S-IC
| Fact sheet | |
|---|---|
| Height | 42 m (138 ft) |
| Diameter | 10 m (33 ft) |
| Mass | 2,800,000 kg (6,300,000 lb) |
| Engines | 5 F-1 engines |
| Thrust | 33,400 kN (7,500,000 lb) |
| Burn time | 150 s |
| Fuel | RP-1 and liquid oxygen |
The S-IC was the first stage of the Saturn V rocket. The S-IC first stage was built by The Boeing Company. Like with the first stages of most rockets, most of its mass of over two thousand metric tonnes at launch was fuel, in this case RP-1 rocket fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. It was 42 meters tall and 10 meters in diameter, and provided 33,000 kN of thrust to get the rocket through the first 61 of kilometers of ascent. Of the five F-1 engines, one was fixed in the center, while the four on the outer ring could be hydraulically turned to control the rocket.
Manufacturing
The Boeing Company was awarded the contract to manufacture the S-IC on December 15, 1961. By this time the general design of the stage had been decided on by the engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The main manufacturing took place at the Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans. Wind tunnel testing took place in Seattle and the machining of the tools needed to build the stages at Wichita, Kansas.
MSFC built the first three test stages (S-IC-T, the S-IC-S, and the S-IC-F) and the first two flight models (S-IC-1 and -2). They were built using tools produced in Wichita.
It took roughly 7 to 9 months to built the tanks and 14 months to complete a stage. The first stage built by Boeing was S-IC-D, a test model.
Components
Next upwards was the fuel tank. This contained the 770,000 liters of the RP-1 fuel. The tank itself had a mass of 11 tonnes dry and could release 7300 liters per second. In order to stop the fuel settling nitrogen was bubbled through the tank to stir the fuel. During flight the fuel was pressurised using helium, that was stored in tanks in the liquid oxygen tank above.
Between the fuel and liquid oxygen tanks was the intertank.
The Liquid Oxygen tank held 204 000 liters of LOX. It raised special issues for the designer. The lines through which the LOX rain to the engine had to be straight and therefore had to pass through the fuel tank. This meant insulating these lines inside a tunnel to stop fuel freezing to the outside and also meant five extra holes in the top of the fuel tank.
Stages Built
| Designation | Use and Special notes |
| S-IC-T | static test firing; part of Saturn V display at Kennedy Space Center |
| S-IC-S | structural load testing (had no engines); location unknown (last seen at MSFC) |
| S-IC-F | facilities testing for checking out launch complex assembly buildings and launch equipment; location unknown |
| S-IC-D | ground test dynamics model; at U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama |
| S-IC-1 | Apollo 4; Manufactured by MSFC |
| S-IC-2 | Apollo 6; Manufactured by MSFC; carried TV and cameras on Boattail and Forward skirt |
| S-IC-3 | Apollo 8; Manufactured by Boeing (as with all subsequent stages); weighed 560 kg less than previous allowing 36 kg more payload |
| S-IC-4 | Apollo 9 |
| S-IC-5 | Apollo 10; Last flight for S-IC R&D Instrumentation |
| S-IC-6 | Apollo 11 |
| S-IC-7 | Apollo 12 |
| S-IC-8 | Apollo 13 |
| S-IC-9 | Apollo 14 |
| S-IC-10 | Apollo 15 |
| S-IC-11 | Apollo 16 |
| S-IC-12 | Apollo 17 |
| S-IC-13 | Skylab 1; engine shutoff changed to 1-2-2 from 1-4 to lessen loads on Apollo Telescope Mount |
| S-IC-14 | Unused; part of Saturn V display at Johnson Space Center |
| S-IC-15 | Unused; at Michoud Assembly Facility |
References
- Stages to Saturn (http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4206/sp4206.htm)
- Apollo Saturn Reference Page (http://www.apollosaturn.com/)