Apollo 5, launched January 22, 1968, was the first unmanned mission of the Apollo Lunar Module 1, which would later carry astronauts to the moon. Liftoff occured just before sunset and was inserted into orbit perfecly. The nose cone, without windows (replaced with solid aluminum plates) and no legs or launch escape system, was jettisoned after almost 44 minutes.
A problem arose when the 39-second descent engine burn was aborted after only 4 seconds. Ground controllers used an alternate plan to fire the descent manually two more times. They performed the 'fire in the hole' test and another ascent engine burn.
The ascent stage re-entered the atmosphere January 24 and burned up. The descent stage lasted until Feb. 12.
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