Apollo 4

Apollo 4, (also known as AS-501), was the first, unmanned test flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle, which was used by the U.S. Apollo program to send the first astronauts to the Moon. The space vehicle was assembled in the Vertical Assembly Building, and was the first to be launched from Launch Complex 39 at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, facilities built specially for the Saturn V.

Apollo 4 was an "all-up" test, meaning all rocket stages and spacecraft were fully functional on the initial flight, a first for NASA. It was the first time the S-IC first stage and S-II second stage flew. It also demonstrated the S-IVB third stage's first in-flight restart. The mission used a Block I Command Service Module (CSM) modified to test several key Block II revisions, including its heat shield at simulated lunar-return velocity and angle.

Originally planned for late 1966, the flight was delayed to November 9, 1967, largely due to development problems of the S-II stage encountered by North American Aviation, the manufacturer of the stage. Delay was also caused, to a lesser extent, by a large number of wiring defects found by NASA in the Apollo spacecraft, also built by North American.

Apollo (1962 automobile)

The Apollo was a United States-built sports car/personal automobile manufactured from 1962 to 1964 in Oakland, California.

Engineered by Milt Brown and designed by Ron Plescia, it featured Italian handmade aluminum bodywork with a choice between two-seater convertible or fastback styles. Power came from a 215 cu in (3.5 l) or 300 cu in (4.9 l) Buick engine to a 4-speed manual. The company, International Motor Cars, built 42 cars before suspending production while seeking new financing. IMC allowed the sale of body/chassis units to Vanguard Motors in Dallas, Texas to produce cars under the Vetta Ventura name and these were made until 1966 by Vanguard Inc of Dallas, Texas. This was a stop-gap measure to keep the carrozzeria (body producer) Intermeccanica in business until new backers were found.

History

Frank Reisner, a former chemical engineer born in Hungary, raised in Canada and educated in America, established a company that later produced the Apollo (and the Texas-built Vetta Ventura). Reisner, on holiday in Italy in 1959, decided that he loved Turin and set up shop there as Intermeccanica producing tuning kits for Renaults, Peugeots, and Simcas.

Apollo (disambiguation)

Apollo is a Greek and Roman god of music, healing, light, prophecy and enlightenment.

Apollo may also refer to:

People

List of Zatch Bell! characters

The anime and manga series Zatch Bell!, known in Japan as Konjiki no Gasshu!! (金色のガッシュ!!^?, lit. Golden Gash!!) for the manga and Konjiki no Gasshu Beru!! (金色のガッシュベル!!^?, lit. Golden Gash Bell!!) for the anime, features an extensive cast created and illustrated by Makoto Raiku. The series takes place in Modern day Japan and follows a genius teenager named Kiyo Takamine and his Mamono (魔物^?, lit. "demon", transliterated as Mamodo in the English adaption) Zatch Bell, a human-like being with supernatural powers.

Creation and conception

After Raiku's "Newtown Heroes" series in the Shonen Sunday Super ended, Raiku looked at his old drafts he created in the past for an idea for his next series. One of his ideas was about a mercenary who used a giant sword to defeat enemies. After playing with that idea for three months, Raiku decided to abandon it and go with another idea. His next idea was a story where a middle school student, the prototype of Kiyo, finds an old toy that turns into a giant knight that combats evil. After taking this up with his agent, he was advised to use a cuter character to fight and thus, Zatch was created. After Raiku worked on the idea for a month, it was published. The reason Zatch uses lightning spells is because the "rai" in his name is the Japanese word for "lightning".