(Published in the April 2003 issue)

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It was the largest, most powerful rocket ever built and, having served as the launch platform for the Apollo manned moon mission, probably qualifies as the most famous rocket as well.

The Saturn V's task may have been the most monumental in a clearly audacious project. While earlier rockets struggled to put even small capsules into Earth orbit, the Apollo program needed to heft a complex package consisting of a Command Module, a lunar lander and a capsule capable of returning home after a round trip of more than a half-million miles.

It took more than a decade of debate to come up with the final design of the Saturn V and the Apollo spacecraft it would blast into the heavens. Research on a 1 million-pound thrust engine actually began in 1953. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) gave approval to the Saturn development program on New Year's Eve, 1959.

A team led by German-born Wernher von Braun at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., came up with a 3-stage design that stood 363 ft. tall--60 ft. taller than the Statue of Liberty--when the Apollo spacecraft was sitting on the launchpad. When fully loaded with propellants, the rocket weighed 6.2 million pounds. It had more than 3 million parts. At full throttle, its five first-stage engines produced a thundering 7.6 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. All told, a Saturn V churned out more power than 85 Hoover Dams or, if you prefer, enough energy to light up New York City for 75 minutes.

Blast Off

A moon mission was, in a sense, a study in attrition. Igniting seconds before actual liftoff, turbopumps with the power of 30 diesel locomotives forced 15 tons of kerosene and liquid oxygen fuel per second into the five F-1 engines. The first stage burned for approximately 2.5 minutes, driving the astronauts into their seats with the equivalent of 4.5 times the force of gravity, or 4.5 g's. After rising to an altitude of 38 miles, the 138-ft.-long, 33-ft.-dia. first stage shut off, separated, and burned up while dropping back through the atmosphere.

The second stage, relying on two J-2 engines, burned 260,000 gal. of liquid hydrogen and 83,000 gal. of liquid oxygen for 6 minutes, lifting the spacecraft to 115 miles before separating.

The third stage consisted of a single J-2 engine that generated 225,000 pounds of thrust and burned for another 2.75 minutes, producing an orbital velocity of around 17,500 mph. But it did not immediately separate. Instead, the remaining structure continued to orbit Earth until a "go/no-go" decision was made by Mission Control in Houston. At that time, the third-stage rocket, technically known as an S-IVB, reignited and achieved "translunar injection." Once escape velocity, the speed needed to overcome Earth's gravity, or 24,500 mph, was achieved, the S-IVB was discarded as well.

The process of elimination continued over the course of the mission. The lower level of the Lunar Excursion Module was left on the moon. By the time three weary astronauts splashed down during their water landing, only a small capsule survived the long and costly mission.

In all, including test flights, 13 Saturn V rockets were launched.

A Second Life

Budget cuts curtailed the Apollo project earlier than originally planned, and it left three Saturn V rockets unused. But that did not end the glory days for the rocket. With an empty third stage from the Saturn V as an orbiting workshop, the rocket lifted Skylab, America's first, albeit very temporary, space station.

The rockets themselves have become museum pieces at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and in Huntsville.

In addition to propelling America on the most dramatic voyages in human history, the Saturn V created a curious urban legend. In 1996, John Lewis, in his book Mining The Sky, made the startling claim that NASA had lost the Saturn blueprints. Like all rumors, the story contained a grain of truth. Paul Shawcross of NASA's Office of Inspector General came to the rescue. While the claim that the blueprints could not be found was true, that did not mean the engineering genius of the Saturn had been lost. The plans for the world's largest rocket still exist, on tiny pieces of microfilm.

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