Posted on 10/09/2013 2:30:36 PM PDT by lbryce
YouTube:Launch of World's Largest Rocket
Space Launch Report:Delta IV Data Sheet
The launch of The Delta IV is a thing of beauty, the three engines side-by-side give it a decidedly non Saturn V look, It seems to get off out of the gate quicker and with seemingly less effort than the vaunted Saturn V, its launch seems smoother and more polished than that of the Saturn V.
But the truth be told there's nothing to match the singularly unique circumstance of watching the the throttling brunt of power as the Saturn V takes to the heavens. The vaunted Saturn V has an overpowering presence, sense of majesty unparalleled, all its very own. Watching the engines come to life, the momentary pause in reaction to the huge engines coming to life, the near impalpable devices releasing their hold as if open-armed in setting the Saturn V free, as it slowly ever so slowly rises up off the ground, the Earth trembling, shock waves rolling across the ground hundreds of miles away, is pure, raw power unleashed, an experience that has, will probably never have anything in comparison to
And then hearing it rumble outside, and rushing out in time to see, really see, it arc downrange on its way to space.
In his book White House Years Henry Kissinger wrote of a visit to Cape Canaveral and an up-close look at the S5. He said he was generally unimpressed with such scientific "gadgets", but once he was right next to it, he couldn't help but be impressed and in awe of the technology he saw there, not to mention the sheer size of it!
Top secret payload to spy on Americans, yippeeee.
I was told once that the first Saturn V worked flawlessly, straight from the board.
If true, try that today...
I doubt if they would make a kerosene-based rocket again. Werner went with this because it was known technology and certain to work, but others thought it was a bit too conservative.
(The first stage of the Saturn V was LOX/kerosene)
Saturn V could put 260,000 pounds into LEO.
That was (I don't need to point out) more than forty years ago.
While there never was a launch failure in Saturn V history there was a very serious design flaw that caused huge oscillations within the rocket known as the pogo effect that NASA, von Braun had to contend with that plagued the Saturn V, finally resolved.
Manned rockets are supposed to be slower on lift-off.
Thanks again for your efforts.
Thanks very much for the link.
I was a kid in Cocoa Beach Florida and watched the liftoff of Apollo 13. From our school you could still feel the launch of the Saturn V in your chest as it rose.
Witnessed another Apollo launch from St. Augustine Florida a year or two later. Couldn’t hear it from that distance, but in broad daylight you could plainly see the exhaust plume from those five F1 main engines burning LOX and kerosene.
The Falcon 9 uses kerosene in the first stage. It is more efficient per volume (not mass) than liquid hydrogen, is less corrosive on seals and components, and easier to handle than LH. However, since LH is more efficient per mass, it is often used in upper stages once the rockets get moving.
“I was a kid in Cocoa Beach Florida and watched the liftoff of Apollo 13. From our school you could still feel the launch of the Saturn V in your chest as it rose.”
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Wow,that is so cool——lucky you.
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7.7 MILLION pounds of thrust from five F-1 first-stage boosters.
A singular human achievement.
If true, try that today...
IIRC, it took Grumman around six years to design, test and deliver the Apollo Lunar Excursion Module. From scratch. Imagine that, only twice the time it took the programmers to cook up the ACA website code.
Without modern computers and programs to aid in the prediction of resonance, it’s quite amazing that they did this with what they had.
On a much smaller scale, I worked for a company in the 80’s that kept having broken circuit boards in shipment. This was a high-power piece of equipment with many heavy semiconductor packages. Our new hotshot packaging guy built a model of the unit on a computer, and he discovered that the board had the same resonant frequency as a semi truck on the road - he made an animation of this (which took all day to render). The fix was a $0.20 spacer and post, and the problem never happened again, period. Our marketing department would show this animation to prospective customers as an example on our abilities to solve problems.
Yes.
The second stage of the Saturn V had a thrust of one million pounds, from five Rocketdyne J-2 engines, which burned LOX and LH2.
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