S-IC-T. S-IC-T is a Saturn V first stage, S-IC rocket, of the three stage rocket system. S-IC-T was built by Boeing Company, under contract from National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to be a static test rocket. The main role of the S-IC-T was the testing of the five liquid fuel rocket engines to be used in the Apollo program. S-IC-T static test fired the rockets at NASA Mississippi Test Facility, now known as Stennis Space Center. S-IC-T was assembled at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. S-IC-T was given the nickname T-Bird (Test Bird). The first burn test was on April 10, 1965. The Saturn V's S-IC-T rocket is a first stage of the super heavy-lift launch vehicle. S-IC-T is now on display at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

History

Before S-IC-T, the first complete S-IC stage built, Boeing built prototype stages: SA-500F and SA-500D. These were used for testing the new S-IC first stage. Boeing Company was awarded the contract to build S-IC-T on March 6, 1963, from NASA. S-IC-T was also known as the All Systems Test Stage. After being built at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, S-IC-T was loaded onto the barge Poseidon. Barge Poseidon was then floated 1,086.7 miles for six day, arriving at the B-2 Test Stand in Mississippi. The Barge Poseidon trip is 1,086.7 miles miles up the Tennessee River and then down the Mississippi River. The S-IC-T was test fired at a newly built test firing facility, called the B-2 Test Stand (S-IC-T stage), in the west test area. B-2 Test Stand is now part of the Stennis Space Center. S-IC-T was planned as a test rocket only and not to be used in the later Apollo program. The Saturn V rocket was used in the Apollo program to depart Earth's gravity. S-IC-T, like all following Saturn V's S-IC rockets used five Rocketdyne F-1 engines. The Rocketdyne F-1 engine was first tested in March 1959 and delivered to NASA in October 1963. S-IC-T was built starting in 1963 and complete in 1965. The S-IC-T tests were to verify that the S-IC stage could support the firing of all five Rocketdyne F-1 engines at the same time. The testing was also a test of the two large fuel tanks. The five Rocketdyne F-1 engines produced  of thrust, the first burn of the most powerful rocket ever. The powerful rockets caused ground shaking and smoke filled the area from the engine flames. Thus, B-2 Test Stand earned the nickname the land of the earth shakers.

A crane was used to install S-IC-T into the B-2 Test Stand. Then the five F-1 engines were installed. The S-IC-T was filled with RP-1 rocket fuel and liquid oxygen (LOX) oxidizer. On the B-2 Test Stand, 18 test firings were completed over almost two years. On April 10, 1965, the first S-IC-T test was to fire one engine for 16.73 seconds. On April 16, S-IC-T fired all five engines for the first time for 6.5 seconds and reached the record 7.5 million pounds (33.36x106N) of thrust for the first time. The 7.5 million pounds of thrust was the power Wernher von Braun specified for Apollo to depart to the moon. On August 5, 1965, a full burn test was done for -minute (150 seconds) on all five engines. Two more -minute full burn test were done. The last test was done in 1967. The test included testing the gimbaled thrust movement on the four outing engines. With the successful tests of S-IC-T, the Apollo program's Saturn V rocket was able to move forward to the next step, SA-501/Apollo 4 with S-IC-1. With all testing completed, Boeing removed the S-IC-T from B-2 Test Stand on March 24, 1967.

S-IC-T is now on display on its side, inside the Apollo-Saturn V Center museum at the Kennedy Space Center. Visitors are able walk under S-IC-T. The complete Saturn V rocket, that S-IC-T is part of, has been restored for display. S-IC-T is a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, listed in July 1980. Two other Saturn V Rocket sites were listed at the same time: Saturn V Rocket at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and the one at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration in Huntsville, Alabama.

S-IC-T specifications
S-IC-T specifications:
Height: 
Diameter: 
Mass: 
Fuel, liquid oxygen and kerosene: 
Kerosene RP-1:  
Liquid oxygen: 
Empty: 
Intertank: 
Five F-1 engines, each 10 tons
Static test of S-IC, first stage of Saturn V Rocket
Power:  thrust or about 160 million horsepower, a record

B-2 Test Stand 

To test S-IC-T a special test stand was built, the B-2 Test Stand, this held the rocket in place under full power test. B-2 Test Stand was designed in 1961 and construction started in June 1961. B-2 Test Stand was completed in spring 1965 at the NASA Mississippi Test Facility and the Pearl River Site, then the NASA Mississippi Test Operations, now known as Stennis Space Center since May 20, 1988 after John C. Stennis. Stennis Space Center operates under the Marshall Space Flight Center.  B-2 Test Stand was built to be able to hold down  of thrust. S-IC-T was first rocket tested on the B-2 Test Stand. Also on the B-2 Test Stand, was the testing of S-IC-1 (Apollo 4), fired two times; S-IC-2 (Apollo 6) fired once; and S-IC-3 (Apollo 8) fired one time. In 1974, the B-2 Test Stand was reconfigured to test engines, RS-25, for the Space Shuttle program. Next the stand was change to test Russian RD-180 rocket engine in 1998, used on the Atlas rockets. The Space Launch System liquid oxygen feed line was tested in 2014 on stand.

A total of 12 S-IC stages were tested on B-2 stand. The first in April 1967 and the last was in October 1970. S-IC 15 was tested but was not used, S-IC 15 is on display at the Stennis Space Center's Infinity Space Center. The RS-68 used on the Delta 4 Common Booster Core was tested from November 1999 to May 2001. Stennis Space Center has other test stands including: A-1/A-2 Test stands, A-3 Test stand, H-1 Test stand and E Test stand complex.

The B-2 Test Stand has been renamed over the years, these include:
Building 4670
Saturn Static Test Stand
Saturn V Booster Test Stand
Saturn V S-IC Static Test Stand
S-IC Static Test Complex
Advanced Engine Test Facility
B-2 Test Stand specifications:
Concrete: 
Foundation depth:  
Four concrete foundation leg walls:  thick and  tall
Crane with a  boom, lift up to 195 tons
Max height: , including crane, (largest structure in Mississippi at the time)
Base floor space:  by 
 of water a minute for cooling engine exhaust 
 of water per minute for vibro-acoustic protection
Hold down 53,000 kN (12,000,000 lbf) of thrust, less in current state.

Gallery

See also
 S-II
 S-IVB
Apollo (spacecraft)

References

External links

S-IC-T on youtube.com
 Stages to Saturn
 Apollo Saturn Reference Page

Apollo program
Rocket stages
Saturn V