14 Facts About Saturn V

Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon.

Largest production model of the Saturn family of rockets, the Saturn V was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama; the lead contractors were Boeing, North American Aviation, Douglas Aircraft Company, and IBM.

Saturn V developed the requirements for the rocket system and the mission plan for the Apollo program.

Size and payload capacity of the Saturn V dwarfed all other previous rockets successfully flown at that time.

At a height of 363 feet, the Saturn V was 58 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty from the ground to the torch, and 48 feet taller than the Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben at the Palace of Westminster.

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Saturn V was principally designed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, although numerous major systems, including propulsion, were designed by subcontractors.

Consequently, the S-IVB-500 third stage of the Saturn V was based on the S-IVB-200 second stage of the Saturn IB.

The instrument unit that controlled the Saturn V shared characteristics with the one carried by the Saturn IB.

Blueprints and other Saturn V plans are available on microfilm at the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Saturn V carried all Apollo lunar missions, which were launched from Launch Complex 39 at the John F Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Saturn V reached 400 feet per second at over 1 mile in altitude.

The Saturn V broke the sound barrier at just over 1 minute at an altitude of between 3.

About 38 seconds after the second stage ignition the Saturn V switched from a preprogrammed trajectory to a "closed loop" or Iterative Guidance Mode.

Lack of a second Saturn V production run killed this plan and left the United States without a super heavy-lift launch vehicle.