the Apollo Saturn five America's largest space vehicle is being developed for
extensive manned space mission including landings on the moon prior to the end of
this decade one of the most important steps in creating a useful space vehicle
is the live development testing of the propulsion system these tests called
static firings involves strapping down each stage of the vehicle and firing
attention
in 1965 the propulsion system for each state to the Apollo Saturn v vehicle was
successfully Daddy pipe please test prove the various propulsion systems are
reliable enough for astronauts safety and powerful enough to achieve the
assigned mission the static tests also confirm the design and manufacturing
concept for the production of the flight stages of the vehicle
the Apollo Saturn 5 consists of three booster stages and three spacecraft
stages a primary booster stage is the s-1 seat the upper stages are the s2 and
the s4 B the three spacecraft stages includes the lunar module the propulsion
module and the command module the command module is the only vehicle stage
which does not have a propulsion system however it does contain reaction control
engines atop the command module is the launched
escape system which is used to pull the spacecraft clear the launch vehicle if
the mission is aborted during liftoff or the early stages of place at Huntsville
Alabama the first stage of the Apollo Saturn 5 is being developed jointly by
the Marshall Space Flight Center and the Boeing Company and is manufactured by
Boeing at Marshall's masu assembly facility in New Orleans static tests of
the first stages propulsion systems started at Marshall early in 1965 the
stage is powered by five f1 engine was developed a total of 7 and 1/2 million
pounds of flood the engines are produced by Rocketdyne at Canoga Park California
the purpose of the first stage is to provide the initial boost of the Apollo
spacecraft into Earth orbit the first five engines static tests of the stage
was conducted in the spring of 1965
since there many more tests of n conductive encoding engine gimbal test
and full duration tests of over 150 seconds at downing and Seal Beach
California for Saturn 5 second stage is being developed and manufactured by the
space and information division of North American Aviation under the direction of
Marshall Space Flight centers this stage is powered by 5j two engines which
develop a total thrust of 1 million pounds these engines are also produced
by Rocketdyne lege 2 is the largest engine currently in production which
burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen the development and use of these four
felons represent a major step forward in obtaining the necessary power required
for manned exploration of space when mixed with liquid oxygen in a rocket
engine hydrogen provides about 40% more thrust per pound of fuel than the
conventional kerosene type fuel and a santa susana test area north american
has conducted a number of successful firings of the second stages 5 engine
clusters these included full crust and full duration tests
but Douglas Aircraft Company at Santa Monica and Huntington Beach California
is responsible for the development and manufacture of the third stage of the
Apollo Saturn 5 under the direction of the Marshall Space Flight Center stage
testing is conducted by Douglas at a Sacramento test site the stage is
powered by 1 j2 Rocketdyne engines which develops 200 thousand pounds of thrust
the purpose of this stage is to first place the spacecraft in an earth parking
orbits and later to place the spacecraft in a lunar trajectory to accomplish this
the stages propulsion systems must have a stop-start capability this capability
was successfully demonstrated by test firings in the summer of 1965 the engine
was fired for 180 seconds then shut down for one and a half hours simulating a
Coast period and reignited for 335 seconds the lunar module was being
developed and manufactured by Grumman aircraft at Bethpage New York under
direction of manned spacecraft Center at Houston Texas the module has two
propulsion systems a descent engine and an ascent engine the descent engine is
being manufactured by TRW in Redondo Beach California and tested at San Juan
Capistrano California the descent engine can be swaddled allowing the astronauts
on board to control the modules rate of descent to the lunar surface the
astronauts will also use the descent engine to help translate or move above
the lunar surface to select the landing sites
the first static firing of the descent engine took place in the spring of 1965
the lunar module ascent engine is being manufactured by Bell AeroSystems
Buffalo New York and is being tested at White Sands Missile Range the ascent
engines the five powerful watch of the module from the lunar surface into lunar
orbit where we'll rendezvous with the command and propulsion module the first
firing of the ascent engine also took place in the spring of 1965 the Apollo
spacecraft command and propulsion modules are being about and constructed
by North American Aviation in Downey California under the direction of man
spacecraft enters the engine for the propulsion module is being manufactured
by Aerojet generals in Sacramento California
the modules propulsion system provides power for maneuvering the spacecraft
during its flight to the moon slowing it for lunar orbit entry and thrusting the
spacecraft from lunar orbit into a return flight path to earth first firing
of a development engine for the propulsion module took place at White
Sands New Mexico early in 1965 there are other propulsion systems in the Apollo
Saturn 5 which are smaller than the systems just reviewed but which are just
as vital to the success of the mission some of these systems use liquid fuel
others use solid view they include the reaction control system on the
spacecraft command propulsion and lunar module and the reaction control system
on a Thursday all of these systems have been successfully test another other
smaller but vital compulsion unit is the launch escape system this is used to
pull the spacecraft clear of the vehicle in case of danger to the astronauts in
the early stages of powered flight the system has not only completed static
firing but flight tests as well
lissa podium system development tests are just the beginning of the Apollo
Saturn 5 Daddy fire for each flight stage of every Apollo Saturn 5 will also
be static fired to verify its power performance and reliability these static
tests are prelude to the launch to the used vehicle from the Kennedy Space
Center
a prelude to the fight within this decade from the proven power of Apollo
Saturn 5 the launch man on his greatest voice a journey to the luminous
satellite of Earth we call the moose