page_title: Saturn V instrument unit
hierarchical_section_title: Saturn V instrument unit
caption_attribution_description: English: This undated chart provides a description of the Saturn IB and Saturn V's Instrument Unit (IU) and its major components. Designed by NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the Instrument Unit, sandwiched between the S-IVB stage and the Apollo spacecraft, served as the Saturn's "nerve center" providing guidance and control, command and sequence of vehicle functions, telemetry, and environmental control.
context_page_description: The Saturn V instrument unit is a ring-shaped structure fitted to the top of the Saturn V rocket's third stage and the Saturn IB's second stage. It was immediately below the SLA panels that contained the Lunar Module. The instrument unit contains the guidance system for the Saturn V rocket. Some of the electronics contained within the instrument unit are a digital computer, analog flight control computer, emergency detection system, inertial guidance platform, control accelerometers, and control rate gyros. The instrument unit for Saturn V was designed by NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center and was developed from the Saturn I IU. NASA's contractor to manufacture the Saturn V Instrument Unit was International Business Machines.
  One of the unused instrument units is currently on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. The plaque for the unit has the following inscription:
  The Saturn V rocket, which sent astronauts to the Moon, used inertial guidance, a self-contained system that guided the rocket's trajectory. The rocket booster had a guidance system separate from those on the command and lunar modules.
context_section_description: The Saturn V instrument unit is a ring-shaped structure fitted to the top of the Saturn V rocket's third stage (S-IVB) and the Saturn IB's second stage (also an S-IVB). It was immediately below the SLA (Spacecraft/Lunar Module Adapter) panels that contained the Lunar Module. The instrument unit contains the guidance system for the Saturn V rocket. Some of the electronics contained within the instrument unit are a digital computer, analog flight control computer, emergency detection system, inertial guidance platform, control accelerometers, and control rate gyros. The instrument unit (IU) for Saturn V was designed by NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and was developed from the Saturn I IU. NASA's contractor to manufacture the Saturn V Instrument Unit was International Business Machines (IBM).
  One of the unused instrument units is currently on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.  The plaque for the unit has the following inscription:
  The Saturn V rocket, which sent astronauts to the Moon, used inertial guidance, a self-contained system that guided the rocket's trajectory.  The rocket booster had a guidance system separate from those on the command and lunar modules.  It was contained in an instrument unit like this one, a ring located between the rocket's third stage and the command and lunar modules.  The ring contained the basic guidance system components—a stable platform, accelerometers, a digital computer, and control electronics—as well as radar, telemetry, and other units.
  The instrument unit's stable platform was based on an experimental unit for the German V-2 rocket of World War II. The Bendix Corporation produced the platform, while IBM designed and built the unit's digital computer.
caption: Diagram of Saturn V instrument unit
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