Dec 11 2008
wernher von braun out-rices you
Rockets? You don’t have rockets. Space shuttles, cheap orbiters, SpaceX … all these are mere clockwork toys compared to the might of the Saturn V SI-C first stage and its five F-1 engines. Real astronauts fly to the moon.
That’s an actual test vehicle which was on display at the U.S. Space Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The engines measured 19 feet tall and 12.5 feet at the nozzle exit and burned 15 tons of liquid oxygen and kerosene each second to push the Saturn V off the launchpad. “At 364 feet (111 m), the Saturn V is just one foot shorter than St Paul’s Cathedral in London, and only cleared the doors of the VAB by 6 ft (1.82 m) when rolled out.”
In 2002, amateur astronomer Bill Yeung found a suspected asteroid orbiting Earth. It had a spectrum matching titanium dioxide white paint. Tracking the orbit back showed it was actually Stage III of Apollo 12, the second rocket to the moon.
“Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That’s not my department,” says Wernher von Braun.
Photo: “Dr. von Braun Standing by Five F-1 Engines”, date unknown (1960s/1970s?). US Government public domain.
