← INDEX — FIG. 00 — 16 JULY 1969 · 21 FEBRUARY 1969
5 × F-1 · 30 × NK-15
THRUST
SATURN V AND N1
Two Moon rockets: one flew every Apollo landing, the other never reached orbit.
BEGIN — CHAPTER 01 →CH.01 / 06 — WHY A MOON ROCKET IS THREE ROCKETS
Throw away the empty tanks
Reaching orbit takes about 9.4 km/s, the Moon about 3 more.
The answer is staging.
CH.02 / 06 — SATURN V, APOLLO 11
Five F-1s, five J-2s, then one
The S-IC had five F-1 engines.
Apollo 11 weighed 6,477,875 lb at ignition.
STAGED ROCKET EQUATION
Δv = Σ Isp,i g₀ ln(m0,i / mf,i)
Ideal Δv from Apollo 11 weights.
—
—
CH.03 / 06 — KOROLEV'S N1
Thirty engines and a computer to watch them
The N1 first stage used NK-15 engines.
KORD shut down failing engines in opposite pairs.
—
Thrust-to-weight = engines × 153.4 t ÷ 2,750 t.
CH.04 / 06 — FOUR LAUNCHES, FOUR FAILURES
Each one flew a little longer
Two failures in 1969.
Two more failures, in 1971 and 1972.
CH.05 / 06 — TWO ROADS TO THE MOON
One rocket landed twelve people; the other was cancelled
The Saturn V flew 13 times.
The N1 was suspended in 1974.
Five engines you can test; thirty you have to trust.
CH.06 / 06 — REFERENCES