Apollo (spacecraft) - Launch Escape System (LES)

Launch Escape System (LES)

The Apollo launch escape system was built by the Lockheed Propulsion Company. Its purpose was to pull the Command Module (which contained the crew cabin) away from the launch vehicle in an abort. The emergency could be a pad fire, exploding launch vehicle or a launch vehicle going off course.

The Launch Escape System would work automatically (or through manual activation) to fire a solid fuel escape rocket and open a canard system to direct the Command Module away from, and off the path of, a launch vehicle in trouble. The Launch Escape System would then jettison and the Command Module would land with its parachute recovery system.

If the emergency happened on the launch pad, the Launch Escape System would lift the Command Module to a sufficient height to allow the recovery parachutes to deploy safely before coming in contact with the ground.

In the absence of an emergency, the LES was routinely jettisoned about 20 or 30 seconds after the launch vehicle's second-stage ignition. (Abort modes after this point would be accomplished without the LES.) The jettison motor was a separate solid fuel rocket manufactured by the Thiokol Chemical Company.