rosmith@berke (Robert Smith) (03/04/88)
Where are the remaining Saturn V boosters: 1. One is bolted to the ground at Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans (where they were originally built). 2. One is bolted to the ground at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. 3. One is bolted to the ground at Kennedy Space Center in FLA. I know of no others on display, but the remaining ones were cut up for scrap at MAF, and I think that their engines were mothballed. (I know at least parts of the engines were because I've seen them at MAF.) The boosters on permanent display were fully functional hardware, including the F1 engine, which are now fully corroded, once function al F1 engines. The thought of reusing Saturn V technology/engines for a new(old) booster or liquid booster replacement for Shuttle SRBs has occurred to many engineers and others. The problem, I feel is NASA, which sees this as a step backward to older technology and an affront to the current liquid shuttle SSMEs. -- **************************************************************************** * Bob Smith * * ARPAnet: rosmith@bbn.com ATTnet: (617) 873-3270 * * BBN Laboratories (Cambridge, MA) Disclaimer: Somone had to say it. * **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** * Bob Smith * * ARPAnet: rosmith@bbn.com ATTnet: (617) 873-3270 * * BBN Laboratories (Cambridge, MA) Disclaimer: Somone had to say it. * ****************************************************************************
seldon@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU (Joe Walker) (03/06/88)
> Where are the remaining Saturn V boosters: > 1. One is bolted to the ground at Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) > in New Orleans (where they were originally built). > 2. One is bolted to the ground at Johnson Space Center in > Houston, TX. > 3. One is bolted to the ground at Kennedy Space Center in FLA. There is also a Saturn V at the Space and rocket center in Huntsville Ala. They have a Saturn 1 there also.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Walker | The dream is still alive!! U.S. Mail: |----------------------------------------- Dartmouth College | "Why don't you fix your little H.B. 219, Hanover N.H. 03755 | problems and light this candle!!" E-Mail: | BITNET: Seldon@D1.Dartmouth.EDU | - Alan Shepard UNIX:seldon@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- !{harvard,linus,inhp4}!dartvax!eleazar!seldon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
petej@phred.UUCP (Pete Jarvis) (03/07/88)
To Bob Smith: There is another Saturn V mounted horizontally and separated slightly at each stage for viewing, at the Rocket Park on the grounds of the Space and Rocket Center (home of Space Camp, Academy) in Huntsville, Alabama. Peter Jarvis......(Space Camp, 1985; Space Academy Level II, 1987)
hammen@csd4.milw.wisc.edu (Robert Joseph Hammen) (03/09/88)
In article <21644@bbn.COM> rosmith@bbn.com (Robert Smith) writes: > >Where are the remaining Saturn V boosters: <list deleted> >I know of no others on display, but the remaining ones were cut up >for scrap at MAF, and I think that their engines were mothballed. (I know >at least parts of the engines were because I've seen them at MAF.) The >boosters on permanent display were fully functional hardware, including >the F1 engine, which are now fully corroded, once function al F1 engines. Several people have already pointed out that there is a 4th Saturn V in Huntsville, Alabama at the Marshall Space Flight Center. There were thirteen Saturn V launches (10 manned Apollo's, 2 test flights, and the SkyLab launch), and I believe, at the time the Saturns were cancelled, there were three boosters not assigned to any flights (they would have been Apollos 18,19,and 20). The fourth "Saturn V" laying on its side, rusting, is probably an engineering test model (for launch pad fit checks, etc. - I believe I read this somewhere). I don't know at which site the engineering version is on display. I don't believe that any were cut up for scrap. >* Bob Smith /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// / Robert Hammen Computer Applications hammen@csd4.milw.wisc.edu / / Delphi: HAMMEN GEnie: R.Hammen CI$: 70701,2104 / ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (03/10/88)
Grump. I'm only gonna write the following one more time, so listen up! :-)
The history of the Saturn Vs is quite well documented. Fifteen were built.
Two flew unmanned tests, Apollos 4 and 6 as I recall. Three were used
for manned Apollo tests, Apollos 8, 9, and 10. (Apollo 7 went up on a
Saturn 1B.) There were seven actual lunar missions. That leaves three,
originally scheduled for Apollos 18-20. One of those was used to launch
Skylab. (The Skylab crews went up on 1Bs.) That leaves two real, live
flight-ready Saturn Vs, which were mothballed in the VAB against possible
future use. In about 1976, with no such use in sight, it was officially
decided that the modifications to Complex 39 for the shuttle would *not*
preserve Saturn V compatibility, and therefore those two would never fly.
One of them is rusting on the lawn at Kennedy, the other is rusting on
the lawn at JSC (in Houston).
There were several "test articles", which were not considered flight-ready
although some of them could probably have been flown in a pinch. These
preceded the real Saturn Vs on the production line, and were used for
things like ground tests and shaking the bugs out of the production process.
One of them, used for vibration tests I think, is now protected as a national
monument or something on that order; it is in protected storage at (I think)
Marshall. The one rusting on the lawn at Marshall (well, properly speaking
at the whatever-the-museum-and-visitors-center-is-called-I-forget) is also
a test article. There may be more. There is quite a bit of miscellaneous
hardware, e.g. engines, in storage in various places. There are also a lot
of Saturn 1Bs around, most of them ex-flight-ready, since a fair number of
them were built and very few were used.
(For those of you in such a revolting state of ignorance that you cannot tell
the difference on sight, apart from sheer size the most distinctive thing
to look at is the main body of the first stage: on the Saturn 1B [and
Saturn 1, but that's a distinction we need not worry about], it is a bundle
of cylinders rather than a single cylinder. The 1B first stage was the
biggest that could be built using mostly off-the-shelf hardware, and its
first-stage tanks are a collection of stretched Redstone and Jupiter tanks
bundled together. The Saturn V was just too big for this approach.)
--
Those who do not understand Unix are | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
condemned to reinvent it, poorly. | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henryroy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) (03/13/88)
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: > Grump. and then gives a quick history of the Saturn V boosters. Which leads me into another question. At the old 1964-65 New York World's Fair site there is a small rocket park. It's been many years since I've been in there, but from the highway you can see what looks like a mercury/redstone and assorted other bits and pieces of rocket-stuff. Does anybody know what happened to the various leftovers from the pre-apollo programs? -- Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
petej@phred.UUCP (Pete Jarvis) (03/15/88)
Henry: I don't believe there is a Saturn V in storage at Marshall. If there were, it would have been included on the tour they give there. By-the-way, the other Saturn V in the area is at the Space and Rocket Center which is part of the Space Camp/Academy in Huntsville, Al. That particular Saturn is mounted horizontally, separated slightly at each segment for viewing. And please be advised that it is NOT rusting on the lawn there! They keep it painted and in good condition. Peter Jarvis.........Phyio-Control, Redmond, Washington
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (03/17/88)
> Henry: I don't believe there is a Saturn V in storage at Marshall. If there > were, it would have been included on the tour they give there. Hm, you're right, it probably would be, and it isn't. I probably have the location wrong. I know it's around somewhere; I remember being irked that the one selected for national-monument status and protected storage wasn't one of the ex-flight-ready ones. Incidentally, by chance the other day I ran across some more minor details of Saturn V history: Skylab went up on Apollo 20's Saturn, with Apollo 18's earmarked to launch the second Skylab (later relegated to being a backup, still later retired to the Smithsonian). Also, one of the two ex-flight- ready ones is actually a composite one: the first Skylab was built from a spare third stage, but the second Skylab used the Apollo 18 third stage. Presumably the third stage accompanying the rest of the Apollo 18 bird is the one from Apollo 20. -- Those who do not understand Unix are | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology condemned to reinvent it, poorly. | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry