The Week in SpaceFebruary 21-27, 2011
Eight Engines Are Better Than One In the late 1950s, Wernher von Braun and other rocket scientists recognized the need for a heavy-lift launch vehicle capable of sending a large payload to the Moon. They recommended building a giant rocket that combined a cluster of powerful rocket engines instead of a single massive one. The project became known as Saturn, and one of the two final variants of the Saturn rocket had its first test flight forty-five years ago this week. The Saturn IB, younger brother to the Saturn V Moon rocket, featured a first-stage cluster of eight H-1 engines, producing a total thrust of 1.6 million pounds. The AS-201 mission launched an Apollo command module on its first suborbital test flight. Later Saturn IBs tested other Apollo hardware and sent astronauts to the Skylab space station. Image credit: NASA / scan by Kipp Teague Weekly CalendarFebruary 21-27, 2011Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
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