![]() S-IVB-206 which was used for the Skylab 2 flight | |
Manufacturer | Douglas |
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Country of origin | USA |
Used on | |
General characteristics | |
Height | 17.81 m (58 ft, 5 in) |
Diameter | 6.60 m (21 ft, 8 in) |
Gross mass | 271,000 pounds (123,000 kg) |
Propellant mass | 241,300 lb (109,000 kg) |
Empty mass | 29,700 lb (13,500 kg) |
Launch history | |
Status | Retired |
Total launches | 21 |
Successes (stage only) | 20 |
Other | Restart failure (Apollo 6) |
First flight | February 26, 1966 |
Last flight | July 15, 1975 |
S-IVB 200 series | |
Powered by | 1 J-2 |
Maximum thrust | 200,000 pounds-force (890,000 N) |
Specific impulse | 420 s (4.1 km/s) |
Burn time | 480 s |
Propellant | LH2 / LOX |
S-IVB 500 series | |
Powered by | 1 J-2 |
Maximum thrust | 232,250 pounds-force (1,033,100 N) |
Specific impulse | 421 s (4.13 km/s) |
Burn time | 500 s |
Propellant | LH2 / LOX |
The S-IVB (pronounced "S-four-B") was the third stage on the Saturn V and second stage on the Saturn IB launch vehicles. Built by the Douglas Aircraft Company,it had one J-2 rocket engine. For lunar missions it was fired twice:first for Earth orbit insertion after second stage cutoff,and then for translunar injection (TLI).
The S-IVB evolved from the upper stage of the Saturn I rocket (the S-IV) and was the first stage of the Saturn V to be designed. The S-IV used a cluster of six RL-10 engines but used the same fuels as the S-IVB –liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. It was also originally meant to be the fourth stage of a planned rocket called the C-4,hence the name S-IV.
Eleven companies submitted proposals for being the lead contractor on the stage by the deadline of 29 February 1960. NASA administrator T. Keith Glennan decided on 19 April that Douglas Aircraft Company would be awarded the contract. Convair had come in a close second but Glennan did not want to monopolize the liquid hydrogen-fueled rocket market as Convair was already building the Centaur stage of the Atlas-Centaur rocket.
In the end,the Marshall Space Flight Center decided to use the C-5 rocket (later called the Saturn V),which had three stages and would be topped with an uprated S-IV called the S-IVB featuring a single J-2 engine,as opposed to the cluster of 6 RL-10 engines on the S-IV. Douglas was awarded the contract for the S-IVB because of the similarities between it and the S-IV. At the same time,it was decided to create the C-IB rocket (Saturn IB) that would also use the S-IVB as its second stage and could be used for testing the Apollo spacecraft in low Earth orbit.
12 200-series and 16 500-series S-IVB stages were built,alongside 3 test stages. NASA was working on acquiring 4 additional 200-series stages (as part of 4 new Saturn IB rockets,SA-213 to 216),but funding never materialized and the order was canceled in August 1968 before S-IVB hardware was assembled. [1] Similarly,an order for two additional 500-series stages (for Saturn V rockets 516 and 517) was canceled around the same time. [2]
Douglas built two distinct versions of the S-IVB,the 200 series and the 500 series. The 200 series was used by the Saturn IB and differed from the 500 in that it did not have a flared interstage and it had less helium pressurization on board since it did not have to be restarted. In the 500 series,the interstage flared out to match the larger diameter of the S-II stage of the Saturn V. The 200 series also had three solid rockets for separating the S-IVB from the S-IB during staging. On the 500 series this was reduced to two,and two small Auxiliary Propulsion System (APS) thruster modules were added as ullage motors for restarting the J-2 engine and to provide attitude control during coast phases of flight.
The S-IVB carried 73,280 litres (19,360 US gal) of liquid oxygen (LOX),massing 87,200 kilograms (192,200 lb). It carried 252,750 litres (66,770 US gal) of liquid hydrogen (LH2),massing 18,000 kilograms (40,000 lb). Empty mass was 10,000 kilograms (22,000 lb) [3] [4]
Attitude control was provided by J-2 engine gimbaling during powered flight and by the two APS modules during coast. APS modules were used for three-axis control during coast phases,roll control during J-2 firings,and ullage for the second ignition of the J-2 engine. [3] [4] Each APS module contained two 150-pound-force (670 N) thrusters providing thrust for roll and pitch,another 150-pound-force thruster for yaw,and one 70-pound-force (310 N) thruster for ullage. Each module contained its own propellant tanks of 150 pounds (68 kg) dinitrogen tetroxide and 115 pounds (52 kg) monomethyl hydrazine as well as compressed helium to pressurize its propellants. [5]
A surplus S-IVB tank,serial number 212,was converted into the hull for Skylab,the first American space station. Skylab was launched on a Saturn V on May 14,1973,and it eventually reentered the atmosphere on July 11,1979. A second S-IVB,serial number 515,was also converted into a backup Skylab,but this one never flew.
From Apollo 13 onward,the S-IVB stages were crashed into the Moon to perform seismic measurements used for characterizing the lunar interior.
200 series | |||||
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Serial number | Use | Launch date | Current location | Notes | Image |
S-IVB-S | "Battleship" static test stage [2] | Stacked on top of S-IB-11 at the Alabama Welcome Center in Ardmore,AL | Test article made with thicker stainless steel tanks (flight stages would use thinner aluminum tanks) for early propellant loading and engine tests. Assembly completed in mid-1964,began testing in September of the same year. [2] [1] | ![]() | |
S-IVB-F | Facilities test stage | Appears to have been scrapped in the 1990s | Completed in early 1965,used later that year (without J-2 engine) to check out ground facilities at LC-34 and LC-37 at Cape Canaveral. Completed similar testing as part of SA-500F at KSC in 1965/1966. Modified in 1970 to become Skylab Dynamic Test vehicle. [2] [6] | ![]() | |
S-IVB-D | "Dynamic" test stage | U.S. Space &Rocket Center,Huntsville,Alabama | Assembly completed in 1964. Delivered to Marshall Space Flight Center in January 1965;also used for structural testing as part of SA-500D in 1967. [2] | ![]() | |
S-IVB-T | Flight-weight test stage;Assembly cancelled | Would have featured flight-like aluminum tanks (unlike S-IVB-S) for final tanking and engine testing. Canceled during assembly,tanks were transferred to the S-IVB-F unit [2] | |||
S-IVB-201 | AS-201 | February 26,1966 | Suborbital test;impacted Atlantic Ocean at 9.6621S,10.0783E [7] [ citation needed ] | First S-IVB to fly;suborbital Saturn IB mission. | |
S-IVB-202 | AS-202 | August 25,1966 | Suborbital test;impacted Atlantic Ocean [8] | Suborbital Saturn IB mission;J-2 engine ignition recorded via a camera on S-IB stage. | |
S-IVB-203 | AS-203 | July 5,1966 | Exploded in orbit during bulkhead test at end of mission;debris decayed | Carried no payload in order to test the behavior of liquid hydrogen in weightlessness. Data used to validate J-2 restart possibility on 500-series S-IVB. | |
S-IVB-204 | Apollo 5 (originally intended for Apollo 1) | January 22,1968 | Launched LM-1 into low Earth orbit for uncrewed test;decayed | ||
S-IVB-205 | Apollo 7 | October 11,1968 | Decayed from low Earth orbit | ![]() | |
S-IVB-206 | Skylab 2,(crew to Skylab) | May 25,1973 | Decayed from low Earth orbit | First Saturn IB launched from LC-39B. Stages 206-210 were produced in 1966/67 then stored at Huntington Beach until 1971. Refurbished and put through a second set of ground testing prior to being shipped to KSC. [1] | ![]() |
S-IVB-207 | Skylab 3,(crew to Skylab) | July 28,1973 | Decayed from low Earth orbit | ||
S-IVB-208 | Skylab 4,(crew to Skylab) | November 16,1973 | Decayed from low Earth orbit | ||
S-IVB-209 | Unflown Skylab rescue vehicle | Kennedy Space Center | Also acted as a backup vehicle for ASTP,never needed. [1] | ![]() | |
S-IVB-210 | Apollo Soyuz Test Project | July 15,1975 | Decayed from low Earth orbit | ![]() | |
S-IVB-211 | Unused | U.S. Space and Rocket Center,Huntsville,Alabama | | ||
S-IVB-212 | Converted to Skylab | May 14,1973 | Re-entered Earth's atmosphere on July 11,1979 | ||
500 series | |||||
Serial number | Use | Launch date | Current location | Notes | Image |
S-IVB-501 | Apollo 4 | November 9,1967 | Impacted Pacific Ocean at 23.435N,161.207E. | First Saturn V flight test and first S-IVB to restart its J-2. Engine restart placed S-IVB and spacecraft on an Earth-intersecting trajectory. | ![]() |
S-IVB-502 | Apollo 6 | April 4,1968 | Decayed from low Earth orbit | Second uncrewed Saturn V flight test. J-2 restart failed due to damage from pogo oscillation of previous stages. Some mission milestones accomplished using additional burns of the Apollo Service Propulsion System (SPS). | |
S-IVB-503 | Destroyed during testing | Originally intended for Apollo 8 prior to destruction | |||
S-IVB-503N | Apollo 8 | December 21,1968 | Heliocentric orbit | ![]() | |
S-IVB-504N | Apollo 9 | March 3,1969 | Heliocentric orbit | ![]() | |
S-IVB-505N | Apollo 10 | May 18,1969 | Heliocentric orbit | ||
S-IVB-506 | Apollo 11 | July 16,1969 | Heliocentric orbit | ![]() | |
S-IVB-507 | Apollo 12 | November 14,1969 | Heliocentric orbit | Believed to have been discovered as an asteroid in 2002 and given the designation J002E3 | ![]() |
S-IVB-508 | Apollo 13 | April 11,1970 | Impacted lunar surface April 14,1970* [9] [10] | ||
S-IVB-509 | Apollo 14 | January 31,1971 | Lunar surface* | ||
S-IVB-510 | Apollo 15 | July 26,1971 | Lunar surface* | ||
S-IVB-511 | Apollo 16 | April 16,1972 | Lunar surface* | ||
S-IVB-512 | Apollo 17 | December 7,1972 | Lunar surface* | ![]() | |
S-IVB-513 | Apollo 18 (cancelled) | Johnson Space Center | The other two stages of the SA-513 stack launched the Skylab space station to low Earth orbit | ![]() | |
S-IVB-514 | Apollo 19 (cancelled) | Kennedy Space Center | ![]() | ||
S-IVB-515 | Apollo 20 (cancelled),later converted to Skylab B | National Air and Space Museum | Converted to Skylab B space station as a backup to Skylab. Proposed multiple times to be launched after Skylab,but funding never materialized and the station remained unused. | ![]() | |
(* See List of artificial objects on the Moon for location.)
The second stage of the Ares I rocket and the proposed Earth Departure Stage (EDS) would have had some of the characteristics of the S-IVB stage,as both would have had an uprated J-2 engine,called the J-2X,with the latter performing the same functions as that of the Series 500 version of the stage (placing the payload into orbit,and later firing the spacecraft into trans-lunar space).
The MS-IVB was a proposed modification of the S-IVB that would have been used on a Mars flyby,but it was never produced. [11]
The Apollo program,also known as Project Apollo,was the United States human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),which succeeded in preparing and landing the first men on the Moon from 1968 to 1972. It was first conceived in 1960 during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration as a three-person spacecraft to follow the one-person Project Mercury,which put the first Americans in space. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal for the 1960s of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in an address to Congress on May 25,1961. It was the third US human spaceflight program to fly,preceded by the two-person Project Gemini conceived in 1961 to extend spaceflight capability in support of Apollo.
The Apollo Lunar Module,originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM),was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed spacecraft to operate exclusively in the airless vacuum of space,and remains the only crewed vehicle to land anywhere beyond Earth.
Apollo 4,also known as SA-501,was the uncrewed first test flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle,the rocket that eventually took astronauts to the Moon. The space vehicle was assembled in the Vehicle Assembly Building,and was the first to be launched from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida,ascending from Launch Complex 39,where facilities built specially for the Saturn V had been constructed.
Apollo 5,also known as AS-204,was the uncrewed first flight of the Apollo Lunar Module (LM) that would later carry astronauts to the surface of the Moon. The Saturn IB rocket bearing the LM lifted off from Cape Kennedy on January 22,1968. The mission was successful,though due to programming problems an alternate mission to that originally planned was executed.
Apollo 6,also known as AS-502,was the third and final uncrewed flight in the United States' Apollo Program and the second test of the Saturn V launch vehicle. It qualified the Saturn V for use on crewed missions,and it was used beginning with Apollo 8 in December 1968.
AS-201,flown February 26,1966,was the first uncrewed test flight of an entire production Block I Apollo command and service module and the Saturn IB launch vehicle. The spacecraft consisted of the second Block I command module and the first Block I service module. The suborbital flight was a partially successful demonstration of the service propulsion system and the reaction control systems of both modules,and successfully demonstrated the capability of the command module's heat shield to survive re-entry from low Earth orbit.
AS-203 was an uncrewed flight of the Saturn IB rocket on July 5,1966. It carried no command and service module,as its purpose was to verify the design of the S-IVB rocket stage restart capability that would later be used in the Apollo program to boost astronauts from Earth orbit to a trajectory towards the Moon. It achieved its objectives,but the stage was inadvertently destroyed after four orbits.
AS-202 was the second uncrewed,suborbital test flight of a production Block I Apollo command and service module launched with the Saturn IB launch vehicle. It was launched on August 25,1966,and was the first flight which included the spacecraft guidance,navigation control system and fuel cells. The success of this flight enabled the Apollo program to judge the Block I spacecraft and Saturn IB ready to carry men into orbit on the next mission,AS-204.
The Apollo spacecraft was composed of three parts designed to accomplish the American Apollo program's goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning them safely to Earth. The expendable (single-use) spacecraft consisted of a combined command and service module (CSM) and an Apollo Lunar Module (LM). Two additional components complemented the spacecraft stack for space vehicle assembly:a spacecraft–LM adapter (SLA) designed to shield the LM from the aerodynamic stress of launch and to connect the CSM to the Saturn launch vehicle and a launch escape system (LES) to carry the crew in the command module safely away from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch emergency.
The Saturn IB(also known as the uprated Saturn I) was an American launch vehicle commissioned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the Apollo program. It uprated the Saturn I by replacing the S-IV second stage,with the S-IVB. The S-IB first stage also increased the S-I baseline's thrust from 1,500,000 pounds-force (6,700,000 N) to 1,600,000 pounds-force (7,100,000 N) and propellant load by 3.1%. This increased the Saturn I's low Earth orbit payload capability from 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) to 46,000 pounds (21,000 kg),enough for early flight tests of a half-fueled Apollo command and service module (CSM) or a fully fueled Apollo Lunar Module (LM),before the larger Saturn V needed for lunar flight was ready.
The Saturn I was a rocket designed as the United States' first medium lift launch vehicle for up to 20,000-pound (9,100 kg) low Earth orbit payloads. The rocket's first stage was built as a cluster of propellant tanks engineered from older rocket tank designs,leading critics to jokingly refer to it as "Cluster's Last Stand". Its development was taken over from the Advanced Research Projects Agency in 1958 by the newly formed civilian NASA. Its design proved sound and flexible. It was successful in initiating the development of liquid hydrogen-fueled rocket propulsion,launching the Pegasus satellites,and flight verification of the Apollo command and service module launch phase aerodynamics. Ten Saturn I rockets were flown before it was replaced by the heavy lift derivative Saturn IB,which used a larger,higher total impulse second stage and an improved guidance and control system. It also led the way to development of the super-heavy lift Saturn V which carried the first men to landings on the Moon in the Apollo program.
Apollo abort modes were procedures by which the nominal launch of an Apollo spacecraft,either the Saturn IB or Saturn V rocket,could be terminated. The abort of the flight allowed for the rescue of the crew if the rocket failed catastrophically. Depending on how far the flight had progressed,different procedure or modes would be used. In the history of the Apollo Program,none of the abort modes were ever used on any of the fifteen crewed Apollo spacecraft flights.
The Apollo Applications Program (AAP) was created as early as 1966 by NASA headquarters to develop science-based human spaceflight missions using hardware developed for the Apollo program. AAP was the ultimate development of a number of official and unofficial Apollo follow-on projects studied at various NASA labs. However,the AAP's ambitious initial plans became an early casualty when the Johnson Administration declined to support it adequately,partly in order to implement its Great Society set of domestic programs while remaining within a $100 billion budget. Thus,Fiscal Year 1967 ultimately allocated $80 million to the AAP,compared to NASA's preliminary estimates of $450 million necessary to fund a full-scale AAP program for that year,with over $1 billion being required for FY 1968. The AAP eventually led to Skylab,which absorbed much of what had been developed under Apollo Applications.
A wet workshop is a space station made from a spent liquid-propellant rocket stage. Such a rocket stage contains two large,airtight propellant tanks;it was realized that the larger tank could be retrofitted into the living quarters of a space station,while the smaller one could be used for the storage of waste. A large rocket stage would reach a low Earth orbit and undergo later modification. This would make for a cost-effective reuse of hardware that would otherwise have no further purpose,but the in-orbit modification of the rocket stage could prove difficult and expensive. As of April 2023,no wet-workshop space station has been built or flown.
Several planned missions of the Apollo crewed Moon landing program of the 1960s and 1970s were canceled,for reasons which included changes in technical direction,the Apollo 1 fire,hardware delays,and budget limitations. After the landing by Apollo 12,Apollo 20,which would have been the final crewed mission to the Moon,was canceled to allow Skylab to launch as a "dry workshop". The next two missions,Apollos 18 and 19,were later canceled after the Apollo 13 incident and further budget cuts. Two Skylab missions also ended up being canceled. Two complete Saturn V rockets remained unused and were put on display in the United States.
The Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) is the official title of a large-scale,system level study released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in November 2005 of his goal of returning astronauts to the Moon and eventually Mars—known as the Vision for Space Exploration. The Constellation Program was cancelled in 2010 by the Obama Administration and replaced with the Space Launch System,later renamed as the Artemis Program in 2017 under the Trump Administration.
The Earth Departure Stage (EDS) is the name given to the proposed second stage of the Block 2 Space Launch System. The EDS is intended to boost the rocket's payload into a parking orbit around the Earth and from there send the payload out of low Earth orbit to its destination in a manner similar to that of the S-IVB rocket stage used on the Saturn V rockets that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. Its development has been put on hold until stages capable of transferring heavy payloads to Mars are required.
The Saturn II was a series of American expendable launch vehicles,studied by North American Aviation under a NASA contract in 1966,derived from the Saturn V rocket used for the Apollo lunar program. The intent of the study was to eliminate production of the Saturn IB,and create a lower-cost heavy launch vehicle based on Saturn V hardware. North American studied three versions with the S-IC first stage removed:the INT-17,a two-stage vehicle with a low Earth orbit payload capability of 47,000 pounds (21,000 kg);the INT-18,which added Titan UA1204 or UA1207 strap-on solid rocket boosters,with payloads ranging from 47,000 pounds (21,000 kg) to 146,400 pounds (66,400 kg);and the INT-19,using solid boosters derived from the Minuteman missile first stage.
The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated,had three stages,and was powered with liquid fuel. Flown from 1967 to 1973,it was used for nine crewed flights to the Moon,and to launch Skylab,the first American space station.