Based on the development of the first decade of the XXI century, the Saturn-5 rocket (American-made) is the most powerful among its counterparts. Its three-stage structure was constructed in the sixties of the last century and was intended to deliver a person to the lunar surface. All the necessary ships, on which the mission of researching the natural satellite of our planet was assigned, were to be attached to it.
According to the Apollo program, a lunar module mounted inside its adapter was attached to the rocket, and the hull of the orbital ship was already attached to it. Such a single-start circuit did two things at once. True, there was a two-stage model that was used only once during the launch of the very first space station of the United States of America into orbit - Skylab.
Lunar program: myth or truth?
Almost half a century has passed, but talk of a fabricated lunar program does not cease. Someone is convinced that sending astronauts to the moon using the Saturn-5 rocket is a hoax. To such people, any evidence of the great achievements of Americans is alien, and, according to their claims, they made videos without flying out of the planet Earth.
Sometimes it is rumored that the beautifully designed Saturn is too perfect to be real. Even if the Saturn program had a place to exist, why didn’t the Americans begin to continue it, citing the loss of all the design documentation for the Saturn 5 rocket, and began to produce shuttles costing several times higher? Why did you have to start the entire workflow of developing a similar rocket from zero? And how was it possible to lose the technological map of the production of the Saturn-5 rocket? After all, this is not a grain of sand among the sandy beach.
In general, the Saturn-5 rocket is the first of its kind, created not only for delivering astronauts to the moon, but also for their successful return home. Plus, the landing with all the equipment, including the lunar module with two living passengers, had to be very smooth and soft, otherwise it would be their last flight. Part of the mass could be separated by disconnecting the lunar module from the command ship, which, in turn, remained in the lunar orbit and waited for the completion of all work.
The American Saturn-5 rocket could lift and put into near-Earth orbit up to 140 tons of cargo. But, for example, the most used Proton heavy rocket can convey only 22 tons on its “body”. Impressive difference, right?
As you know, several Saturns were released, and the latter launched the Skylab space station at 77 tons of weight. It was so huge that when the reference point was lost inside, the astronaut hovered in the air for several minutes, waiting for the wind from the side of the ventilation system. Actually, this record was broken only by Mir, which consisted of several modules. But it is the Saturn-5 rocket that is still the most ambitious project in the world and the most powerful space vehicle, the record of which so far has not been broken by any other launch vehicle.
History of Saturn 5
At the very beginning of its life's journey, the ship encounters difficulties in the form of a failed launch with the participation of an unmanned, poorly regulated system. This was followed by a refusal to repeat an unmanned test, but everything ended with a “happy” end, since from 1968 to 1973 there were successful launches of ten Apollo space programs and the aforementioned Skylab space station. And then the Saturn-5 launch vehicle becomes a museum exhibit, and its production and further operation are completely stopped. This period continues to this day.
Interesting Facts
The United States began developing the Saturn rocket back in 1962, and four years later the first test flight took place. More precisely, the test was completely failed, since the second stage of the rocket, set to launch at a training ground near St. Louis, simply exploded and fell apart. According to historical records, an unmanned missile flight was constantly delayed due to endless breakdowns and shortcomings, but in the fall of 1967, the Americans were still able to succeed. However, in the second test phase of the Apollo 6 program, the unmanned piloting attempt again failed. Of the five available engines in the first stage, only three were put into operation, the engine in the third stage did not start at all, and after that the whole structure fell apart unexpectedly for everyone.
Despite this, ten days later an unprecedented decision was made - to send the Saturn-5 launch vehicle without repeated trials to the moon. After all, do not forget about the Cold War with the USSR and the arms race. Everyone was in a hurry and, even fearing irreparable tragic consequences, still decided to conquer the natural satellite of the Earth without a third test launch.
It was mentioned above about the mystical disappearances of the technical documentation and the characteristics of the Saturn-5 rocket, but in fact the Americans refute this information and call it a bike. This story appeared back in 1996 in one scientific book on the history of the formation of astronautics. Simply put, the author reported in her lines that NASA simply lost the blueprints. But according to NASA employee Paul Shavkross, who served in the internal inspection unit, the blueprints were true, but the experience and engineering brain remained intact: all the data was put into small pieces of film - microfilms.
Specifications
What are the main technical characteristics of the Saturn-5 rocket? To begin with, its height reached 110 meters and a diameter of ten, and with such parameters it could launch up to 150 tons of cargo into space, leaving it in low Earth orbit.
In the classic version of the steps she has three: in the first two, five engines each and in the third one. The fuel for the first stage was in the form of kerosene RP-1 with liquid oxygen as an oxidizing agent, and for the second and third, in the form of liquid hydrogen with liquid oxygen as an oxidizing agent. The starting thrust for the engines of the Saturn-5 rocket was 3,500 tons.
Rocket design
The structural feature of the rocket is the transverse division into three stages, that is, each stage is superimposed on the previous one. At all steps there were bearing tanks. The steps were connected by means of special adapters. The lower part was separated along with the body of the first stage, and the upper annular part was separated after a couple of tens of seconds after starting the engines of the second. The "cold circuit" of the separation of steps worked here, that is, until the previous one disappears, the engines on the next will not be able to start.
In addition to the starting engines, the solid-fuel braking engines of the Saturn-5 launch vehicle were also present on the steps. Its designer, Werner von Braun, with their help endowed the steps with the function of self-landing. Also in the compartment of the third stage was the instrumental block in which the rocket was controlled.
First stage construction
Its producer became the world famous Boeing. Of all three, it was the first step that was the highest, its length was 42.5 meters. Operating time - about 165 seconds. If we consider the step from the bottom up, then in its design you can directly find the compartment with five engines, a fuel tank with kerosene, an inter-tank compartment, an oxidizing tank in the form of liquid oxygen and a front skirt.
In the engine compartment were the largest Saturn-V engines, the F-1, which was manufactured by the American company Rocketday. The propulsion system itself consisted directly of the power structure, stabilizing units and thermal protection. One of the engines was fixed in the center in a fixed position, and the other four were suspended on cardan suspensions. Also, fairings were installed on the side power plants in order to protect the engines from aerodynamic loads.
In the fuel compartment, there were five pipes that led the oxidizer to the main fuel, which was already supplied through ten pipelines to the engines in finished form. The skirt had the function of connecting the first and second steps. When flights of the fourth and sixth Apollo were carried out, cameras were mounted on the structure to track the operation of the power plant, separate the steps and control liquid oxygen.
Second stage construction
Its manufacturer was the company that is currently part of the Boeing holding, North American. The length of the structure was slightly more than 24 meters, and the operating time was four hundred seconds. The components of the second stage were divided into the upper adapter, fuel tanks, the compartment with J-2 engines and the lower adapter connecting it to the first stage. The upper adapter was equipped with additional solid-fuel engines in the amount of four pieces, designed for the same braking as in the case with the first stage. They started after the separation of the third stage. The power plant compartment also had one central engine and four peripheral ones.
Third stage construction
The third, almost eighteen-meter, design was made by McDonnel Douglas. Its purpose was to withdraw the orbital ship and the descent of the lunar module to the surface of the moon. The third stage was produced in two series - 200 and 500. The latter had a solid advantage in the increased helium supply in the event of a restart of the engine.
The third stage consisted of two adapters - upper and lower, fuel compartment and power plant. The system that regulates the supply of fuel to the engines is equipped with sensors that measure the fuel residue, they directly transmitted data to the on-board computer. The engines themselves could be used both continuously and in pulsed mode. By the way, on the basis of this third stage, the American space station SkyLab was created.
Tool block
All electronic systems were located in the instrumental unit, which was slightly less than a meter in height and about 6.6 meters in diameter. It is superimposed on the third step. Inside the ring were blocks that controlled the launch of the rocket, its orientation in space, and also the flight along a predetermined path. Immediately there were navigation devices and an alarm system.
The control system was presented on-board computer and inertial platform. The entire control unit had a temperature system and thermoregulation. Absolutely the entire rocket was strewn with sensors detecting any malfunctions. They submitted the found data on the emergency state of an electronic object to the control panel in the astronaut’s cockpit.
Preparation for launch
The entire pre-flight check of the Saturn-5 rocket and the Apollo spacecraft was carried out by a special commission of five hundred people. Thousands of workers participated in the launch and training at Cape Canaveral. In the Space Center, located five kilometers from the launch site, there was a vertical assembly.
About ten weeks before departure, all parts of the rocket were transported to the starting position. For such heavy objects caterpillar vehicles were used. When all parts of the rocket were connected together and all electrical appliances were connected, they checked the communications, including the radio system - both onboard and ground.
Next, immobilized missile control tests began, and a flight simulation took place. Checked the work of the spaceport and the MCC in Houston. And the last test work was carried out with direct fueling of the tanks until the period involving the launch of the first stage.
Operations to start
The countdown to the pre-launch time begins six days before the rocket is sent into space. This is a standard procedure carried out with Saturn 5. During this period, several pauses were carried out in order to avoid disruptions and the subsequent delay in departure. The final countdown started 28 hours before launch.
Refueling of the first stage took place in twelve hours. Moreover, only kerosene was poured, and liquid oxygen was supplied to the tanks four hours before launch. Before refueling, all tanks went through a cooling procedure. The oxidizing agent was first fed into the tanks of the second stage by forty percent, then into the tanks of the third by one hundred. Then they were filled to the end of the tank of the second design, and only then did the oxidizer get into the first. Thanks to such an interesting procedure, workers were convinced of the absence of oxygen leakage from the tanks of the second stage. The total cryogenic fuel supply time during refueling was 4.5 hours.
After preparing all the systems, the rocket was transferred to automatic mode. Of the five engines of the first stage, the central stationary one was first launched, and only then the opposites peripheral in the scheme. Then for five seconds the rocket was on hold, and then gently exited the holders that released it, deviating to the sides.
The computer, located in the tool block, controlled the pitch and roll of the rocket. All pitch maneuvers were completed at 31 seconds of flight, but the program continued to provide pulses until the first stage was completely disconnected.
Dynamic pressure began at the seventieth second. The peripheral engines worked until the fuel ran out of the tanks, and the middle engine shut off another 131 seconds after takeoff in order to prevent large overloads on the rocket hull. The separation of the first stage took place at about 65 kilometers above the earth's surface, and by that time the speed of the rocket was already 2.3 kilometers per second.
But separating, the step did not fall immediately down. According to the design features, it continued to climb up to one hundred kilometers and only then went into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean at a distance of 560 kilometers from the launch site.
The start of engines of the second stage began a second after undocking the first. All five power plants were launched simultaneously, and after 23 seconds the lower adapter of the second stage was reset. After that, the crew took matters into their own hands using the on-board computer. The separation of the second stage took place at an altitude of 190 kilometers above the earth's surface, and the work passed to the main engine. Astronauts were engaged in its management. And after the spacecraft was put into lunar orbit, the third stage was separated from the controlled module when the engine was turned off manually after eighty minutes. Thus, Saturn 5 was able to deliver astronauts to the moon and allow the Americans to become the first conquerors of the Earth’s natural satellite.