Saturn V Quarterly report #9 Dec 1964-Feb 1965

[@dks13827]

Great stuff. I saw all of those Apollo missions. They hired the greatest people that they could find.

[@nicholasmaude6906]

I love these old NASA Apollo programme quarterly reports and they reveal so many details often not mentioned in books or documentaries.

[@cowboybob7093]

11:37 F-1 being fired without the lower skirt. My amateur eye sees an example of underexpanded thrust.

[@crazynate3761]

All this infrastructure and these manufacturing facilities show the gargantuan national effort to reach space and the moon. I was around 6 years old when this all started.

[@ronaldtartaglia4459]

They thought of everything

[@RobertoMastri]

www.rmastri.it/spacestuff/machines/saturn-v/ The Saturn V Quarterly Reports, released by the Marshall Space Flight Center between 1962 and 1967, document the progress in development of the booster that will take the man on the moon. #spacestuff #saturnV

[@cowboybob7093]

This kind of work is being done on the SLS as I write. Is it being documented like this? If so, is it being published? There is an eager public that wants to keep pace. It will only help funding.

[@educatedmanholecoverbyrich8890]

Why did the Apollo need tons of paint when it is a waste of precious weight.

[@EskimoCanadian44]

Good question. I would give an educated guess that it was to protect skin of the vehicle against aerodynamic forces during the first stage burn. There may have been additional engineering reasons for the characteristic black and white paint.

[@Buzzbox3rd]

The black and white paint patterns purpose was designed so that it could clearly be visually tracked making sure it was behaving itself and staying on course. At least thats how i understood it .

[@FlyingBoxHead]

@@EskimoCanadian44 Your are right, in fact the paint is a type of ablator designed to protect the first and second stages(primarily) as the flame from the F-1s climbs up the sides in the high levels of the atmosphere under S-IC power. The F-1 was designed to provide optimal thrust during launch and atmospheric flight, then the J-2s of the S-II and S-IVB would take over as they were designed to provide optimal thrust in vacuum. The ablative paint was tested aboard the X-15 on small panels at one point before being approved for Saturn.

[@crazynate3761]

Not to mention, it looks proud and noble, and an eternal image of majesty and power.

[@mikem5043]

I think the black & white paint areas also provided some thermal control. Other reasons, such as on the S-II / S-IVB adapter, the black markings identified which of the four quadrants you were seeing.

[@thekaiser4333]

Control-room mock ups? Dummy engines? Well, still much better than testing disgusting nukes.