F1 engine

[xiantii]

I was bouncing between wiki articles the other day and I came across this picture of the F1 engine. I'm sure people have seen it before but I was simply blown away by how BIG they were! Really puts the saturn V into perspective...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/S-IC_engines_and_Von_Braun.jpg

[edkyle99]

You don't often see them in photos that provide a good measure of their size.  Here's an image of one in a shop without the nozzle extension, next to a standard doorway. 

 - Ed Kyle

[xiantii]

wow  That looks like a recent picture, where about's was that taken?

[Art LeBrun]

A posting of the von Braun image with the 5 horizontal F-1s would be a good illustration.

[kevin-rf]

You don't often see them in photos that provide a good measure of their size.  Here's an image of one in a shop without the nozzle extension, next to a standard doorway. 

 - Ed Kyle

Little Pig Little Pig Let Me In 

[JosephB]

Pretty good Kevin. LOL

That opens up a whole slew of one liners.
"Say hello to my little friend" comes to mind first though.

What a great shot you posted there Ed.
I'd really like to see the U.S. pursue a large staged combustion engine like the one in the original post here:

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=21817.msg598133#msg598133

Maybe even incorporate it into a LFBB someday?

[JosephB]

I've read that such a LFBB would be impractical because it is too ass heavy.
Would making the LO2 tank a bit oversized to have some residual counteract this?
Maybe a "normal" amount of residual would be sufficient?
Just wondering.

[clongton]

A posting of the von Braun image with the 5 horizontal F-1s would be a good illustration.

How's this?

[ugordan]

How's this?

Uh, is that not exactly the same image as in the OP?

[clongton]

How's this?

Uh, is that not exactly the same image as in the OP?

True, but I thought the image being inline with the text would be nice.

[MATTBLAK]

Some pictures I took while at JSC in 2007.

[ugordan]

Too bad none of them show the thermal blankets covering the engines as the flown Saturns had. I know it's not as "sexy" as seeing the bare F-1s and their piping, but at least it'd be more accurate.

[John Duncan]

Up until a few years ago there were no available photos of the insulation.  The best I was able to find at the time was freeze frames from high speed camera footage made during launch.  Then I found two photos:

http://www.apollosaturn.com/tps/tps.htm

There was a document for auction on Ebay which had the layout of the insulation and I tried to win it.  But someone is "writing a book on launch vehicles" and had FAR more money than I did.  The seller would not make me copies of the pages or even share the buyer's name.  So that tome is sitting on someone's shelf, unavailable for research.

[Blackstar]

I took this photo this afternoon at the NASM annex facility out near Dulles.  I don't remember them having an F-1 engine at Udvar-Hazy.

[MATTBLAK]

Is that the one with the mirrors to give you the optical illusion of a set of five engines?

[clongton]

To give a sense of scale, here's a picture of me standing underneath the Saturn-V at the KSC Visitor Center.

[Downix]

To give a sense of scale, here's a picture of me standing underneath the Saturn-V at the KSC Visitor Center.

I tried to get a picture like that a few weeks ago, but my son wandered off and I had to go track him down.  To him, the Saturn was not anywhere near as thrilling as the Shuttle.

[MATTBLAK]

Probably because he'll never see one -- or one like it -- ever fly. Soon, a whole new generation wont be able to see a Shuttle fly either . Perhaps if you told him that Saturn V used to send men to another World, something Shuttle never could or ever will...

[Downix]

Probably because he'll never see one -- or one like it -- ever fly. Soon, a whole new generation wont be able to see a Shuttle fly either . Perhaps if you told him that Saturn V used to send men to another *World*, something Shuttle never could or ever will...

He knows what it did, but to him it's a video on TV or a clip on the computer.  He's never seen one of that magnitude launch.

I suppose that is rather why I am pushing so hard for DIRECT, to give him that thrill.

Shoot, I never saw the Saturn V liftoff, but I think in terms of math, and the incredibleless of it boggles my mind.

[Blackstar]

Is that the one with the mirrors to give you the optical illusion of a set of five engines?

No, that's the downtown museum, on the Mall in Washington.  The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Museum is about 23 miles away, in Virginia, near Dulles airport.