Apollo Abort Modes

Apollo Abort Modes

During the launch of an Apollo spacecraft by the Saturn V rocket, the flight could be aborted to rescue the crew if the rocket failed catastrophically. Depending on how far into the flight the crew were, they would use different procedures or modes. None of the abort modes were ever used. (The Apollo 13 mission was aborted well after launch, and thus the abort modes did not come into play.)

Houston's announcements of the current abort mode and the spacecraft commander's acknowledgements were among the few things said on the radio link during the first minutes of flight.

If the rocket failed during the first phases of the flight, the Emergency Detection System (EDS) would automatically give the command to abort. The reason is that life-threatening situations can develop too fast for humans to discuss and react to. In the later, less violent phases of the ascent, the EDS was turned off and an abort would have to be initiated manually.