page_title: Saturn I
section_title: S-I stage
hierarchical_section_title: Saturn I / Description / S-I stage
caption_attribution_description: English: ENGINE CLUSTER OF 1ST STAGE OF A SATURN I ROCKET LOCATED ON NORTH SIDE OF STATIC TEST STAND, en:NASA en:Marshall Space Flight Center, en:Redstone Arsenal, en:Huntsville, Alabama. HAER, ALA,45-HUVI.V,7D-28.
context_page_description: The Saturn I was a rocket designed as the United States' first medium lift launch vehicle for up to 20,000-pound low Earth orbit payloads. The rocket's first stage was built as a cluster of propellant tanks engineered from older rocket tank designs, leading critics to jokingly refer to it as "Cluster's Last Stand". Originally intended as a near-universal military booster for use in the 1960s, its development was taken over from the Advanced Research Projects Agency in 1958 by the newly-formed civilian NASA. Its design proved sound and flexible. It was successful in initiating the development of liquid hydrogen-fueled rocket propulsion, launching the Pegasus satellites, and flight verification of the Apollo command and service module launch phase aerodynamics. Ten Saturn I rockets were flown before it was replaced by the heavy lift derivative Saturn IB, which used a larger, higher total impulse second stage and an improved guidance and control system. It also led the way to development of the super-heavy lift Saturn V which carried the first men to landings on the Moon in the Apollo program.
  President John F.
context_section_description: The S-I first stage was powered by eight H-1 rocket engines burning RP-1 fuel with liquid oxygen (LOX) as oxidizer. The propellant tanks consisted of a central Jupiter rocket tank containing LOX, surrounded by a cluster of eight Redstone rocket tanks: four painted white, containing LOX; and four painted black, containing the RP-1 fuel. The four outboard engines were mounted on gimbals, allowing them to be steered to guide the rocket. On the Block II vehicles (SA-5 through SA-10), eight fins provided aerodynamic stability in the flight through the atmosphere.
  TV Camera
  Movie Camera
  Hydrogen chill-down duct
  Cable tunnel
  Four turbine exhaust ducts
  Four stub fins
  Eight H-1 engines
  Four fins
  Heat shield
  Firewall
  Anti-slosh baffles 1-105" diameter LOX tank
  Anti-slosh baffles 8-70" diameter tanks
  Instrument compartment (typical F-1 & F-2)
  Four retro-rockets
  General characteristics
  Length: 80.3 feet (24.5 m)
  Diameter: 21.4 feet (6.5 m)
  Engine
  8 H-1
  Thrust: 1,500,000 pounds-force (6,700 kN)
  Burn time: 150 s
  Fuel: RP-1 / LOX
caption: A Saturn I first stage lies on its side between tests at MSFC in 1965.
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