training prior to
the launch of
Apollo I 7

A
close-up
view of the
asbestos coating
which protected the crew
ID JAMES DEAN
ARMOR may-june 1973 33

no longer proved feasible and was removed from the
rescue vehicle.
The astronauts who crewed the 1 1 manned Apollo
missions had three alternative escape, or egress,
modes available to them prior to the arming of the
emergency escape system-a device activated just
prior to ignition that would blow the command mod-
ule free from the Saturn V and down range to safety.
The selection of the particular egress mode would be
determined by the gravity of the situation, the number
of people involved, and the immediacy of fire with the
resulting explosions. However, all modes depend upon
the skill of the rescue team and the speed and mobility
of their APCs.
The first egress mode employs a simple slide-wire
system. A nine-man cab would take the astronauts,
plus any of the team used to seal the astronauts in the
spacecraft, from the 320-foot level to the APCs wait-
ing 1,800 feet from the base of the rocket. From this
position, the APCs would transport them to one of
three helicopter pads where all personnel would be air-
lifted from the launch complex.
Both the second and third egress modes assume that
the command module has been sealed and that the as-
tronauts have been incapacitated to such a degree that
they require assistance in returning to ground level.
These two modes require the APCs to move to the
base of the Saturn V.
In the second egress mode, six members of the res-
cue team, called the Prime Six, would assist the astro-
nauts from the spacecraft to ground level. Once this
was accomplished, the astronauts would be placed in
the APCs and driven to one of the helicopter pads for
evacuation.
The thi\rd egress mode takes two additional com-
plications into account: the Saturn V is in immediate
danger of blowing on the pad and, there is not enough
time to reach one of the helicopter pads. After the
34 ARMOR may-june 1973
Prime Six have assisted the three Apollo astronauts to
“A-Level”-the first level above the launch pad-all
personnel enter a teflon-coated tunnel leading down to
the “hard room.”
Located beneath the steel and concrete launch pad,
the “hard room” would protect the astronauts and
rescue crew from the intense fire and explosions rip-
ping apart the Saturn V. The room, which is mounted
on steel springs to absorb the shock of explosions, is
equipped with first aid equipment, oxygen, food and
water. It can support life for the 72 hours that would
be required to clear the rubble and dig the men out.
The rescue crew arrives at Cape Kennedy about 20
days prior to any manned launch. During this time,
they practice and re-practice the egress methods, and
are present for any of the pre-flight testings which
place astronauts in the command module.
At T minus 5 hours on launch day, the rescue crew
arrives at their site 1,800 feet from the rocket. At ap-
proximately T minus 2 hours the spacecraft is sealed,
and the rescue team assumes the sole responsibility for
the safety of the astronauts. By T minus 1 hour, the
rescue team is buttoned-up in their APCs. At T minus
30 minutes, they don oxygen masks-as the count-
down ticks away to ignition and lift-off. As the Saturn
V begins to develop the 8-million pounds of thrust that
will lift the 346-foot structure from the pad, the rescue
team can begin to relax-their part of the Moon mis-
sion successful and finished.
When Apollo 17 splashed down on 19 December off
the USS Ticonderoga, the Apollo Program drew to a
close. But manned space exploration, and Armor’s
role in it, will continue.
Now scheduled for mid-May 1973, a Saturn V
will fire a two-story, unmanned space station called
Skylab into a 233.5-nautical-mile earth orbit. Twen-
ty-four hours later, a modified Apollo Command
and Service Module containing three astronaut-
scientists will be placed in parking orbit by a Saturn
IB. After docking with Skylab, the astronauts will be-
gin a 28-day mission. This initial mission will be fol-
lowed by two of 56 days each. During the 140 days of
space-living, over 60 detailed scientific experiments
will be conducted.
As with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo flights,
APCs will again be standing close to the future
manned launch vehicles-fulfilling their vital role in
the US Space Program. 2%
SPECIALIST FOUR MICHAEL E. DUNBAR holds a
master’s degree in Theology and has done graduate work in
journalism at Kent State University. He is currently the assistant
editor of ARMOR Magazine.