The Saturn V F-1 Engine: Powering Apollo into History

by Anthony Young

Overview

When the mighty Rocketdyne F-1 engine was conceived in the late 1950s for the U.S. Air Force, it had no defined mission and there was no launch vehicle it could power. It was a bold concept to push the technological envelope of rocket propulsion in order to put massive payloads into Earth orbit. Few realized at the time that the F-1 would one day propel American astronauts to the Moon. In The Saturn V F-1 Engine, Anthony Young tells the amazing story of unbridled vision, bold engineering, explosive failures during testing, unrelenting persistence to find solutions, and ultimate success in launching the Saturn V with a 100 percent success rate. The book

• contains personal interviews with many Rocketdyne and NASA personnel involved in the engine’s design, development, testing and production;
• is lavishly illustrated with black-and-white and color photographs, many never previously published
• is the first complete history of the most powerful rocket engine ever built.

The F-1 engine remains the high point in U.S. liquid rocket propulsion – it represents a period in American history when nothing was impossible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780387096292
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	11/25/2008
Series:	Springer Praxis Books
Edition description:	2008
Pages:	266
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Anthony Young's first automotive book, published in 1984, became the best-selling automotive title sold in America within three months of its publication, according to Auto Week magazine. His first Springer-Praxis book, Lunar and Planetary Rovers: The Wheels of Apollo and the Quest for Mars will be published in the fall of 2006. He is a regular contributor to Space Times magazine and the online weekly website, The Space Review.

Table of Contents

Foreword.- Author’s Preface.- Acknowledgements.- List of Illustrations.- Origins and F-1 Engine Development.- From Nova to Saturn: Evolution of the Moon Rocket.- Manufacturing the F-1 Engine at Rocketdyne.- Boeing and the Saturn V S-IC Stage.- Testing the F-1 and S-IC Stage.- The Apollo Saturn V Launches.- The Engine that Might Been: the F-1A and its Legacy.- Appendix.- Index.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"The author provides good descriptions of engine components and manufacturing and the contributions that Rocketdyne, Boeing, and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center made to the F-1. The book also covers engine testing, the first Saturn V stage, and the Apollo launches. … The book contains 32 excellently printed full-page color photographs and numerous black-and-white photos and diagrams. An important contribution to the history of technology and the history of space exploration. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All collections." (A. M. Strauss, Choice, Vol. 46 (10), June, 2009)

“Over the years there have been a few books published about the Saturn rockets, but here’s one that focuses solely on the business end of the Saturn V – the F-1 rocket engine, still the largest such engine ever developed. … The book is profusely illustrated throughout, and there’s a nice section of colour plates as well. All in all, a valuable addition to the literature of both rocket development and the Apollo programme.” (Liftoff, Issue 257, May-June, 2010)

From the Publisher