Apollo 6

The Secret of Apollo: Systems Management in American and European Space Programs (New Series in NASA History)

The Apollo 6 spacecraft is mated with the Saturn V booster.

The goals of the unmanned mission were to demonstrate structure and thermal integrity and compatibility of launch vehicle and spacecraft; confirm launch loads and dynamic characteristics; demonstrate separation of launch vehicle stages; evaluate performance of the emergency detection system in closed-loop configuration; verify operation of Saturn V propulsion, guidance and control, and electrical systems; and demonstrate performance of the mission support facilities.

All of the objectives except one were achieved. Verification of the operation of the Saturn V launch vehicle was not achieved because of the early cutoff of two of the S-II stage J-2 engines and failure of the S-IVB stage J-2 engine to restart.

References:

• The Apollo 6 spacecraft is mated with the Saturn V booster. (Picture)