1968: Apollo 5, an unmanned earth orbital mission, launched from Kennedy Space Center in the fourth Saturn IB flight. This mission also included the first flight of the 31,700-pound lunar module (LM-1). Once the craft reached orbit and the LM separated from the S-IVB booster, the program of orbital testing began, but a planned burn was aborted automatically when the Apollo Guidance Computer detected the craft was not going as fast as planned. Flight Director Gene Kranz and his team at Mission Control in Houston decided on an alternate mission, during which the mission’s goals of testing LM-1 were accomplished. The mission was successful enough that a contemplated second uncrewed mission to test the LM was cancelled.
