The sign accompanying the F-1 engine. It reads
F-1 Rocket Engine
The F-1 was designed as a booster engine for the first stage (S-IC) of the Saturn V Vehicle for the
Apollo Program. Feasibility studies began in 1955 and qualification tests for
manned flights were completed in 1966, with the first flight of the Saturn V on
November 9, 1967.
A cluster of five F-1 rocket
engines powered the Saturn V first stage and developed a total lift-off
thrust of 7,610,000 pounds during the first four and a half minutes of flight.
There was 100 percent engine flight success throughout the Apollo Program and
Skylab workshop missions.
The highly reliable, high-performance F-1 rocket engine is pump-fed and uses
liquid oxygen as the oxidizer and kerosene (RP-1) as the fuel. The propellants
are supplied to the bell-nozzle thrust chamber by a single turbopump driven by
a gas generator. This generator employs a fuel-rich mixture of the same
propellants used in the engine. The engine can be gimballed* to
provide thrust vector control.
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* gimbal - The use of a device to keep it suspended
in a horizontal plane regardless of the motion of the ship
The sign also notes that the engine is 18 feet, 4½ inches (220.4
inches) from the top of the interface
panel to the exit plane and 11 feet, 11½ inches (143.5 inches)
in diameter at the nozzle extension exit plane.
It also notes the following statistics:
Weight: |
|
7.8 tons (15,650 pounds) |
Specific Impulse: |
|
265 seconds |
Thrust: |
|
1,522,000 pounds |
I'm surprised that they failed to mention that the "first flight of the Saturn
V on November 9, 1967" flew Apollo 4,
which resides at Stennis.
|