# Why no Apollo 2 or 3? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2019, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-apollo-2-or-3/837332 "2019-07-20T01:29:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-apollo-2-or-3/837332/1 "2019-07-20T01:29:42Z")
AS-204 was retronymed into Apollo 1 after Grissom, White and Chaffee died in a fire. The next flight was an unmanned flight of the Saturn IB and it was called . . . Apollo 4?! What happened to 2 and 3? Wackypedia implies it is because of Apollo 1 and three IB flights went before but that’s now four previous flights counted so then those IB flights would be retronymed to Apollo 2, 3 and 4 and thus flight AS-501 would have been Apollo V. So why did we go from 1 to 4? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-apollo-2-or-3/837332/2 "2019-07-20T02:51:43Z")
Apollo missions 1, 2, and 3 had been scheduled when the fire during a test destroyed 012 (the spacecraft scheduled for the Apollo 1 mission) and its crew. All Apollo flights were suspended while the fire was investigated. When the missions were resumed, the original schedule for the 1, 2, and 3 missions had passed. It would have been possible to simply restart the numbering and designate the next mission as Apollo 1. But it was decided to retire those mission numbers and start with Apollo 4. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-apollo-2-or-3/837332/3 "2019-07-20T02:57:00Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Wackypedia implies it is because of Apollo 1 and three IB flights went before but that’s now four previous flights counted so then those IB flights would be retronymed to Apollo 2, 3 and 4 and thus flight AS-501 would have been Apollo V. Which wikipedia page are you referring to? The entry under [Apollo 1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1#New_mission_naming_scheme) seems pretty clear: > [@](#): > > The astronauts’ widows asked that Apollo 1 be reserved for the flight their husbands never made, and on April 24, 1967, Mueller, as Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, announced this change officially: AS-204 would be recorded as Apollo 1, “first crewed Apollo Saturn flight – failed on ground test”.[1] \*\*Even though three uncrewed Apollo missions (AS-201, AS-202, and AS-203) had previously occurred, only AS-201 and AS-202 carried spacecraft. \*\*Therefore, the next mission, the first uncrewed Saturn V test flight (AS-501) would be designated Apollo 4, with all subsequent flights numbered sequentially in the order flown. (bolding mine) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-apollo-2-or-3/837332/4 "2019-07-20T16:01:31Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Which wikipedia page are you referring to? The entry under [Apollo 1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1#New_mission_naming_scheme) seems pretty clear: > > (bolding mine) [Apollo 4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_4) > [@](#): > > Since the failed first crewed flight had been designated Apollo 1 in honor of the crew widows’ wishes, and three uncrewed Apollo/Saturn IB flights had already occurred, Mueller resumed the numbering sequence at Apollo 4 ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-apollo-2-or-3/837332/5 "2019-07-20T16:04:12Z")
Earlier thread from 2001: [Apollo 2 and 3?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=63109). See especially posts #5 and #6 by **evilhanz**.