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astronautix.com Saturn C

The Saturn launch vehicle was the penultimate expression of the Peenemuende Rocket Team's designs for manned exploration of the moon and Mars. The designs were continuously developed and improved, starting from the World War II A11 and A12 satellite and manned shuttle launcher, through the designs made public in the Collier's Magazine series of the early 1950's, until the shock of the first Sputnik launch brought sudden real interest from the U.S. government. On December 30 1957 Von Braun produced a 'Proposal for a National Integrated Missile and Space Vehicle Development Plan'. This had the first mention of a 1,500,000 lbf booster (Juno V, later Saturn I). By July of the following year Huntsville had in hand the contract from ARPA to proceed with design of the Juno V.

Saturn A-1 to C-5 Models
Following transfer of the Peenemuende Rocket Team from the US Army to NASA, a year after the first plan was mooted, Von Braun briefed NASA on plans for booster development at Huntsville with objective of manned lunar landing. It was initally proposed that 15 Juno V (Saturn I) boosters assemble a 200,000 kg payload in earth orbit for direct landing on moon. NASA produced two months later, on February 15, 1959, its plan for development in the next decade of Vega (later cancelled after NASA discovered the USAF was secretly developing the similar Hustler (Agena) upper stage), Centaur, Saturn, and Nova launch vehicles (Juno V renamed Saturn I at this point). Throughout the initial planning, Presidential decision, and landing mode debate for the Apollo lunar landing goal, a variety of Saturn and Nova configurations were considered. Of these, only the C-1 and C-5 were taken through to further development.
Configuration Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 LEO Payload - kg Escape Payload - kg
Saturn A-1 8 x H-1 2 x LR89 2 x LR115
Saturn A-2 8 x H-1 4 x S-3 2 x LR115
Saturn B-1 8 x H-1 4 x LR89 5 x LR115 2 x LR115
Saturn C-1 8 x H-1 6 x LR115 2 x LR115 9,0002,200
Saturn C-2 8 x H-1 1 x J-2 6 x LR115 2 x LR11520,0006,800
Saturn C-3 2 x F-1 4 x J-2 6 x LR115 2 x LR115
Saturn C-4 4 x F-1 4 x J-2 1 x J-2
Saturn C-5 5 x F-1 5 x J-2 1 x J-2 127,00045,000
Nova Basic 6 x F-1 1 x F-1 4 x J-2 68,00016,000
Nova A 4 x F-1 4 x J-2 5 x LR115 1 x 2700 kgf68,00027,000
Nova B 6 x F-1 8 x J-2 7 x LR115 1 x LR115112,00047,000
Nova C 6 x F-1 8 x J-2 1 x Nerva 68,00038,000
Nova D 6 x F-1 8 x J-2 1 x Nerva 112,00065,000
Nova N-F1 8 x F-1 4 x F-1 1 x J-2 70,000
Nova N-M1 8 x F-1 4 x M-1 1 x J-2 180,00090,000
The Saturn launch vehicle was the penultimate expression of the Peenemuende Rocket Team's designs for manned exploration of the moon and Mars. The designs were continuously developed and improved, starting from the World War II A11 and A12 satellite and manned shuttle launcher, through the designs made public in the Collier's Magazine series of the early 1950's, until the shock of the first Sputnik launch brought sudden real interest from the U.S. government. On December 30 1957 Von Braun produced a 'Proposal for a National Integrated Missile and Space Vehicle Development Plan'. This had the first mention of a 1,500,000 lbf booster (Juno V, later Saturn I). By July of the following year Huntsville had in hand the contract from ARPA to proceed with design of the Juno V.

Saturn A-1 to C-5 Models
Following transfer of the Peenemuende Rocket Team from the US Army to NASA, a year after the first plan was mooted, Von Braun briefed NASA on plans for booster development at Huntsville with objective of manned lunar landing. It was initally proposed that 15 Juno V (Saturn I) boosters assemble a 200,000 kg payload in earth orbit for direct landing on moon. NASA produced two months later, on February 15, 1959, its plan for development in the next decade of Vega (later cancelled after NASA discovered the USAF was secretly developing the similar Hustler (Agena) upper stage), Centaur, Saturn, and Nova launch vehicles (Juno V renamed Saturn I at this point). Throughout the initial planning, Presidential decision, and landing mode debate for the Apollo lunar landing goal, a variety of Saturn and Nova configurations were considered. Of these, only the C-1 and C-5 were taken through to further development.
Configuration Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 LEO Payload - kg Escape Payload - kg
Saturn A-1 8 x H-1 2 x LR89 2 x LR115
Saturn A-2 8 x H-1 4 x S-3 2 x LR115
Saturn B-1 8 x H-1 4 x LR89 5 x LR115 2 x LR115
Saturn C-1 8 x H-1 6 x LR115 2 x LR115 9,0002,200
Saturn C-2 8 x H-1 1 x J-2 6 x LR115 2 x LR11520,0006,800
Saturn C-3 2 x F-1 4 x J-2 6 x LR115 2 x LR115
Saturn C-4 4 x F-1 4 x J-2 1 x J-2
Saturn C-5 5 x F-1 5 x J-2 1 x J-2 127,00045,000
Nova Basic 6 x F-1 1 x F-1 4 x J-2 68,00016,000
Nova A 4 x F-1 4 x J-2 5 x LR115 1 x 2700 kgf68,00027,000
Nova B 6 x F-1 8 x J-2 7 x LR115 1 x LR115112,00047,000
Nova C 6 x F-1 8 x J-2 1 x Nerva 68,00038,000
Nova D 6 x F-1 8 x J-2 1 x Nerva 112,00065,000
Nova N-F1 8 x F-1 4 x F-1 1 x J-2 70,000
Nova N-M1 8 x F-1 4 x M-1 1 x J-2 180,00090,000
Launch Vehicle: Super-Jupiter. The very first design that would lead to Saturn. A 1.5 million pound thrust booster using four E-1 engines - initial consideration of using a single USAF F-1 engine abandoned because of development time. Existing ICBM tankage clustered above the engines.
Launch Vehicle: Juno V-A. By 1958 the Super-Jupiter was called Juno V and the 4 E-1 engines were abandoned in favor of clustering 8 Jupiter IRBM engines below existing Redstone/Jupiter tankage. The A version had a Titan I ICBM as the upper stages. Masses, payload estimated.
Launch Vehicle: Juno V-B. A proposed version of the Juno V for lunar and planetary missions used a Titan I ICBM first stage and a Centaur high-energy third stage atop the basic Juno V cluster. Masses, payload estimated.
Launch Vehicle: Saturn A-1. Projected first version of Saturn I, to be used if necessary before S-IV liquid hydrogen second stage became available. Titan 1 first stage used as second stage, Centaur third stage. Masses, payload estimated.
Launch Vehicle: Saturn A-2. More powerful version of Saturn I with low energy second stage consisting of cluster of four IRBM motors and tankage, Centaur third stage. Masses, payload estimated.
Launch Vehicle: Saturn B-1. Most powerful version of Saturn I considered. New low energy second stage with four H-1 engines, S-IV third stage, Centaur fourth stage. Masses, payload estimated.
Launch Vehicle: Saturn C-2. The launch vehicle initially considered for realizing the Apollo lunar landing at the earliest possible date. 15 launches and rendezvous required to assemble direct landing spacecraft in earth orbit.
Launch Vehicle: Saturn C-3. The launch vehicle considered for a time the lead contender for the Earth Orbit Rendezvous approach to lunar landing.
Launch Vehicle: Saturn C-4. The launch vehicle actually planned for the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous approach to lunar landing. The Saturn C-5 was selected instead to have reserve capacity.
Launch Vehicle: Saturn C-8.

The largest member of the Saturn family ever contemplated. Designed for direct landing of Apollo command module on moon. Configuration used eight F-1 engines in the first stage, eight J-2 engines in the second stage, and one J-2 engine in the third stage. Distinguishable from Nova 8L in use of J-2 engines instead of M-1 engines in second stage.

Launch Vehicle: Saturn C-3B. Final configurtion of the Saturn C-3 at the time of selection of the Saturn C-5 configuration for the Apollo program in December 1961.
Launch Vehicle: Saturn C-3BN. Version of Saturn C-3 considered with small nuclear thermal stage in place of S-IVB oxygen/hydrogen stage.
Launch Vehicle: Saturn C-4B.

Final configurtion of the Saturn C-4 at the time of selection of the Saturn C-5 configuration for the Apollo program in December 1961. Only Saturn configuration with common bulkhead propellant tanks in first stage, resulting in shorter vehicle than less powerful Saturn C-3.

Launch Vehicle: Saturn C-5.

Final configuration of Saturn C-5 at the time of selection of this configuration for the Apollo program in December 1961. The actual Saturn V would be derived from this, but with an increased-diameter third stage (6.61 m vs 5.59 m in C-5) and increased propellant load in S-II second stage.

Launch Vehicle: Saturn C-5N. Version of Saturn C-5 considered with small nuclear thermal stage in place of S-IVB oxygen/hydrogen stage.
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Last update 3 May 2001.
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© Mark Wade, 2001 .