Author Topic: Saturn S-1C-T  (Read 3248 times)

Offline CitabriaFlyer

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 315
  • Liked: 24
  • Likes Given: 0
Saturn S-1C-T
« on: 01/16/2018 02:50 pm »
Going on a trip to KSC visitors center as a chaperone for a bunch of fifth graders and part of the trip is visiting the Saturn V.

Does anyone know why the S-1C-T was used as the first stage exhibit?

How did it come to KSC when most of its service was at MSFC?

If AS 514 2nd and 3rd stages are at KSC why not the AS 514 first stage?  Why is it at JSC?

Are the engines on display in the S-1C-T the engines that were fired at MSFC or are they replicas.


Thanks for any info

Offline AS_501

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 576
  • Pittsburgh, PA
  • Liked: 412
  • Likes Given: 329
Re: Saturn S-1C-T
« Reply #1 on: 01/16/2018 04:37 pm »
On a side note, the Smithsonian restoration crew had to clean blue berries, twigs and other material from some of the F1 combustion chambers.  These were deposited by birds over the years while the stage was outdoors.  There is a Smithsonian magazine article that describes the restoration program (don't have the publication date).
Launches attended:  Apollo 11, ASTP (@KSC, not Baikonur!), STS-41G, STS-125, EFT-1, Starlink G4-24, Artemis 1
Notable Spacecraft Observed:  Echo 1, Skylab/S-II, Salyuts 6&7, Mir Core/Complete, HST, ISS Zarya/Present, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, Dragon Demo-2, Starlink G4-14 (8 hrs. post-launch), Tiangong

Offline Rocket Science

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10586
  • NASA Educator Astronaut Candidate Applicant 2002
  • Liked: 4548
  • Likes Given: 13523
Re: Saturn S-1C-T
« Reply #2 on: 01/16/2018 04:46 pm »
As far as I can recall it was a "battleship" version that was overbuilt for testing purposes only...
"The laws of physics are unforgiving"
~Rob: Physics instructor, Aviator

Offline Ronpur50

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2117
  • Brandon, FL
  • Liked: 1028
  • Likes Given: 1884
Re: Saturn S-1C-T
« Reply #3 on: 01/16/2018 05:46 pm »
The Huntsville Saturn V is the only one with complete matching serial numbers so to speak, in that the entire Saturn is SA-500D. The others are a mix of Saturn V vehicles.  Perhaps that is why they sent S-1C-T to KSC?

Offline Ronpur50

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2117
  • Brandon, FL
  • Liked: 1028
  • Likes Given: 1884
Re: Saturn S-1C-T
« Reply #4 on: 01/16/2018 08:40 pm »
The Huntsville Saturn V is the only one with complete matching serial numbers so to speak, in that the entire Saturn is SA-500D. The others are a mix of Saturn V vehicles.  Perhaps that is why they sent S-1C-T to KSC?
A likely explanation.  Huntsville also kept the dymanic test versions of the Saturn I Block I and Block II vehicles, which are displayed today.  These dynamic test vehicles were fully assembled in their respective vertical test towers at MSFC.  The unanswered question is why S-IC-T to KSC instead of S-IC-15, which ended up at Michoud and is today at Stennis, or even better the matching S-IC-14, which ended up at JSC?

 - Ed Kyle

We may never know now and I wonder if they even knew which stage was being shipped!  I also wonder why they didn't keep the first stage for 500F.

Offline Ronpur50

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2117
  • Brandon, FL
  • Liked: 1028
  • Likes Given: 1884
Re: Saturn S-1C-T
« Reply #5 on: 01/17/2018 12:43 am »
Thanks Ed.  My brother is reading my copy of that book at the moment.  And it a fantastic resource!

Offline CitabriaFlyer

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 315
  • Liked: 24
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: Saturn S-1C-T
« Reply #6 on: 01/17/2018 01:46 am »
Thanks for the great info Mr. Kyle.  Always enjoy reading your posts.

Offline Rocket Science

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10586
  • NASA Educator Astronaut Candidate Applicant 2002
  • Liked: 4548
  • Likes Given: 13523
Re: Saturn S-1C-T
« Reply #7 on: 01/17/2018 06:36 pm »
OK, and now a new bit of information - something I did not know.  S-IC-T was shipped from MSFC to KSC in 1974 (possibly during March), two full years before the bicentennial.  It was displayed by itself for a time, outside the VAB.  See a photo here:
http://heroicrelics.org/info/ksc/vintage-ksc.html

So, S-IC-T was moved out for display three-plus years before NASA finally moved the two S-IC flight stages out of storage.   Makes me think that timing was a factor.  There was probably a process - much paper work, etc. - needed to disposition the Apollo program flight hardware.  The Agency was "done" with S-IC-T a few years before it was done with the other stages.

 - Ed Kyle
I saw it for the first time Ed in front of the VAB  parking lot July 1977. Things were pretty laid back and quite in those days you could climb up along side the engine bells or even inside if you chose to...
"The laws of physics are unforgiving"
~Rob: Physics instructor, Aviator

Tags:
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
0