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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturn V | 9/10 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:12:08.190587+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Lunar Module sequence === TLI came at about T+2 hours 44 minutes after launch. The J-2 took around 10 seconds to reach full thrust. The S-IVB burned for almost six minutes, giving the spacecraft a velocity of about 39,027.6 km/h; 24,250.6 mph (35,567.6 ft/s). About 40 minutes after TLI, the Apollo Command and Service module (CSM) separated from the third stage, turned 180 degrees, and docked with the Lunar Module (LM), which rode below the CSM during launch. The CSM and LM separated from the spent third stage 50 minutes later in a maneuver known as transposition, docking, and extraction. If it remained on the same trajectory as the spacecraft, the S-IVB could have presented a collision hazard, so its remaining propellants were vented, and the auxiliary propulsion system was fired to move it away. For lunar missions before Apollo 13, the S-IVB was directed toward the Moon's trailing edge in its orbit, slingshotting it beyond Earth escape velocity and into solar orbit. From Apollo 13 onwards, the S-IVB was sent to hit the Moon. Seismometers left behind by previous missions detected the impacts, and the information helped map the internal structure of the Moon.
=== Skylab sequence ===
In 1965, the Apollo Applications Program (AAP) was created to explore scientific missions that could be performed using Apollo hardware. Much of the planning centered on the idea of a space station. Von Braun's earlier 1964 plans employed a "wet workshop" concept, with a spent S-II Saturn V second stage being launched into orbit and outfitted in space. The following year, AAP studied a smaller station using the Saturn IB second stage. By 1969, Apollo funding cuts eliminated the possibility of procuring more Apollo hardware and forced the cancellation of some later Moon landing flights. This freed up at least one Saturn V, allowing the wet workshop to be replaced with the "dry workshop" concept: the station—now known as Skylab— would be built on the ground from a surplus Saturn IB second stage and launched atop the first two live stages of a Saturn V. A backup station, constructed from a Saturn V third stage, was built and is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum. The only significant changes to the Saturn V from the Apollo configurations involved some modifications to the S-II to act as the terminal stage for inserting the Skylab payload into Earth orbit. The S-II remained in orbit for almost two years before it made an uncontrolled re-entry on January 11, 1975.
== Post-Apollo proposal ==
In the early 1970s, as the public's attention turned away from space exploration to other matters, such as the Vietnam War, Congress began to cut NASA's budget. The U.S Government was less willing to continue funding NASA, especially after the improvement of U.S-Soviet relations. After Apollo, the Saturn V was planned to be the prime launch vehicle for Prospector. Prospector was a proposed 330 kg (730 lb) robotic rover, similar to the two Soviet Lunokhod rovers, the Voyager Mars probes, and a scaled-up version of the Voyager interplanetary probes. The Saturn V was also to have been the launch vehicle for the nuclear rocket stage RIFT test program and for some versions of the upcoming NERVA project. All of these planned uses of the Saturn V were canceled, with cost being a major factor. Edgar Cortright, who had been the director of NASA Langley, stated decades later that "JPL never liked the big approach. They always argued against it. I probably was the leading proponent in using the Saturn V, and I lost. Probably very wise that I lost." The canceled second production run of Saturn Vs would very likely have featured an uprated F-1 engine in its first stage, providing a substantial performance boost. Other likely changes would have been bigger fins, a strengthened construction, a stretched S-IC first stage, and the HG-3 engine for the upper stages. A number of alternate Saturn vehicles were proposed based on the Saturn V, ranging from the Saturn INT-20 with an S-IVB stage and interstage mounted directly onto a S-IC, through to the Saturn V-24(L), which would not only have five uprated F-1 engines in the first stage, but also four strap-on boosters with two uprated F-1 engines each, giving a total of thirteen F-1 engines firing at launch. Lack of a second Saturn V production run killed these plans, and left the United States without a super heavy-lift launch vehicle. Some in the U.S. space community came to lament this situation. The Saturn-Shuttle could also have eliminated the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters that ultimately precipitated the Challenger accident in 1986.
== Saturn V displays ==