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I wouldn’t say worked perfectly. It never failed in a catastrophic big-kaboom way, but it had multiple engine failures. One was so bad that it put Apollo 6 in t
by wat10000 2y ago
I wouldn’t say worked perfectly. It never failed in a catastrophic big-kaboom way, but it had multiple engine failures. One was so bad that it put Apollo 6 in the wrong orbit, and a relight failure kept it from going to the moon as planned. On Apollo 13, an extremely lucky engine failure actually saved the launch, as the rocket was in the process of shaking itself to pieces because of extreme vibrations from that engine.
- mmooss 2y agoGood points. Also, good engineering results in failures that don't have catastrophic outcomes.
- wat10000 2y agoIndeed, the fact that Apollo 13’s center engine was vibrating so violently was bad, but the fact that the structure managed to hold up to it is a testament to the general robustness of the machine.