Saturn V version
Saturn V Saturn V (three-stage Apollo configuration)
The three-stage arrangement — S-IC, S-II and S-IVB — in which the Saturn V flew every one of its Apollo missions, from the uncrewed Apollo 4 test on 9 November 1967 to Apollo 17 on 7 December 1972. It is the only configuration capable of trans-lunar injection, because its third stage could be restarted in orbit, and the one that sent crews toward the Moon nine times. Topped by the Apollo spacecraft it stood 110.6 m tall and left the pad at up to 2,965,241 kg.
- November 9, 1967
- First launch
- 140,000 kg
- LEO capacity
- 33,000 kN
- Thrust
- No
- Reusable
History
From C-5 to Saturn V
NASA approved the C-5 on 25 January 1962: an S-IC first stage with five F-1 engines, an S-II second stage with five J-2s, and an S-IVB third stage with a single J-2. The vehicle was renamed Saturn V in February 1963. The boldest call of the programme was procedural rather than technical — testing the rocket all-up, with complete stages from the very first flight, instead of qualifying one stage at a time. It worked, and it cut the number of test flights needed before a crew could ride.
Why three stages
The architecture followed from the choice of lunar orbit rendezvous. The S-IC burned RP-1 with liquid oxygen, denser and higher-thrust, which is what a first stage wants while drag and gravity losses dominate, and delivered 33,000 kN at sea level. The upper stages switched to liquid hydrogen for its higher specific energy. The decisive difference from the two-stage arrangement lies in the S-IVB: on the Saturn V it burned only part of its propellant to reach Earth orbit, leaving enough for a restart and the trans-lunar injection. Of the 140,000 kg placed in low orbit, roughly 43,500 kg headed for the Moon.
Twelve flights
Apollo 4 opened the account uncrewed on 9 November 1967. Apollo 6, in April 1968, delivered the scare: J-2 trouble shut down two second-stage engines early and prevented the third-stage restart. The next flight carried a crew anyway — Apollo 8 flew three men around the Moon that December. Apollo 9 and Apollo 10 followed in 1969, then the first landing with Apollo 11 in July of that year. Apollo 12 shrugged off two lightning strikes seconds after liftoff; Apollo 13 rode out severe pogo oscillations in the second stage, its guidance compensating by burning the remaining engines longer; Apollo 15 began the extended missions with a lunar roving vehicle aboard; and Apollo 17, on 7 December 1972, was the only night launch and the last flight of this configuration.
Afterwards
Once the lunar programme ended, the three-stage stack never flew again: the thirteenth Saturn V launched went up without an S-IVB to place Skylab in orbit. Two complete vehicles, SA-514 and SA-515, had been built for cancelled missions and were never used; their stages were split among museums, and the SA-515 third stage became the backup Skylab orbital workshop. Between 1969 and 1971 an Apollo mission on a Saturn V cost 185 million dollars of the day.