Saturn C-3
Proposed Saturn C-3 and Apollo configuration (1962)
|
|
| Function | LEO and Lunar launch vehicle |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer |
Boeing (S-IB-2) North American (S-II-C3) Douglas (S-IV) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Cost per launch | 43.5 million (1985) |
| Size | |
| Height | 269.0 feet (82.0 m) |
| Diameter | 320 inches (8.1 m) |
| Mass | 1,023,670 pounds (464,330 kg) |
| Stages | 3 |
| Capacity | |
| Payload to LEO | 100,000 pounds (45,000 kg) |
| Payload to GTO | 50,000 pounds (23,000 kg) |
| Payload to TLI | 39,000 pounds (18,000 kg) |
| Associated rockets | |
| Family | Saturn |
| Derivatives | Saturn INT-20, Saturn INT-21 |
| Comparable | Falcon Heavy, Delta IV Heavy |
| Launch history | |
| Status | Proposed (1961) |
| Launch sites | planned SLC 37, Kennedy Space Center |
| First stage - S-IB-2 | |
| Length | 113.10 feet (34.47 m) |
| Diameter | 320 inches (8.1 m) |
| Empty mass | 149,945 pounds (68,014 kg) |
| Gross mass | 1,599,433 pounds (725,491 kg) |
| Engines | 2 Rocketdyne F-1 |
| Thrust | 3,000,000 pounds-force (13,000 kN) |
| Specific impulse | 265 sec (sea level) |
| Burn time | 139 seconds |
| Fuel | RP-1/LOX |
| Second stage - S-II-C3 | |
| Length | 69.80 feet (21.28 m) |
| Diameter | 320 inches (8.1 m) |
| Empty mass | 54,978 pounds (24,938 kg) |
| Gross mass | 449,840 pounds (204,040 kg) |
| Engines | 4 Rocketdyne J-2 |
| Thrust | 800,000 pounds-force (3,600 kN) |
| Specific impulse | 300 sec (sea level) |
| Burn time | 200 seconds |
| Fuel | LH2/LOX |
| Third stage - S-IV | |
| Length | 61.6 feet (18.8 m) |
| Diameter | 220 inches (5.6 m) |
| Empty mass | 11,501 pounds (5,217 kg) |
| Gross mass | 111,500 pounds (50,600 kg) |
| Engines | 6 Rocketdyne RL-10 |
| Thrust | 90,000 pounds-force (400 kN) |
| Specific impulse | 410 sec |
| Burn time | 482 seconds |
| Fuel | LH2/LOX |
The Saturn C-3 was the third rocket in the Saturn C series studied from 1959 to 1962. The design was for a three-stage launch vehicle that could launch 45,000 kg (100,000 lb) to low Earth orbit and send 18,000 kg (39,000 lb) to the Moon via Trans-Lunar Injection.
President Kennedy's proposal on May 25, 1961 of an explicit manned lunar landing goal spurred NASA to concretize its launch vehicle requirements for a lunar landing. A week earlier, William Fleming (Office of Space Flight Programs, NASA Headquarters) chaired an ad hoc committee to conduct a six-weeks study of the requirements for a lunar landing. Judging the direct ascent approach to be the most feasible, they concentrated their attention accordingly, and proposed circumlunar flights in late 1965 using the Saturn C-3 launch vehicle.
In early June 1961, Bruce Lundin, deputy director of the Lewis Research Center, led a week-long study of six different rendezvous possibilities. The alternatives included earth-orbital rendezvous, lunar-orbital rendezvous, earth and lunar rendezvous, and rendezvous on the lunar surface, employing Saturn C-1s, C-3s, and Nova designs. Lundin's committee concluded that rendezvous enjoyed distinct advantages over direct ascent and recommended an earth-orbital rendezvous using two or three Saturn C-3s.
NASA announced on September 7, 1961 that the government-owned Michoud Ordnance Plant near New Orleans, LA, would be the site for fabrication and assembly of the Saturn C-3 first stage as well as larger vehicles in the Saturn program. Finalists were two government-owned plants in St. Louis and New Orleans. The height of the factory roof at Michoud meant that a launch vehicle with eight F-1 engines (Nova class, Saturn C-8) could not be built; four or five engines would have to be the maximum.
This decision ended consideration of a Nova class launch vehicle for Direct Ascent to the Moon or as heavy-lift companion with the Saturn C-3 for Earth Orbit Rendezvous.
The Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama developed an Earth Orbit Rendezvous proposal (EOR) for the Apollo program in 1960-1961. The proposal used a series of small rockets half the size of a Saturn V to launch different components of a spacecraft headed to the Moon. These components would be assembled in orbit around the Earth, then sent to the Moon via trans-lunar injection. In order to test and validate the feasibility of the EOR approach for the Apollo program, Project Gemini was founded with this objective:
To effect rendezvous and docking with another vehicle (Agena target vehicle), and to maneuver the combined spacecraft using the propulsion system of the target vehicle.
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