Progressive Management - Saturn V: Americas Apollo Moon Rocket

Saturn V - America's Apollo Moon Rocket

National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA), World Spaceflight News

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Progressive Management

Questions? Suggestions? Comments? Concerns?Please contact the publisher directly at

Remember, the book retailer can't answer yourquestions, but we can!

* * * * * * * * * * *

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away toother people. If you would like to share this book with anotherperson, please purchase an additional copy for each person youshare it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it,or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should returnto Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you forrespecting the hard work of this author.

* * * * * * * * * * *

This is a privately authored news service andeducational publication of Progressive Management. Our publicationssynthesize official government information with original material -they are not produced by the federal government. They are designedto provide a convenient user-friendly reference work to uniformlypresent authoritative knowledge that can be rapidly read, reviewed,or searched. Vast archives of important data that might otherwiseremain inaccessible are available for instant review no matterwhere you are. This e-book format makes a great reference work andeducational tool. There is no other reference book that is asconvenient, comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and portable -everything you need to know, from renowned experts you trust. Forover a quarter of a century, our news, educational, technical,scientific, and medical publications have made unique and valuablereferences accessible to all people. Our e-books put knowledge atyour fingertips, and an expert in your pocket!

SATURN V

AMERICA'S APOLLO MOON ROCKET

WORLD SPACEFLIGHT NEWS SPECIAL REPORT

* * * * * * * * * * * *

A Brief History of the Saturn V LaunchVehicle

The nation's space planners faced a series ofcomplex questions in the early 1960s. They had to select the methodthey would use to send a man to the moon and return him to earth,and they had to select the launch vehicle for the mission. Theyeventually decided to conduct the manned lunar landing using alunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) technique, and they selected theSaturn V as the launch vehicle for the mission. Based on the F-1rocket engine, the development of which had been underway since1958, and the hydrogen-fueled J-2 engine, upon which work had begunin 1960, the Saturn V would be much larger than any vehiclepreviously attempted. It would include three stages and aninstrument unit to manage guidance and control. The plannersexpected the Saturn V to provide the capability for earth orbitalmissions by using the first two stages and the capability for lunarand planetary expeditions by employing all three stages. Overallmanagement responsibility for the vehicle was assigned to theMarshall Center.

The First Stage, S-IC

During the fall and winter of 1961, MSFCfocused attention on acquiring the contracts for the Saturn Vvehicle. The contract to build the largest stage of the Saturn V,the S-IC first stage, was awarded to Boeing on December 15,1961.

Boeing engineers, wrote historian RogerBilstein, worked "elbow to elbow" on site with Marshall engineersin Huntsville. Five Saturn V first stages (three for ground testsand two for flight) were fabricated in Huntsville. Boeing alsomanufactured the S-IC stage at Michoud Assembly Facility in NewOrleans, "in Marshall's backyard." The stages were test fired atthe Mississippi Test Facility and at Marshall. Five F-1's poweredthe first-stage, each developing 1.5 million pounds of thrust. Thefirst stage burned over 15 tons of propellant per second during itstwo and one-half minutes of operations to take the vehicle to aheight of about 36 miles and to a speed of about 6,000 miles perhour. The stage was 138 feet long and 33 feet in diameter.

The Second Stage, S-II

On September 11, 1961, NASA announced theselection of North American Aviation as the contractor for the S-IIstage which would be manufactured primarily at Seal Beach,California. Five J-2's with a combined thrust of 1 million poundspowered this second stage. The stage burned over one ton ofpropellants per second during about 6 1/2 minutes of operation totake the vehicle to an altitude of about 108 miles and a speed ofnear orbital velocity, about 17,400 miles per hour. The stage was33 feet in diameter and 81 1/2 feet long.

The Third Stage, S-IVB

The contract for the S-IVB stage, the thirdstage, was awarded to Douglas Aircraft Company in December 1961.Final manufacturing would take place at a Douglas facility atHuntington Beach, California. A single J-2 stage powered the thirdstage which had two important operations. After the second stagedropped away, the third ignited and burned for about 2 minutes toplace itself and the spacecraft into the desired earth orbit. Atthe proper time during this earth parking orbit, the third stagewas reignited to speed the Apollo spacecraft to escape velocity of24,900 miles per hour. In this second sequence, the stage burnedfor about 6 minutes. This stage was 58 feet long and 21.7 feet indiameter.

The Instrument Unit

The Marshall Center was initially engaged indesigning the Saturn V instrument unit as an in-house project.Later a contract was awarded to IBM for the instrument unit thatwas 3 feet long and 21.7 feet in diameter. The unit, located atopthe third stage, controlled all the ignition sequences, guidanceand control, and telemetry functions to keep the vehicle operatingproperly.

Managing and Testing Saturn V

At the height of the Saturn program as manyas 20,000 contractor companies were involved in aspects of theSaturn program. Their involvement ranged from manufacturing thesmallest components to static testing complete vehicle stages. Forthe Marshall Center, vested with overall responsibility for theSaturn, the management challenge was enormous. However, theCenter's ability to manage Saturn as a government/contractorendeavor was strengthened by the hands-on experience that Marshallemployees accumulated working directly on Saturn in Huntsville.This was especially true regarding Saturn V testing.

Marshall had inherited the Army's Jupiter andRedstone test stands, but much larger facilities were needed inHuntsville for Saturn V testing and for manufacture of the giantstages. From 1960 to 1964, existing test stands at Marshall wereremodeled, and a sizable new test area was developed. The newstands erected for propulsion and structural dynamic tests wereamong the tallest buildings in the state. They made up acomprehensive test complex for static firings of extremely powerfulengines, storage and pumping of cryogenic fuels, and structuralevaluation of inordinately large objects.

During the Apollo era, engineers at Marshalland at other sites filled their log books with reports on scores oftest activities on engines, structures, and all types of rocketcomponents. However, two particular series of large-scale Saturn Vtests are among those most vividly recalled, perhaps because of theaudible and visual excitement they generated. First, in 1965, camea series of thundering tests on the powerful Saturn first stage.Then came the awesome sight of an entire spacecraft and giganticSaturn launch vehicle configured together in the 360-foot tallDynamic Test Stand at Marshall for a series of bending andvibration tests.

S-IC Testing

The mighty thunder from the 1.5 million poundthrust F-1 engines on the Saturn first stage marked the series oftests conducted on the powerful S-IC stage in Huntsville in 1965.MSFC Test Laboratory personnel initiated the tests on April 9 usingthe Center's newly constructed S-IC booster static test stand andcontrol room. This 16-second initial test on April 10 was a singleengine test. However, on April 16, 1965, MSFC Test Laboratorypersonnel turned the volume louder when they conducted a 6.5 secondstatic test of all five Rocketdyne engines of the first stagegenerating some 7.5 million pounds thrust. More than 500measurements of the booster's performance were made.