A well done Saturn V launch video

[Zathrus~SPARTA~]

Hello all,

 

I have been reading up on NASA's SLS for the Orion spacecraft and deep space exploration.

It is amazing, that this new SLS rocket will produce 15% to 20% more thrust at launch than the Saturn V rocket.

 

Feeling a bit nostalgic, I began watching Apollo Launches and came across a launch video put to music that I thought worthy of posting. It is very well done I thought.

As you watch this launch think about this: I remember my father telling me when he worked on Apollo 9 & 10 that the 5 main engines on stage one, each have two modified J79 jet engines running

at WOT as fuel pumps. That is a jet engine that produces 15000 lbs of thrust at WOT.... and they used two of them as fuel pumps for each engine. (there are actually three J79 engines running for each main engine, but one is a redundant pump in case one of the two primary pumps falter.

 

enjoy

Edited April 12, 2016 by Zathrus~SPARTA~

[Zeno~SPARTA~]

That is really beautiful. Its interesting how the flame and smoke spills out over the top then I presume is drawn back by the force of the downdraft as the rockets reach full power. That was an interesting fact about the fuel pumps, that engine powered the Hustler, Star fighter and the Phantom. For some reason the B58 Hustler was a design that seemed futuristic in its day. Anyway thanks for the post.

[Zathrus~SPARTA~]

Yes to put the Saturn V launch thrust in perspective... All five of the stage 1 main engines consumed 20 tons of fuel per second. It took fifteen J-79 engines running at WOT as fuel pumps for those 5 main engines on stage one. They needed the fuel flow of ten J79 engines running at WOT to create the thrust needed to achieve orbit (Producing 7,648,000 lbf (34,020 kN) of thrust at sea level). Each engine had a third J79 running as backup in case one of the primary ones began to falter. This is because they needed every bit of fuel flow ten of those J79 engine fuel pumps could deliver at launch to achieve orbit. If the pressure or flow began to drop on one pump, the redundant third pump (always running with the other two at WOT) could begin dumping fuel into the system to normalize the flow & pressure. Without this, a single falter in fuel flow could prevent the Saturn V from achieving orbit, even if it had already cleared the launch pad.

 

My father used to tell me stories about being in launch control for various launches (never Apollo unfortunately) How you would hear the launch commander say "ignition" then there would be a collective silence as everyone was holding their breath... then he would say a few seconds later "We have ignition, and lift off" you would hear folks gasp for air in relief it did not explode.. but then silent holding breath again until the next announcement.... "Cleared the tower" another gasp of air... then an extended silence as the rocket accelerates towards the speed of sound. When you see those vapor rings form on the rocket, that is when it is passing through the speed of sound... this is the point of "maximum dynamic pressure" on the rocket structure during the entire flight. If anything is going to fail in the structure... this is when it will happen... so he said you always heard a huge gasp for air then sigh of relief when they would see it pass through safely.

 

With the Saturn V, even being 24 miles from the launch pad, the roar of a launch was amazingly loud & deep causing your rib cage to rattle with it.

 

On that J79 and the Hustler...

My father worked a little on the B-58 Hustler also as he worked for Convair. He always told me the Hustler was about 40 years ahead of it's time. The reason they scrapped using it, is the Hustler was pushing all of our technologies of the day to their limits in metallurgy, temperature resistance, etc. As a result, there was a long list of parts that had to be replaced after every flight.... because one flight wore them out. In addition, we really did not have fighter escort that could keep up with the Hustler. Yes the F-104 starfighter and a couple of others could achieve similar top speeds, but the problem was the B-58 could make a hard turn at mach 2... none of the fighters could turn with it. In escort testing, the fighter escort usually ended up 15 to 20 miles down range after the Hustler made a hard turn. So between parts and nothing that could stay with it... they scrapped it.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Zathrus~SPARTA~

[Zathrus~SPARTA~]

Here is another video, that gives some interesting tidbits & facts.

In addition, he includes fairly decent audio (the video is fairly poor quality) of the launch... which if you listen through good headphones or decent speakers give you an idea of that deep

pounding roar the Saturn V produced. It really did shake your chest 24 miles from the launch pad.