Saturn V; The Complete Manufacturing and Test Records Plus Supplemental Material

Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Apogee Books, 2005. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Trade paperback with DVD at back. Very good. 328 pages and DVD at back cover. Contents include News Reference, Manufacturing and Test Records, Descriptions of instruments, facilities, testing, vehicle assembly, and flight history, glossary, and Index. Illustrations. Payload Planners Guide. Front cover has curve. Alan Lawrie is a satellite propulsion engineer who has 36 years of experience in the space industry and has published on the Saturn rockets as well as Images of Modern America: Sacramento's Moon Rockets. To achieve Kennedy's vision, NASA partnered with US industry to build the largest rocket ever produced, the Saturn V. It was designed and tested in record time and made its first flight in 1967. Less than two years later, the crew of Apollo 11 was launched on a Saturn V and watched by millions of people. Neil Armstrong made his famous giant leap for mankind, to be followed by 11 other astronauts who also walked on the moon. The complete story of the Saturn V Rocket is presented in this detailed history of each stage of the construction and testing process. From the drawing boards of Boeing, North American Aviation, and the Douglas company, through shipping materials on massive Super Guppy air transports, prototype engine firings, and wind tunnel tests, and finally to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, every stage of the planning, production, and actual flight of the rocket is meticulously documented. The lives of the first 45 rocket stages built for the Saturn project are charted, including unprecedented information on the dates, times, and performance parameters for each stage, the production facilities used, documentation of the stages that malfunctioned and the engines that exploded along the way. Details on the development of the F1 and J2 rocket engines and declassified photographs of the Saturn project are included.