Power for Apollo: Saturn V
Video from the channel US National Archives about Saturn V, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 10:10. Language: English. Video type: Archive footage.
What it shows
NASA film about the static tests of the Apollo Saturn V's propulsion systems, in which each stage is secured to the test stand and its engines are fired. It covers the launch vehicle's three stages (S-IC, S-II and S-IVB), the spacecraft modules (lunar, service and command) and the escape system.
When and where it was filmed
The tests shown took place in 1965. The first stage, developed by Boeing with the Marshall Space Flight Center, was tested in Huntsville, Alabama. The second, by North American Aviation, was tested in Santa Susana, California, and the third, by Douglas, in Sacramento. The lunar module's engine was tested in San Juan Capistrano and White Sands, and the service module's engine also in White Sands, New Mexico.
Context
The first stage's five Rocketdyne F-1 engines produced a combined 7.5 million pounds of thrust, with tests lasting more than 150 s. The second stage's five J-2 engines, fed by liquid hydrogen and oxygen, produced a combined one million pounds. The third stage's single J-2, rated at 200,000 pounds, demonstrated that it could be restarted: it ran for 180 s, was shut down for an hour and a half to simulate a coasting phase, and then ran for another 335 s. The film presents these tests as a step toward the flights meant to land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.