Apollo 11 Moon Rocket's F-1 Engines Explained (Infographic) Apollo 11 Moon Rocket's F-1 Engines Explained (Infographic) By Karl Tate, SPACE.com Infographics Artist | March 20, 2013 01:10pm ET MORE Learn how Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to raise sunken Apollo 11 moon rocket engines from the Atlantic Ocean floor in this infographic. Credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com Contributor Billionaire space enthusiast and entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, has announced an audacious plan to retrieve the five massive rocket engines used to launch NASA's historic Apollo 11 mission to land the first men on the moon in 1969. The five F-1 rocket engines were jettisoned along with the rest of the Saturn V moon rocket's first stage after liftoff. For more than 40 years, they've sat on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. See what the Apollo 11 F-1 moon rocket engines were like in this SPACE.com infographic. The V2 Rocket - how it works, guidance - YouTube The V2 Rocket - how it works, guidance Want to watch this again later?

Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Sep 13, 2012 How it works. Mike Konshak - mechanical engineer and model rocket expert shows us a scale model and talks about the V2 design. Also he shows us a slide rule designed especially for German engineers. Diagrams, maps and old film of launches. Category John F. Kennedy Space Center - A Brief History of Rocketry A Brief History of Rocketry The earliest solid rocket fuel was a form of gunpowder, and the earliest recorded mention of gunpowder comes from China late in the third century before Christ. Bamboo tubes filled with saltpeter, sulphur and charcoal were tossed into ceremonial fires during religious festivals in hopes the noise of the explosion would frighten evil spirits. It's probable that more than a few of these bamboo tubes were imperfectly sealed and, instead of bursting with an explosion, simply went skittering out of the fire, propelled by the rapidly burning gunpowder.

Some clever observer whose name is lost to history may have then begun experiments to deliberately produce the same effect as the bamboo tubes which leaked fire. Certainly by the year 1045 A.D. -- 21 years before William the Conqueror would land on the shores of England -- the use of gunpowder and rockets formed an integral aspect of Chinese military tactics. A point of confusion arises tracing the history of rocketry back before 1045. Chinese documents record the use of "fire arrows," a term which can mean either rockets or an arrow carrying a flammable substance. By the beginning of the 13th Century, the Chinese Sung Dynasty, under pressure from growing Mongolian hordes, found itself forced to rely more and more on technology to counter the threat. Chinese ordnance experts introduced and perfected many types of projectiles, including explosive grenades and cannon. Rocket fire-arrows were certainly used to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kai-fung-fu in 1232 A.D. The rockets were huge and apparently quite powerful. According to a report: "When the rocket was lit, it made a noise that resembled thunder that could be heard for five leagues -- about 15 miles.

When it fell to Earth, the point of impact was devastated for 2,000 feet in all directions." Apparently these large military rockets carried incendiary material and iron shrapnel. These rockets may have included the first combustion chamber, for sources describe the design as incorporating an "iron pot" to contain and direct the thrust of the gunpowder propellant. The rocket seems to have arrived in Europe around 1241 A.D. Contemporary accounts describe rocket-like weapons being used by the Mongols against Magyar forces at the battle of Sejo which preceded their capture of Buda (now known as Budapest) Dec. 25, 1241. Accounts also describe Mongol's use of a noxious smoke screen -- possibly the first instance of chemical warfare. Rockets appear in Arab literature in 1258 A.D., describing Mongol invaders' use of them on February 15 to capture the city of Baghdad. Quick to learn, the Arabs adopted the rocket into their own arms inventory and, during the Seventh Crusade, used them against the French Army of King Louis IX in 1268.

It is certain that, not later than the year 1300, rockets had found their way into European arsenals, reaching Italy by the year 1500, Germany shortly afterwards, and later, England. A 1647 study of the "Art of Gunnery" published in London contains a 43-page segment on rockets. The Italians are credited, by the way, with adopting military rockets for use as fireworks -- completing the circle, so to speak, of the bursting bamboo used at the Chinese festivals 1,700 years earlier. The French Army traditionally has been among the largest, if not THE largest, army in Europe and was quick to adopt rockets to military operations. Records from 1429 show rockets in use at the siege of Orleans during the Hundred Years War against the English. Dutch military rockets appear by 1650 and the Germans' first military rocket experiments began in 1668. By 1730, a German field artillery colonel, Christoph Fredrich Von Geissler, was manufacturing rockets weighing 55 to 120 pounds.

As the 18th Century dawned, European military experts began to take a serious interest in rockets -- if only because they, like the Magyars 500 years earlier, found themselves on the receiving end of rocket warfare. Both the French and the British, during the Eighteenth Century, began wrestling for control of the riches of India. In addition to fighting one another, they also found themselves frequently engaged against the Mogol forces of Tippoo Sultan of Mysore. During the two battles of Seringapatam in 1792 and 1799, rockets were used against the British. One of Tippoo Sultan's rockets is now displayed in the Royal Ordnance Museum at Woolwich Arsenal, near London. Tippoo Sultan's father, Hyder Ally, had incorporated a 1,200 man contingent of rocketeers into his army in the year 1788. Tippoo Sultan increased this force to about 5,000 men, about a seventh of his total Army's strength.

Profiting from their Indian experience, the British, led by Sir William Congrieve (KON-greeve), began development of a series of barrage rockets ranging in weight from 300 to 18 pounds. Congrieve-design rockets were used against Napoleon. It is surprising that Napoleon seems to have made no use of rockets in the French Army but it must be remembered Napoleon was an artillery officer and may have simply been too hide-bound a traditionalist to favor new-fangled rockets over more familiar cannons. The scope of the British use of the Congrieve rocket can be ascertained from the the 1807 attack on Copenhagen. The Danes were subjected to a barrage of 25,000 rockets which burnt many houses and warehouses. An official rocket brigade was created in the British Army in 1818. Rockets came to the New World during the War of 1812. During the Battle of Bladensburg, August 24, 1814, the British 85th Light Infantry used rockets against an American rifle battalion commanded by U.S. Attorney General William Pickney. British Lieutenant George R.

Gleig witnessed the Americans' response to the new threat -- "Never did men with arms in their hands make better use of their legs," he wrote. On December 4, 1846, a brigade of rocketeers was authorized to accompany Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott's expedition against Mexico. The Army's first battalion of rocketeers -- consisting of about 150 men and armed with about 50 rockets -- was placed under the command of First Lieutenant George H. Talcott. The rocket battery was used March 24, 1847 against Mexican forces at the siege of Veracruz. On April 8 the rocketeers moved inland, being placed in their firing position by Captain Robert E. Lee (later to command the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the War Between the States). About 30 rockets were fired during the battle for Telegraph Hill. Later, the rockets were used in the capture of the fortress of Chapultepec, which forced the surrender of Mexico City. With typical foresight, as soon as the fighting in Mexico was over, the rocketeer battalion was disbanded and the remaining rockets were placed in storage.

They remained in mothballs for about 13 years -- until 1861 when they were hauled out for use in the Civil War. The rockets were found to have deteriorated, however, so new ones were made. The first recorded use of rockets in the Civil War came on July 3, 1862, when Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry fired rockets at Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Union troops at Harrison's Landing, Va. No record exists of the Northerners' opinion of this premature "Fourth of July" fireworks demonstration. Later in 1862, an attempt was made by the Union Army's New York Rocket Battalion -- 160 men under the command of British-born Major Thomas W. Lion -- to use rockets against Confederates defending Richmond and Yorktown, Virginia. It wasn't an overwhelming success. When ignited, the rockets skittered wildly across the ground, passing between the legs of a number of mules. One detonated harmlessly under a mule, lifting the animal several feet off the ground and precipitating its immediate desertion to the Confederate Army.

The only other documented use of rockets is at Charleston, S.C., in 1864. Union troops under Maj. Gen. Alexander Schimmelfennig found rockets "especially practical in driving off Confederate picket boats, especially at night." As an interesting sidelight, the author Burke Davis, in his book "Our Incredible Civil War," tells a tale of a Confederate attempt to fire a ballistic missile at Washington, D.C., from a point outside Richmond, Va. According to the author, Jefferson Davis witnessed the event at which a 12-foot-long, solid-fueled rocket, carrying a 10-pound gunpowder warhead in a brass case engraved with the letters C.S.A., was ignited and seen to roar rapidly up and out of sight. No one ever saw the rocket land. It's interesting to speculate whether, almost 100 years before Sputnik, a satellite marked with the initials of the Confederate States of America might have been launched into orbit. The military appears to have remained underwhelmed with the potential of rockets. They were employed in fits and starts in many of the brushfire wars which punctuated the otherwise calm closing days of the late Victorian Era.

If the military was luke warm to rockets, another profession welcomed them with open arms. The international whaling industry developed rocket-powered, explosive tipped harpoons which were most effective against the ocean-going leviathans. During the First World War, rockets were first fired from aircraft attempting to shoot down enemy hydrogen gas-filled observation balloons. Successes were rare and pilots resisted being asked to fire rockets from the highly flammable, cloth and varnish covered wings of their biplanes. The French were the principal users of aerial rockets, using a model developed by a Naval lieutenant, Y.P.G. LePrieur. The principal drawback to rockets throughout this period of development was the type of fuel. Both here and abroad, experiments were under way to develop a more powerful, liquid-propelled rocket. Two young men stand out in this effort -- one an American, Robert H. Goddard -- the other a German, Wernher Von Braun. Radio commentator Paul Harvey tells a story of how young Von Braun's interest in rocketry almost got him labeled as a juvenile delinquent. At the age of 13, Von Braun exhibited an interest in explosives and fireworks. His father could not understand his son's consuming interest in so dangerous a hobby.

He feared his son would become safecracker. One day the young teenager obtained six skyrockets, strapped them to a toy red wagon and set them off. Streaming flames and a long trail of smoke, the wagon roared five blocks into the center of the Von Braun family's home town, where they finally exploded. As the smoke cleared, the toy wagon emerged as a charred wreck. Young Von Braun emerged in the firm grasp of a policeman. Despite being severely reprimanded by his father, the youngster's interest would not be denied. By the age of 22 he had earned his doctorate in physics. Two years later he was directing Germany's military rocket development program. Von Braun and his colleagues produced a number of experimental designs, the most famous of which was the A-4 rocket, which has gained distinction in history under another name -- the vengeance weapon number two -- V-2 for short. The V-2 was the first successful, long range ballistic missile, and Von Braun is credited as its principal developer. As World War II drew to a close, Von Braun led his contingent of several hundred rocket scientists and engineers -- all marked for death by the Nazis to prevent their capture by the Allies -- into American lines.

In 1946, Von Braun and his team arrived at White Sands, N.M., where, for the first time, Von Braun learned of work done by the American rocket pioneer Robert Goddard. Goddard's interest in rockets began in 1898 when, as a 16-year-old, he read the latest publication of that early science fiction writer, English novelist H.G. Wells. The book which so excited Goddard was later made into a 1938 radio program that nearly panicked our entire nation when it was broadcast. Orson Well's too realistic rendition of the "War of the Worlds" still causes many to shudder. As the 20th Century began -- Wilbur and Orville Wright were preparing to become the first men to fly. Goddard, however, was already designing rockets to probe the upper atmosphere and delve into space. Half a world away -- and unknown to Goddard -- a Russian school teacher, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was thinking along much the same lines. Both came to the conclusion independently that, if a rocket was going to do the things they dreamed of, it would have to be powered by liquid fuels.

Solid fuels of the time simply didn't have sufficient power. Tsiolkovski lacked Goddard's practicality. While Tsiolkovski worked out many principles of astronautics and designed suitable rockets, he never built any. By contrast, Goddard was a technical man. He could and did build rockets. By the time he died in 1945, Goddard held 214 patents in rocketry -- patents which still produce royalties for his estate. Goddard began his experiments in rocketry while studying for his doctorate at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. He first attracted attention in 1919 when he published a paper titled, "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes." In his paper he outlined his ideas on rocketry and suggested, none too seriously, that a demonstration rocket should be flown to the Moon. The general public ignored the scientific merit of the paper -- latching instead onto Goddard's Moon rocket proposal. At the time, such an endeavor was absurd and most dismissed Goddard as a "crank." The experience taught Goddard a hard lesson -- one which caused him to shy away from future opportunities to publicize his work.

Publicity was far from Goddard's mind on the morning of March 16, 1926. On that day, barely a year after Wernher Von Braun's rocket wagon fiasco, Goddard launched a liquid-powered rocket he had designed and built from a snow-covered field at his Aunt Effie Goddard's farm in Auburn, Mass. The rocket flew -- 152 feet -- about the same distance as the Wright Brothers' first manned flight -- but it did fly! It was the first flight of a liquid-fueled rocket in history. When Goddard was later approached by the American Interplanetary Society in 1930 to publicize his work, Goddard refused. The society, rebuffed and learning that no one in the United States aside from Goddard was working with rockets, turned its attention to rocket research under way in Europe, where rocketry was beginning to develop a following. In the spring of 1931, two founder-members of the American society, husband and wife Edward and Lee Pendray, traveled on vacation to Germany where they made contact with the German Rocket Society, which had been formed in 1927.

The visiting Americans were given a preview of the future when a member of the German Rocket Society -- Prof. Willy Ley -- took the pair to the Germans' rocket flying test ground in the suburbs of Berlin. Returning home, the Pendrays filed an enthusiastic report of their visit, prompting the American society to build its first rocket. The attempted test flight in November 1932 ended with the American design firmly on the ground. It's unfortunate the Pendrays didn't meet another future rocketry hall-of-famer who also was a member of the German society. Rumanian-born Hermann Oberth wrote, in 1923, a highly prophetic book: "The Rocket into Interplanetary Space." The book enthralled many with dreams of space flight, including that precocious German teenager, Wernher Von Braun who read the book in 1925. Five years later, Von Braun had joined Oberth and was assisting with rocket experiments.

By 1932, the German Army was beginning to show an interest in the German Rocket Society's efforts, and in July of that year, a "Mirak" rocket was launched as a demonstration for the head of the newly created German Army rocket research group, Captain (later Major General) Walter Dornberger. Mirak didn't impress Dornberger. Von Braun did. Three months after the demonstration flight, Von Braun was engaged to work on liquid propelled rockets for the Army. Most of the German Rocket Society followed Von Braun into national service and the society disbanded. By December 1934, Von Braun scored his first successes with an A2 rocket powered by ethanol and liquid oxygen. Two years later, as plans for the follow-on A3 rocket were being finalized, initial planning began for the A4 rocket -- a rocket that was to be, in Dornberger's words, a practical weapon, not a research tool. As noted earlier, most know the A4 by another name -- the V-2.

The rocket researchers quickly outgrew their facilities at Kummersdorf on the outskirts of Berlin and, in 1936, operations were transferred to a remote island on Germany's Baltic coast -- Peenemuende. Between 1937 and 1941, Von Braun's group launched some 70 A3 and A5 rockets, each testing components for use in the proposed A4 rocket. The first A4 rocket flew in March 1942. The rocket barely cleared some low clouds before crashing into the sea a half mile from the launch site. The second launch in August 1942 saw the A4 rise to an altitude of 7 miles before exploding. The third try was the charm. On October 3, 1942, another A4 roared aloft from Peenemuende, followed its programmed trajectory perfectly, and landed on target 120 miles away. This launch can fairly be said to mark the beginning of the space age. The A4, the first successful ballistic rocket, is the ancestor of practically every rocket flown in the world today.

Production of the A4 began in 1943 and the first A4s, now renamed V2s, were launched against London in September 1944. The V-2 offensive came too late to affect the course of the war. By April 1945, the German Army was in full retreat everywhere and Hitler had committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin. At an inn near Oberjoch, the Haus Ingeburg, Von Braun and over 100 of his rocket experts waited for the end. The entire team had been ordered executed by Hitler to prevent their capture. Wernher Von Braun's brother, Magnus, however, managed to contact nearby American forces before Hitler's SS henchmen could reach the rocket team. On May 2, the same day Berlin fell to the Soviet Army, Von Braun and his rocket team entered American lines and safety. With the fighting over, Von Braun and his team were heavily interrogated and jealously protected from Russian agents. V2s and V2 components were assembled. German rocket technicians were rounded up. In June, General Eisenhower sanctioned the final series of V2 launches in Europe.

Watching each of the three V2s which rose from a launch site at Cuxhaven was a Russian Army colonel, Sergei Korolev. Ten years later, Korolev would be hailed as the Soviet Union's chief designer of spacecraft and the individual responsible for building the Vostok, Voshkod and Soyuz spacecraft which, since 1961, have carried all Soviet cosmonauts into orbit. Few members of Von Braun's team participated in the Cuxhaven launches. Most had already begun setting up shop at Fort Bliss, near El Paso, Texas. Piled up in the desert near Las Cruces, New Mexico, were enough parts to build 100 V2s. Von Braun and his team soon moved to nearby White Sands Proving Ground where work began assembling and launching V2s. By February 1946, Von Braun's entire Peenemuende team had been reunited at White Sands and, on April 16, the first V2 was launched in the United States. The U.S. space program was under way! Up to 1952, 64 V2s were launched at White Sands.

Instruments, not explosives, packed the missiles' nosecones. A V2 variant saw the missile become the first stage of a two stage rocket named Bumper. The top half was a WAC Corporal rocket. The need for more room to fire the rockets quickly became evident and, in 1949, the Joint Long Range Proving Ground was established at remote, deserted Cape Canaveral, Fla. On July 24, 1950, a two-stage Bumper rocket became the first of hundreds to be launched from "the Cape." The transfer of launch operations to the Cape coincided with the transfer of the Army's missile program from White Sands to a post just outside a north Alabama cotton town called Huntsville. Von Braun and his team arrived in April 1950 -- it was to remain his home for the next 20 years -- 20 years in which the city's population increased ten fold. The Von Braun team worked to develop what was essentially a super-V2 rocket, named for the U.S. Army arsenal where it was being designed -- the Redstone.

In 1956, the Army Ballistic Missile Agency was established at Redstone Arsenal under Von Braun's leadership to develop the Jupiter intermediate range ballistic missile. A version of the Redstone rocket, known as the Jupiter C, on January 31, 1958, was used to launch America's first satellite, Explorer I. Three years later, Mercury Redstones launched Alan Sheppard and Gus Grissom on suborbital space flights, paving the way for John Glenn's first orbital flight. In 1958, NASA was established, and, two years later, Von Braun, his team, and the entire Army Ballistic Missile Agency were transferred to NASA to become the nucleus of the agency's space program. The Army Missile Command, which owns Redstone Arsenal, continued its vital national defense mission after the transfer of ABMA to NASA, chalking up a remarkable number of successful programs to augment America's landpower. MICOM's successes include the Pershing II, the NIKE weapons systems, the HAWK system, Improved HAWK, Corporal, Sergeant, Lance and Chaparral, to name a few.

Pursuing a separate course -- that of developing rockets for space exploration -- the Marshall Space Flight Center's past quarter century has been a time of superlatives. In 1961, almost as Alan Sheppard was drying off from his landing in the Atlantic following his riding a Marshall-designed Redstone rocket on a sub-orbital flight which made him the first American in space, President Kennedy committed this nation to being first on the Moon. NASA's Marshall Center was charged with developing the family of giant rockets which would take us there. The Saturn rockets developed at Marshall to support the Apollo program and to honor President Kennedy's pledge were, at the time, the most powerful space launch vehicles yet to have been invented. Engineers, scientists, contractors, and other support personnel built well. On July 20, 1969, a transmission from the Moon's Sea of Tranquility reported "the Eagle has landed." Marshall's Saturn rockets first took us around the Moon, then to its cratered surface. Marshall-developed lunar excursion vehicles -- the ungainly Moon Buggies -- carried astronauts on far-ranging excursions in pursuit of samples of lunar soil and rock.

Closer to home, the team at Marshall developed America's first space station -- Skylab. Built to replace the upper stage of a Saturn V moon rocket, the Skylab module was successfully placed in orbit early on May 14, 1973. Placing Skylab in orbit marked a major transition in the story of rocketry. Up until Skylab, the rocket had been the star -- the featured attraction. The focus had been on the up and down -- launch and recovery. Skylab, in essence stole the show. For the first time, space became a place in which to live and work. Flying aboard a rocket was about the Earthside equivalent of driving the family car to work. Just as having to drive to work is only incidental to work itself -- flying aboard a rocket became secondary to the work done once Skylab had been reached. The rocket, simply stated, became a means to an end -- the end in this case being the opportunity to learn to live and work in space. A rash of malfunctions plagued Skylab's early days -- problems which tested the resourcefulness of the entire NASA team. The problems were overcome, however, and Skylab went on to become one of Marshall's proudest achievements.

A Marshall-developed Saturn I-B also carried aloft America's half of the first joint U.S.-Soviet space endeavor, the Apollo-Soyuz project. After Apollo, the team at Marshall tackled designing a revolutionary national space transportation system, which came to be known simply as "The Space Shuttle." The space shuttle main engines are among the most powerful, most sophisticated devices ever invented. They represent a quantum leap in technology advancement over the engines which powered the Saturn V. Each of the three main engines in tail of the shuttle can provide almost a half-million pounds of thrust, a thrust equal to that produced by all eight of the Saturn I's first stage engines. Unlike most previous rocket engines, which were designed to be used only once -- and then for only a few minutes -- the space shuttle's main engines are designed to be used again and again, for up to 7.5 hours. The thrust to weight ratio for these engines is the best in the world -- each engine weighs less than 7,000 pounds but puts out the power equivalent of seven Hoover Dams! Twenty-four successful flights of the space shuttle lulled America into a sense of complacency.

Shuttle launches became routine -- a ho-hum event which had to scramble for an inch or two on page 2. Then came the Challenger disaster.... The time since the loss of Challenger has been the busiest in the history of Marshall Space Flight Center. Teams of experts have been organized to find and fix the problems which led to the accident. Investigation quickly focused on a defective joint in the space shuttle's solid rocket motors. Rocket propulsion experts devised a number of modifications to the solid rocket motor design to remedy the fault. A vigorous test program was undertaken to show the problems have been solved. The disaster-enforced hiatus in shuttle operations has given Marshall -- and other NASA installations -- an opportunity to address other shuttle-related concerns. Major steps were made at enhancing the reliability and safety of the turbine blades and turbo pumps in the shuttle's main engines. An escape system was implemented for the shuttle crew during leveled flight and Improvements were made to the orbiter's landing gear and brakes. On September 29, 1988, the shuttle program returned to flight with the launch of STS-26R.

NASA also using more expendable launch vehicles on missions which do not require the shuttle's unique capabilities, and is looking into development of a new generation of heavy lift launch vehicles. These will become the next chapter in the story of rocketry -- a story whose first chapters were written more than 2,400 years ago. No one can say where our path will lead or when -- hopefully never -- the last chapter in this history will be written. Saturn Saturn I: The Saturn series of launch vehicles are large-scale rockets developed for NASA's Apollo lunar landing program. This type of rocket was originally proposed by Wernher Von Braun in 1957, who at that time was assigned to the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA). Following its establishment in 1958, Von Braun and other U.S. Army scientists were transferred to NASA, with the Saturn rocket development program subsequently becoming a NASA endeavor. The Saturn IB launch vehicle was conceived in 1962 at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center as the quickest, most reliable, and most economical means of providing a booster with greater payload capability than the Saturn I.

The new launch vehicle would be used for earth orbital missions with the Apollo spacecraft before the Saturn V lunar launch vehicle would be available. The initially developed Saturn I adopted cluster of 8 engines essentially the same as used in the Jupiter rocket. Test firing of the Saturn I began in 1961. From 1966, the Saturn IB was developed, incorporating the hydrogen fuel J-2 engine for the rocket second stage. Saturn IB, including the spacecraft and tower, stands approximately 224 feet tall, and is about 21.7 feet in diameter. Total weight empty is about 85 tons, and liftoff weight fully fueled, will be approximately 650 tons. First-stage flight is powered by eight H-1 engines generating 200,000 pounds of thrust each, for a total of 1.6 million pounds. In approximately 2.5 minutes of operation, it will burn 41,000 gallons of RP-1 fuel and 66,000 gallons of liquid oxygen, to reach an altitude of approximately 42 miles at burnout.

H-1 engines for later S-IB vehicles will be uprated to 205,000 pounds of thrust each. SA-201 lifted off from SLC34 on 2/26/1966. NASA called the successful 39 minute suborbital mission Apollo-Saturn (AS) 201. The S-IVB J-2 engine and the Apollo Service Module engine both worked well on this, their first flight. Saturn accelerated Apollo to 29,000 kilometers per hour, pushing it to a 488 km apogee. The CM splashed down 8,472 km downrange, east of Ascension Island. Problems with CSM-011 delayed the next planned Saturn 1B mission, which used booster SA-202, so SA-203 was launch first. SA-203, flying the AS-203 mission, was an extended orbital test of the S-IVB stage. An aerodynamic shroud topped off the SLA in place of a CSM. Crews stacked SA-203 on refurbished LC37B beginning in April.

By June, SA-203 was joined by SA-202, standing on nearby LC34, and, several miles to the north, SA-500F, the Saturn V facilities checkout vehicle, standing on LC39A. SA-203 lifted off on July 5 and performed a perfect four-orbit mission in a 185 x 189 km orbit. The AS-202 mission, another successful suborbital flight, finally took place on August 25. This time, the CSM apogee was 1,143 km and the spacecraft nearly completed one orbit before it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. NASA declared Apollo-Saturn 1B ready for manned flight. At LC34, SA-204 was prepared for the first manned Apollo mission, which was to be called AS-204. CSM-012 was stacked and tested. On January 27, 1967, however, a flash fire in the capsule during the final countdown demonstration test killed astronauts Grissom, White, and Chaffee.

The disaster halted Apollo manned flights for 21 months and stunted the Saturn 1B program. The SA-204 vehicle was destacked, stored, and, eventually, restacked on LC37B, where it stood for months waiting for delayed LM-1. The rocket did not fly until January 22, 1968, when it carryed LM-1 into orbit beneath another aerodynamically-shrouded SLA on the Apollo 5 mission. SA-204 injected LM-1 into an initial 222 x 163 km orbit. The LM descent engine fired for the first time, followed by the ascent engine. After the ascent burn, LM-1 was left in a 961 x 172 km orbit. The entire mission was complete after four orbits. SA-205 finally carried the first manned Apollo 7 mission aloft from LC34 on 10/11/1968. Onlookers did not know at the time that SA-205 would be the last Saturn I launched from Cape Canaveral.

The rocket boosted CSM-101 into a 140 x 183 mi orbit. Astronauts Walter Schirra, Don Eisele, and Walter Cunningham orbited the earth in Apollo 7 163 times during a 10 day 20 hour mission before landing near Bermuda in the Atlantic. The Saturn IB version was also used to launch the manned Skylab 2,3 and 4 missions in 1972 and 73, and for the Apollo-Soyuz Program carried out jointly with the Soviet Union in 1975. The most famous of the Saturn Missiles is the Saturn V, that launched man to the moon. Saturn V: When the United States made the decision in 1961 to undertake a manned lunar landing effort as the focal point of a broad new space exploration program. there was no rocket in the country even approaching the needed capability. There was a sort of "test bed" in the making, a multi-engine vehicle now known as Saturn I. It had never flown.

And it was much too small to offer any real hope of sending a trio to the moon, except possibly through as many as a half dozen separate launchings from earth and the perfection of rendezvous and docking techniques, which had never been tried. That was the situation that brought about the announcement on Jan. 10, 1962, that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration would develop a new rocket, much larger than any previously attempted. It would be based on the F-1 rocket engine. the development of which had been underway since 1958. and the hydrogen-fueled J-2 engine, upon which work had begun in 1960. The Saturn V then, is the first large vehicle in the U.S. space program to be conceived and developed for a specific purpose. The lunar landing task dictated the make-up of the vehicle, but it was not developed solely for that mission.

As President Kennedy pointed out when he issued his space challenge to the Congress on May 25, 1961, the overall objective is for "this Nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth." He said of the lunar landing project: "No single space project in this period will be more exciting. or more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish... " The Saturn V program is the biggest rocket effort undertaken in this country. Its total cost, including the production of 15 vehicles between now and early 1970 will be above $7 billion. NASA formally assigned the task of developing the Saturn V to the Marshall Space Flight Center on Jan. 25, 1962. Launch responsibility was committed to the Kennedy Space Center. (The Manned Spacecraft Center, the third center in manned space flight, is responsible for spacecraft development, crew training, and inflight control.) Marshall Center rocket designers conceived the Saturn V in 1961 and early 1960.

They decided that a three-stage vehicle would best serve the immediate needs for a lunar landing mission and would serve well as a general purpose space exploration vehicle. One of the more important decisions made early in the program called for the fullest possible use of components and techniques proven in the Saturn I program. As a result, the Saturn V third stage (S- IVB) was patterned after the Saturn I second stage (S-IV). And the Saturn V instrument unit is an outgrowth of the one used on Saturn I. In these areas, maximum use of designs and facilities already available was incorporated to save time and costs. Many other components were necessary, including altogether new first and second stages (S-IC and S- II). The F-1 and J-2 engines were already under development, although much work remained to be done. The guidance system was to be an improvement on that of the Saturn I. The Rocketdyne H-1 engine was the workhorse of the early Apollo-Saturn program. The Saturn 1 and Saturn 1B rockets used eight of these capable engines in the first stage booster. The first Apollo astronauts roared into space atop an H-1 powered Saturn 1B, as did all the Skylab mission crews.

The 205,000 lb thrust H-1 is a fixed-thrust, single-start gimbaled engine that employs a propellant system of RP-1 (kerosene) and liquid oxygen. Advances include a turbopump with a one-piece gearbox and fuel additive lubrication, a solid propellant gas generator for start-up, propellant valve sequencing, and hypergolic start-up in the thrust chamber. The Rocketdyne J-2 engine may be the most important engine in the development history of manned space flight propulsion. The J-2 was the first manned booster engine that used liquid hydrogen as a propellant. The J-2 was also the first large booster engine designed to be restarted multiple times during a mission. The J-2 engine was so versatile that it was used for both the second and third stages of the Saturn V moon rocket. And a modified J-2 engine was used to demonstrate principles that lead to the development of Rocketdyne's Space Shuttle Main Engine.

The 230,000 lb thrust J-2 features independantly driven pumps for both liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, a gas generator to supply hot gas to two turbines running in series, pneumatic and electrical control interlocks, altitude restart capability, and a propellant utilization system. The Mighty F-1 was perhaps Rocketdyne's greatest contribution to the American space program. Just one F-1 engine provided as much thrust as all three Space Shuttle Main Engines! Even more amazing is that a cluster of five F-1 engines were used in the first stage of the 363-foot tall Saturn V rocket. A single-start, fixed-thrust engine, the F-1 is gimbaled and uses liquid oxygen as the oxidizer, while RP-1 (kerosene) is used as the fuel, the turbopump lubricant, and the control system fluid. A gas generator utilizing the same propellants drives the turbine, which is direct-coupled to the turbopump. The Saturn V, including the Apollo spacecraft. is 364 feet tall. Fully loaded, the vehicle will weigh some 6.1 million pounds.

The 300,000-pound first stage is 33 feet in diameter and 138 feet long. It is powered by five F-1 engines generating 7.5 million pounds thrust. The booster will burn 203,000 gallons of RP-1 (refined kerosene) and 331,000 gallons of liquid oxygen (LOX} in 2.5 minutes. Saturn V's second stage is powered by five J-2 engines that generate a total thrust of a million pounds. The 33-foot diameter stage weighs 95,000 pounds empty and more than a million pounds loaded. It burns some 260,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and 83,000 gallons of liquid oxygen during a typical 6- minute flight. Third stage of the vehicle is 21 feet and 8 inches in diameter and 58 feet and 7 inches long. An interstage adapter connects the larger diameter second stage to the smaller upper stage. Empty weight Off the stage is 34,000 pounds and the fueled weight is 262,000 pounds.

A single J-2 engine developing up to 225,000 pounds of thrust powers the stage. Typical burn time is 2.75 minutes for the first burn and 5.2 minutes to a translunar injection. The vehicle instrument unit sits atop the third stage. The unit, which weighs some 4,500 pounds. contains the electronic gear that controls engine ignition and cutoff, steering, and all other commands necessary for the Saturn V mission. Diameter of the instrument unit is 21 feet and 8 inches, and height is 3 feet. Directly above the instrument unit in the Apollo configuration is the Apollo spacecraft. It consists of the lunar module. the service module, the command module, and the launch escape system. Total height of the package is about 80 feet. The jumping-off place for a trip to the moon is NASA's Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center. After the propellants are loaded, the three astronauts will enter the spacecraft and check out their equipment. While the astronauts tick off the last minutes of the countdown in the command module, a large crew in the launch control center handles the complicated launch operations.

For the last two minutes, the countdown is fully automatic. At the end of countdown, the five F-1 engines in the first stage ignite, producing 7.5 million pounds of thrust. The holddown arms release the vehicle, and three astronauts begin their ride to the moon. Turbopumps, working together with the strength of 30 diesel locomotives, force 15 tons of fuel per second into the engines. Steadily increasing acceleration pushes the astronauts back into their couches as the rocket generates 4-5 times the force of earth gravity. Saturn V Rocket Saturn V Rocket 1967 The largest rocket engines built at the time of the first US missions to the moon. The largest rocket built at the time of the historic first missions to the moon, the Saturn V carried aloft the 45-ton Apollo spacecraft on earth orbital and lunar missions from 1967 to 1972. It also launched the 120-ton Skylab into earth orbit on May 14, 1973.

Design and fabrication of the Saturn V were carried out by a government-industry team, which included the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Boeing Company, North American Rockwell, McDonnell Douglas Corporation, International Business Machines and their subcontractors. Many of the design features were outgrowths of the earlier development work accomplished by military service organizations and their contractors. The Saturn V Rocket remains the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever brought to operational status from a height, weight and payload standpoint. NASA's Mighty Saturn V Moon Rocket Explained (Infographic) NASA's Mighty Saturn V Moon Rocket Explained (Infographic) By Karl Tate, SPACE.com Infographics Artist | November 9, 2012 04:47pm ET MORE The rocket that launched men to the moon was first tested in 1967. Credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com contributor Designed to fly three Apollo astronauts to the moon and back, the Saturn V made its first unmanned test flight in 1967. A total of 13 Saturn V rockets were launched from 1967 until 1973, carrying Apollo missions as well as the Skylab space station.

Every part of the giant rocket is used and then discarded during a mission. Only the tiny command module survives to return to Earth. The Saturn V rocket ’s first stage carries 203,400 gallons (770,000 liters) of kerosene fuel and 318,000 gallons (1.2 million liters) of liquid oxygen needed for combustion. At liftoff, the stage’s five F-1 rocket engines ignite and produce 7.5 million pounds of thrust. At an altitude of 42 miles (67 kilometers), the F-1 engines shut down. Explosive bolts fire, and the severed first stage falls into the Atlantic Ocean. [ Saturn V Rocket Engines Explained (Infographic) ] The second stage carries 260,000 gallons (984,000 liters) of liquid hydrogen fuel and 80,000 gallons (303,000 liters) of liquid oxygen. A few seconds after the second stage’s five rocket engines are ignited, an interstage skirt at the bottom end of the second stage is jettisoned.

Shortly after that, the emergency escape rocket on top of the vehicle, only usable below 19 miles altitude, is fired off and discarded. At 9 minutes and 9 seconds after launch, the second stage is discarded and the third stage’s rocket engine is fired. The third stage carries 66,700 gallons (252,750 liters) of liquid hydrogen fuel and 19,359 gallons (73,280 liters) of liquid oxygen. [ The World's Tallest Rockets Compared ] The third stage’s single rocket engine is fired until 11 minutes and 39 seconds after launch, when the vehicle has attained sufficient speed to reach Earth orbit. About two and a half hours later, the third stage engine is restarted to send the Apollo spacecraft out of Earth orbit and toward the moon. After the astronauts in Apollo dock with the lunar landing module and pull away from the now-useless third stage, this last remaining part of the Saturn V coasts away into deep space or is commanded to fly to a crash landing on the moon. Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom . We're also on Facebook and Google+ .

How a gyroscope guides a rocket - YouTube How a gyroscope guides a rocket Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Nov 21, 2011 In this video we examine the peculiar properties of a toy gyroscope and show how they were harnessed to guide the WWII German V2 rocket and the USA's giant Saturn V that took Man to the Moon. Presented by Robert J Dalby. Produced by A.R.B Media Productions for The Astronomy and Nature Centre Category NASA - What Is a Rocket? What Is a Rocket? NASA's Saturn V rocket carried humans to the moon. Image Credit: NASA When most people think of a rocket, they think of a tall round vehicle that flies into space. But the word "rocket" can mean two different things. The word can describe a type of engine. The word rocket also is used to talk about a vehicle that uses a rocket engine. How Does a Rocket Engine Work? Like many other engines, a rocket produces thrust by burning fuel.

Most rocket engines turn the fuel into hot gas. Pushing the gas out of the back of the engine makes the rocket move forward. A rocket is different from a jet engine. A jet engine requires oxygen from the air to work. A rocket engine carries everything it needs. That is why a rocket engine works in space, where there is no air. There are two main types of rocket engines. Some rockets use liquid fuel. The main engines on the space shuttle orbiter use liquid fuel. The Russian Soyuz uses liquid fuels. Other rockets use solid fuels. On the side of the space shuttle are two white solid rocket boosters. They use solid fuels. Fireworks and model rockets also fly using solid fuels. Why Does a Rocket Work? In the vacuum of space, an engine has nothing to push against. So how do rockets move there? Rockets work by a scientific rule called Newton's third law of motion. English scientist Sir Isaac Newton listed three Laws of Motion more than 300 years ago. The third law says that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When the rocket pushes out its exhaust, the exhaust also pushes the rocket. The rocket pushes the exhaust backward. The exhaust makes the rocket move forward.

This rule can be seen on Earth. If a person stands on a skateboard and throws a bowling ball, the person and the ball will move in opposite directions. Because the person is heavier, the bowling ball will move farther. Robert Goddard built the first liquid-fuel rocket. Image Credit: NASA When Were Rockets Invented? The first known rockets were used in China in the 1200s. These solid rockets were used for fireworks. They also were used by armies for war. In the 1300s, these rockets were used for the same purposes through much of Asia and Europe. In the next 600 years, people developed bigger and better solid rockets. Many of these were used by the military. In 1903, a Russian teacher named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky wrote a paper describing the idea of liquid-fuel rockets. In 1926, American scientist Robert Goddard flew the first liquid-fuel rocket. German scientists led by Hermann Oberth improved liquid-fuel rockets. During World War II, Germany used rockets to bomb other countries. In 1957, the Soviet Union used a rocket to launch the first satellite.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin rode in a rocket to become the first person in space. In 1969, the United States launched the first men to land on the moon -- Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin -- using a Saturn V rocket. Words to Know: Thrust: the forward or upward force produced by the engines of a plane or rocket. Missile: an object (such as a stone, arrow, artillery shell, bullet, or rocket) that is thrown, shot, or launched usually so as to strike something at a distance. How Does NASA Use Rockets? Early NASA missions used rockets built by the military. Alan Shepard became the first American in space flying on the U.S. Army's Redstone rocket. The Atlas missile was used to make John Glenn the first American to orbit Earth. NASA's Gemini missions used the Titan II missile to launch astronauts. The first rockets NASA built to launch astronauts were the Saturn I, the Saturn IB and the Saturn V. Apollo missions used these to send men to the moon. A Saturn V launched the Skylab space station. The space shuttle also uses rocket engines to carry astronauts into space. NASA uses rockets to launch satellites and to send probes to other worlds.

These rockets include the Atlas V, the Delta II, the Pegasus and Taurus. NASA also uses smaller "sounding rockets" for scientific research. These rockets go up and come back down, instead of flying into orbit. The Falcon 9 rocket may someday carry supplies to the space station. Image Credit: NASA How Will NASA Use Rockets in the Future? New rockets are being developed today that will launch astronauts on future missions. Compared to the space shuttle, these rockets will look more like earlier rockets -- tall and round and thin. These rockets will take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station. NASA also is working on a powerful new rocket called a heavy lift vehicle. This rocket will be able to carry large amounts of equipment into space. Together, the heavy lift vehicle and other rockets will make it possible to explore other worlds and someday send humans to Mars. More About Rockets: Biography of Wernher Von Braun Home > Wernher von Braun > Biography of Wernher Von Braun Dr. Wernher von Braun First Center Director, July 1, 1960 - Jan.

27, 1970 Wernher von Braun (1912–1977) was one of the most important rocket developers and champions of space exploration during the period between the 1930s and the 1970s. As a youth he became enamored with the possibilities of space exploration by reading the science fiction of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, and from the science fact writings of Hermann Oberth, whose 1923 classic study, Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (By Rocket to Space), prompted young von Braun to master calculus and trigonometry so he could understand the physics of rocketry. From his teenage years, von Braun had held a keen interest in space flight, becoming involved in the German rocket society, Verein fur Raumschiffarht (VfR), as early as 1929. As a means of furthering his desire to build large and capable rockets, in 1932 he went to work for the German army to develop ballistic missiles. While engaged in this work, von Braun received a Ph.D. in physics on July 27, 1934.

Von Braun is well known as the leader of what has been called the “rocket team” which developed the V–2 ballistic missile for the Nazis during World War II. The V–2s were manufactured at a forced labor factory called Mittelwerk. Scholars are still reassessing his role in these controversial activities. Click for details . The brainchild of von Braun’s rocket team operating at a secret laboratory at Peenemünde on the Baltic coast, the V–2 rocket was the immediate antecedent of those used in space exploration programs in the United States and the Soviet Union. A liquid propellant missile extending some 46 feet in length and weighing 27,000 pounds, the V-2 flew at speeds in excess of 3,500 miles per hour and delivered a 2,200-pound warhead to a target 500 miles away. First flown in October 1942, it was employed against targets in Europe beginning in September 1944. By the beginning of 1945, it was obvious to von Braun that Germany would not achieve victory against the Allies, and he began planning for the postwar era.

Before the Allied capture of the V–2 rocket complex, von Braun engineered the surrender of 500 of his top rocket scientists, along with plans and test vehicles, to the Americans. For fifteen years after World War II, von Braun worked with the U.S. Army in the development of ballistic missiles. As part of a military operation called Project Paperclip, he and his rocket team were scooped up from defeated Germany and sent to America where they were installed at Fort Bliss, Texas. There they worked on rockets for the U.S. Army, launching them at White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico. In 1950 von Braun’s team moved to the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Ala., where they built the Army’s Jupiter ballistic missile. In 1960, his rocket development center transferred from the Army to the newly established NASA and received a mandate to build the giant Saturn rockets. Accordingly, von Braun became director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the superbooster that would propel Americans to the Moon. Von Braun also became one of the most prominent spokesmen of space exploration in the United States during the 1950s.

In 1970, NASA leadership asked von Braun to move to Washington, D.C., to head up the strategic planning effort for the agency. He left his home in Huntsville, Ala., but in 1972 he decided to retire from NASA and work for Fairchild Industries of Germantown, Md. He died in Alexandria, Va., on June 16, 1977.

Question: The V2 and Saturn V were types of what?
Answer: Rockets