Apollo 1 Launch

by ED BERND JR.

Scientists, engineers, and technicians worked feverishly through the night, preparing the giant so that they could awaken him at dawn.

Meanwhile, the sun continued its journey around the earth, creeping up on the slumbering giant that stood silently on Florida's east coast on this warm November morning in 1968.

The sun got there before the giant awakened, announcing its arrival with a light show that sent fiery colors across the landscape. King Sol still reigned supreme.

Vaguely aware of the increasing light and the relentless movement of the clock, the workers continued their frantic pace to prepare the giant for its task.

Meanwhile the sun, satisfied that everything was still normal, turned off the light show and began moving upwards into the blue Florida sky.

Then the great globe of energy, lifegiver to the planet, seemed to have second thoughts.

As its rays touched the silver giant who stood silently on the edge of the marsh, the sun flinched. It ducked behind a small band of clouds, and turned its light show back on.

By then the giant was ready.

With a mighty roar that shook the earth a hundred miles away, Apollo put on his own light show, spewing fire over the landscape and burning a path through the sky as it flew over the sun.

Crowds along the edges of the marshes and riverbanks cheered the victory as the first Saturn 5 rocket soared into the sky, leaving the sun and its fading colors to tend to earth while Apollo reached for the stars. Well, for the moon.

The "impossible" photo

They said it was impossible to take a time exposure photo of a rocket launch in color, during the day. The experts - experienced professional photographers - were certain it couldn't possibly be done facing directly into a Florida sunrise!

But we did it. We know that the Saturn 5 rocket had so much power that it would burn a trail through the morning sky that we could capture on film.

To this day, no one else has ever duplicated this photographic feat. They don't it in black and white, using infrared film. They've done it at night. But nobody else has done it during the daytime.

We did it a second time, with the Apollo 8 launch, the first flight ever to leave earth orbit and circle the moon. But it is not as pretty as the sunrise launch of the very first Saturn 5 rocket, the very first Apollo mission to get off the ground.

The Eagle flies many times

During the next four years, Apollo roared many more times.

He was awakened at mid-morning in late December 1968 when three astronauts climbed aboard his back and rode him all the way to the moon and back. As they circled the moon on Christmas eve, the astronauts read from the Bible.

The following July, Apollo circled the moon again, but this time two astronauts left him briefly and flew a tiny, fragile craft they called the Eagle to its surface. For the first time in history, man had set foot on the moon. Then Apollo brought them home, fulfilling the promise made at the beginning of the decade by President John F. Kennedy.

Apollo continued to shuttle men back and forth to the moon until November 1972.

Scientists waited until after nightfall to send Apollo on his final journey, like a bandit disappearing silently into the night.

While the early flights roared to life on time, just as planned, the final flight was delayed over and over again, as if Apollo was trying to delay this final chapter in the story.

There were minor problems with Apollo himself. Evening turned to night. Clouds came in and a few drops of rain fell. Midnight approached. Clouds cleared. More delays. Now it is tomorrow, still night, but tomorrow.

Finally everything is ready, and Apollo burns a golden trail through the sky as watchers on the beach bid farewell one last time.

The giant had done its job, and could soon stop to rest, and sleep through eternity.

During those four years, Apollo had led mankind on the grandest adventure in the history of the world.

You can read more about our experiences at the www.graflex.org web site, including Arch Smith's version of some of these events.

Here is the link to my story:

http://graflex.org/articles/experiences/bernd/

http://www.graflex.org/articles/experiences/bernd/apollo1.html

Pictures copyright by Ed Bernd Jr. | Web site copyright by Avlis Publishing