Manufacturer | Convair |
---|---|
Country of origin | United States |
Used on | Saturn I (stage 3) |
General characteristics | |
Height | 9.14 m (30.0 ft) |
Diameter | 3.05 m (10.0 ft) |
Gross mass | 15,600 kg (34,400 lb) |
Propellant mass | 13,604 kg (30,000 lb) |
Empty mass | 1,996 kg (4,400 lb) |
Associated stages | |
Family | Saturn |
Derivatives | Centaur |
Launch history | |
Status | Retired |
Total launches | 4 |
Successes (stage only) | 4 |
Failed | 0 |
First flight | October 27, 1961 |
Last flight | March 28, 1963 |
S-V | |
Powered by | 2 RL-10 engines |
Maximum thrust | 133.45 kN (30,000 lbf) |
Specific impulse | 425 s (4.17 km/s) |
Burn time | 425 s |
Propellant | LH2 / LOX |
The S-V (pronounced "S-five") was the third stage of the Saturn I rocket. It was built by Convair. It was designed to use two RL-10A-1 engines fueled by liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) in tanks utilizing a common bulkhead to separate the propellants.
Convair Astronautics was awarded a contract to deliver the S-V stage for the Saturn I. The stage was intended to boost lift capacity for U.S. military launches in the 1960s. The S-V would ultimately fly as the third stage on early launches of the Saturn I. Convair delivered two S-V stages in February 1961 [1] with one being flown on SA-1 attached to an also inert S-IV, the second was used for dynamic testing of the complete Saturn I before being later flown. In May 1961 NASA eliminated the requirement for all Saturn I launches to be flown with S-V's by flying in a two-stage only version. Despite this, the stage would fly four times in total. [2] With the introduction of the Saturn IB and the needs of the military fulfilled on other launches, all further launches would be on either the Saturn IB or Saturn V, neither of which used the S-V. A version of this stage was also used on the Atlas-LV3C as the Centaur, modern derivatives of which are still flown today, making it the only Saturn rocket stage still currently operating.
Ultimately, the S-V would go on to fly four times between 1961 and 1964. Each of which were flown on suborbital test flights of the Saturn I. Because of the suborbital nature of these flights, each S-V was filled with water to act as ballast, making the stage inert. The water was released in space twice for Project Highwater. Modern derivatives of the stage are still in use today on the Atlas V and the Vulcan Centaur.
Flight Number | Launch date (UTC) | Notes |
---|---|---|
SA-1 | October 27, 1961 15:06:04 | First test suborbital flight. Apogee: 136.5 km. Inactive S-IV and S-V stages. |
SA-2 | April 25, 1962 14:00:34 | Second suborbital test flight. 86,000 kg water released at apogee of 145 km. Inactive S-IV and S-V stages. |
SA-3 | November 16, 1962 17:45:02 | Third suborbital test flight. 86,000 kg water released at apogee of 167 km. Inactive S-IV and S-V stages. |
SA-4 | March 28, 1963 20:11:55 | Fourth suborbital test flight. Apogee: 129 km. Inactive S-IV and S-V stages. |
The Centaur is a family of rocket propelled upper stages that has been in use since 1962. It is currently produced by U.S. launch service provider United Launch Alliance, with one main active version and one version under development. The 3.05 m (10.0 ft) diameter Common Centaur/Centaur III flies as the upper stage of the Atlas V launch vehicle, and the 5.4 m (18 ft) diameter Centaur V has been developed as the upper stage of ULA's new Vulcan rocket. Centaur was the first rocket stage to use liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellants, a high-energy combination that is ideal for upper stages but has significant handling difficulties.
Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft-manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, it was purchased by General Dynamics, and operated as their Convair Division for most of its corporate history.
The S-IVB 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).
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.
Saturn-Apollo 1 (SA-1) was the first flight of the Saturn I space launch vehicle, the first in the Saturn family, and first mission of the American Apollo program. The rocket was launched on October 27, 1961, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The Saturn family of American rockets was developed by a team of former German rocket engineers and scientists led by Wernher von Braun to launch heavy payloads to Earth orbit and beyond. The Saturn family used liquid hydrogen as fuel in the upper stages. Originally proposed as a military satellite launcher, they were adopted as the launch vehicles for the Apollo Moon program. Three versions were built and flown: the medium-lift Saturn I, the heavy-lift Saturn IB, and the super heavy-lift Saturn V.
Saturn-Apollo 3 (SA-3) was the third flight of the Saturn I launch vehicle, the second flight of Project Highwater, and part of the American Apollo program. The rocket was launched on November 16, 1962, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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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.
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