Abort mode two

As soon as the escape Lower was jettisoned, the rules changed again on what to do in the case of emergency. The vehicle was now being flown in abort mode two, which took account of the fact that, to all intents and purposes, the remaining stack was in space and catastrophic break-up from aerodynamic forces was no longer a concern. This abort scenario called for the CSM to detach itself from the rest of the stack and use either the service module’s main engine or its small RCS thrusters to increase its distance from the failing launch vehicle. Once clear, the CM would detach from the SM and descend on parachutes to a normal splashdown in the Atlantic at some point downrangc. These abort rules applied until the S-II was spent.