S-IC

S IC

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S-IC

The S-IC (pronounced "ess one see") was the first stage

Multistage rocket

A multistage rocket is a rocket that usestwo or more stages, each of which contains its own Rocket engine and Rocket propellant. A tandem or serial stage is mounted on top of another stage; a parallel stage is attached alongside another stage....
of the Saturn V

Saturn V

The Saturn V was a multistage rocket liquid-fuel expendable launch system rocket used by NASA's Apollo program and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973....
rocket.

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**S-IC**
Fact sheet
The Apollo 10 Apollo 10 Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon and an all-up test of the Apollo Lunar Module in lunar orbit.... S-IC stage is hoisted in the VAB Vehicle Assembly Building The Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, is located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It is the fourth List of largest buildings in the world in the world by volume.... for stacking
Height	42 m (138 ft)
Diameter	10 m (33 ft)
Mass	2,280,000 kg (5,030,000 lb)
Engines	5 F-1 F-1 (rocket engine) The F-1 is a rocket engine developed by Rocketdyne and used in the Saturn V. Five F-1 engines were used in the S-IC first stage of each Saturn V, which served as the main launch vehicle in the Apollo program.... engines
Thrust	33,400 kN (7,500,000 lbf)
Burn time	150 s
Fuel	RP-1 RP-1 RP-1 is a highly refined form of kerosene outwardly similar to jet fuel, used as a rocket fuel. Although having a lower specific impulse than liquid hydrogen and thus less thrust per unit mass, RP-1 is cheaper, can be stored at room temperature, is far less of an explosive hazard and is far more dense.... and liquid oxygen Lox Lox is salmon Fillet that has been curing . In its most popular form, it is thinly sliced—less than in thickness—and, typically, served on a bagel, often with cream cheese and capers....

The S-IC (pronounced "ess one see") was the first stage

Multistage rocket

Saturn V

The Saturn V was a multistage rocket liquid-fuel expendable launch system rocket used by NASA's Apollo program and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973....
rocket. The S-IC first stage was built by The Boeing

Boeing

Rocket

A rocket or rocket vehicle is a missile, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust by the Reaction of the rocket to the ejection of fast moving fluid exhaust from a rocket engine....
s, most of its mass of over two thousand metric tonnes at launch was propellant, in this case RP-1

RP-1

RP-1 is a highly refined form of kerosene outwardly similar to jet fuel, used as a rocket fuel. Although having a lower specific impulse than liquid hydrogen and thus less thrust per unit mass, RP-1 is cheaper, can be stored at room temperature, is far less of an explosive hazard and is far more dense....
rocket fuel and liquid oxygen

Liquid oxygen

Liquid oxygen is a form of the element oxygen. It has a pale blue color and is strongly paramagnetism. Liquid oxygen has a density of 1.141 g/cm? and is moderately cryogenics ...
oxidizer. It was 42 meters tall and 10 meters in diameter, and provided 33,000 kN of thrust to get the rocket through the first 61 kilometers of ascent. Of the five F-1 engines

F-1 (rocket engine)

The F-1 is a rocket engine developed by Rocketdyne and used in the Saturn V. Five F-1 engines were used in the S-IC first stage of each Saturn V, which served as the main launch vehicle in the Apollo program....
, one was fixed in the center, while the four on the outer ring could be hydraulically turned to control the rocket.

Manufacturing

The Boeing

Boeing

The Boeing Company is a major aerospace and defense corporation, originally founded by William Edward Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997....
Company was awarded the contract to manufacture the S-IC on December 15, 1961. By this time the general design of the stage had been decided on by the engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center

Marshall Space Flight Center

The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center , the original home of NASA, is a lead center for Spacecraft propulsion, Space Shuttle propulsion, Space Shuttle external tank, crew training and payloads, International Space Station design and construction, for computers, networks, and information management....
(MSFC). The main place of manufacture was the Michoud Assembly Facility

Michoud Assembly Facility

The Michoud Assembly Facility is an 832-acre site owned by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration and located in Eastern New Orleans, Louisiana, United States....
, New Orleans. Wind tunnel testing took place in Seattle and the machining of the tools needed to build the stages at Wichita

Wichita, Kansas

Wichita , is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas. The 2006 estimated population of 361,420 makes it the 51st largest city in the U.S....
, Kansas

Kansas

The State of Kansas is a Midwestern U.S. state in the Central United States of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the United States "Heartland"....
.

MSFC built the first three test stages (S-IC-T, the S-IC-S, and the S-IC-F) and the first two flight models (S-IC-1 and -2). They were built using tools produced in Wichita.

It took roughly 7 to 9 months to build the tanks and 14 months to complete a stage. The first stage built by Boeing was S-IC-D, a test model.

Components

The largest and heaviest portion of the S-IC was the thrust structure, weighing 21 metric tons. It was designed to support the thrust of the five engines and redistribute it evenly across the base of the rocket. There were four anchors which held down the rocket as it built thrust. These were among the largest aluminum forgings produced in the U.S. at the time, 4.3 meters long and 816 kilograms in weight. The four stabilising fins withstood a temperature of 1100 °C.

Above the thrust structure was the fuel tank, containing 770,000 liters of RP-1 fuel. The tank itself had a mass of 11 metric tons dry and could release 7300 liters per second. Nitrogen was bubbled through the tank before launch to keep the fuel mixed. During flight the fuel was pressurized using helium, that was stored in tanks in the liquid oxygen tank above.

Between the fuel and liquid oxygen tanks was the intertank.

The liquid oxygen tank held 1,204,000 liters of LOX. It raised special issues for the designer. The lines through which the LOX ran to the engine had to be straight and therefore had to pass through the fuel tank. This meant insulating these lines inside a tunnel to stop fuel freezing to the outside and also meant five extra holes in the top of the fuel tank.

Two solid motor retrorockets were located inside each of the four conical engine fairings. At separation of the S-IC from the flight vehicle, the eight retrorockets fired, blowing off removable sections of the fairings forward of the fins, and backing the S-IC away from the flight vehicle as the engines on the S-II stage were ignited.

Stages built

} |Manufactured by Boeing (as with all subsequent stages); weighed 560 kg less than previous allowing 36 kg more payload |- |S-IC-4 |Apollo 9

Apollo 9

Apollo 9 was the first manned flight of the Apollo Command/Service Module along with the Apollo Lunar Module . Its three-person crew of Mission Commander Jim McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart tested several aspects critical to landing on the moon including the LM engines, backpack life suppo...
|March 3, 1969 | | |- |S-IC-5 |Apollo 10

Apollo 10

Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon and an all-up test of the Apollo Lunar Module in lunar orbit....
|May 18, 1969 | |Last flight for S-IC R&D Instrumentation |- |S-IC-6 |Apollo 11

Apollo 11

Apollo 12

Apollo 13

Apollo 13 was the third manned lunar-landing mission, part of Project Apollo under NASA in the United States. The crew members were Commander Jim Lovell, Command Module pilot Jack Swigert, and Lunar Module pilot Fred W....
|April 11, 1970 | | |- |S-IC-9 |Apollo 14

Apollo 14

Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the Apollo program and the third mission to land on the Moon. The 9 day mission was launched on January 31 1971, with lunar touch down on February 5....
|January 31, 1971 | | |- |S-IC-10 |Apollo 15

Apollo 15

Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fourth mission to land on the Moon. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous missions....
|July 26, 1971 | | |- |S-IC-11 |Apollo 16

Apollo 16

Apollo 17

Apollo 17 was the eleventh Human spaceflight in the NASA Apollo program. It was the first night launch of a United States human spaceflight and the sixth and final lunar landing mission of the Apollo program....
|December 7, 1972 | | |- |S-IC-13 |Skylab 1 |May 14, 1973 | |engine shutoff changed to 1-2-2 from 1-4 to lessen loads on Apollo Telescope Mount |- |S-IC-14 |colspan=2|Unused |Saturn V display at Johnson Space Center |Scheduled for Apollo 18/19 |- |S-IC-15 |colspan=2|Unused |Michoud Assembly Facility |Designated but never used as a backup Skylab launch vehicle |}