Insane Engineering Of The Saturn F-1 Engine

Not all the details, but enough to understand how this monster got going. Enjoy!

#NASA #Saturn #Apollo
- Music by Fran Blanche -

[chuckhenderson]

Fran, Thank you so much. I was a machinist at Rocketdyne 1965 - 1968 and worked almost exclusively on F1 parts. I would see the injector plates come back from testing at Edwards with holes blown in them and melted. I did not understand the miracle our engineers achieved until I viewed your video. I have seen the F1 at the Smithsonian and at Kennedy Space Center and it just gave me chills to think that I did something on every one them that flew. Funny thing was that in 1965 and 1966 my work was just a job then in 1967 it hit me like a thunderbolt how very special our work was. I relish every minute of it - to this day. Thanks again for a great explanation of the majestic F1 engine and how good old American ingenuity made it work so well.

[lidarman]

As an engineer seeing the transition of Analog to digital solutions, I am so impressed that all the stuff done before the 1970s was even accomplished. I have sophisticated CAD, simulation code and powerful FPGA hardware. They had slide rules, blueprints, and luckily, Apollo had the emerging microelectronic computers. Amazing engineers then and that stuff is the shoulders that we all stand on today.

[chuckhenderson]

I am pleased to see how many follow-up comments I continue to receive. I want to record one more observation: While working at Rocketdyne, early in 1968 I needed to go to an office away from the machine shop, got lost, walked into a large storage area, and there before me were 21 fully assembled F1 engines ready for shipment - I was alone in this room. It was, and is to this day, one of the most magnificent sights I have ever been privileged to behold.

[billym.sprague]

I was at Rocketdyne during the SSME program. Many of my (older) fellow engineers were the designers of the F-1. Without question, one of the greatest engineering feats in human history.

[theadamtron]

Fran, Even after 50 years I still find the Apollo program absolutely awe inspiring. It still blows my mind what they were able to achieve with 60's technology and all the more so for the fact that humans haven't gone back. Nothing else captures my imagination as to what Apollo did. Thank you for your videos and sharing your enthusiasm and insight.

[ericivs]

I work for Blue Origin, and am currently sitting in an office inside the giant test stand 4670 where the Saturn 5 booster and all 5 engines were tested! We have retrofitted the stand to test our New Glenn rocket engines, and the history here is just incredible. Thank you so much for this great video!

[PacoOtis]

I was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam when we landed on the moon and had a great interest in the program and had known about the Saturn F-1 and the design problems and was thrilled when it worked. You have done a great service to remind us that the developers of this rocket are the shoulders on which we now stand! The very best of luck to you!

[williamhoward]

What is truly amazing is the fact that not a single fatality or stage loss occurred in actual flight. Considering what had to be created totally from scratch, just using sliderules and the human mind, the accomplishment is mankind's greatest feat.

[craigwall]

Damn, Fran- this has to be one of the best technical videos on YouTube. A million thanks for not talking down to us; as a scientist and experimental builder and test pilot this is pure red meat. LOTS of food for thought. I mean it.

[TheErador]

I still think it's incredible that they managed this at all at this point in history, undoubtedly the research and testing in the space programme accelerated our understanding of physics and fluid dynamics and computing immensely. Hats off to them, lot of clever people.

[ianhollands]

I used to pride myself on being a creative engineer but the guys who thought this through were in a different league. Truly magnificent.

[johnsanchez]

My dad was part of that. He worked at Rocketdyne from 1959 to 1968 at the California and Missouri locations. I'll never forget how loud the testing was.

[SteverRob]

There was an Apollo 19 built, but it never flew. The first stage, the five F1s still attached, sit at the NASA Infinity Science Center off I10 at the LA/MS state line. I was a volunteer for the refurbishment and repainting of the S-1C last year. Laying on its side, I was able to walk right up to the F1s. You can’t appreciate the massive size of these engines until you actually touch them.

[RonRay]

The "Pogoing" that you referring to the early F-1 engines produced an incredible effect up close. I was a taxi driver in the early 1960's and was once near the Marshal Space Flight Center's test stand on the Redstone Arsenal while they lit one of those off. It was like the several surrounding miles around that test stand was under a "strobe effect". Even the light from the sun seemed to "strobe". It was an incredible and (obviously), unforgettable experience.

[JohnWilsonJAWA]

My late uncle was involved in the design of the first stage. He left us a memorial book called the Roll of Honor from the Boeing Corporation which he was included in for his contributions to the program. Albert J Vervake was his name.

[whirledpeas]

It's simply nuts how much work went into this engine, you can research it for years and still be amazed.

[Dennis-ucgm]

Watching the Saturn V lift off never gets old. Engineered in a time when the slide rule was king.

[owenwilberforce]

My Uncle Ronald Urquidi worked at Rocketdyne since Jan. ‘62, and I have been researching some of his patented ideas related to the J2 rocket. He passed about 6 years ago, but I have been reading an interview with him. This video is excellent in relating the design of these engines, and the staggering amount of detail involved. The engineering involved was detailed to such a degree, without computers doing analysis. Mainly things were often overbuilt and tested and analyzed to see what its performance would show. Thanks for the video!
Specifically, he helped design the heat exchange on the J2- using “dimpled coil support” which had never been tried before. I am still learning so much so as to truly appreciate his engineering abilities and contributions. One thing I remember clearly was he mentioned Elon Musk coming to him much later with questions and a copy of my Uncle’s book in his hand. Now as a teacher, I am researching what specifically my Uncle contributed. It’s a real pleasure to begin to understand and appreciate the staggering sophistication of these designs and the engineering behind them.

[richwahneEXPERTSmadeEasy]

Being a Flight Engineer (from the 70's and 80's), I have to give you a HIGH FIVE!! This was an AWESOME video!! And to think that this engine/rocket combo was built without computers (as we now them them anyway). WOW! Thank you!

[jimmahon]

Fran, as a kid who grew up in Canoga Park listening to Rocketdyne green-run F-1 turbopumps (at night, you couldn't see the test directly but they made this pulsating orange glow that reflected off the sandstone of the Santa Susannas, and you could HEAR this weird rumbling whine from 8 or 10 miles away...), thank you, GREAT description! Oh, and for everyone who thinks they were hearing complete F-1s tested at Santa Susanna, no, you weren't - they tried that once or twice with a partial-thrust development chamber very early on and THAT broke windows in Simi Valley! They trucked full-up F-1s out to the ridge at Edwards AFB and tested them there before shipping them to either Huntsville or Michoud... The big engines tested at Santa Su were smaller ones like J-2, Saturn H-1, Thor/Delta MB-3 and RS-27, and Atlas MA-3 /MA-5 in those days. When I was at Rocketdyne in the 80s and 90s we ran single SSME tests there alongside RS-27 and MA-5. But I have always been in love with the F-1 and in my heart of hearts hoped that it might someday come back. I knew some old F-1A R&D guys and they swore there was no reason it couldn't be made a reusable booster engine if the recovery could be managed. Remember - they had F-1A engines certified at 1.8 million lbs (8 meganewtons!) of thrust at sea level in 1973! After Challenger I hoped for F-1A powered liquid flyback boosters. When Dynetics proposed a modernized F-1B for the advanced booster for SLS, I dared to hope again. But it isn't going to happen. Newer designs make more sense, and clustered methane burners at lower thrust levels work better and cleaner for powered recovery schemes on big booster stages. But I thank my lucky stars that I got to go out to Edwards and witness a single F-1 fired on the stand when I was in high school in 1972. The overpressure from the start transient slapped us back a bit - you could SEE the pressure wave rippling out across the patches of sparse sagebrush towards us. Nothing like that hard crackling roar of a big RP-1 burner - our shirts beat a tattoo on our skinny, teenage chests as we stood there, awestruck. They probably had us a wee bit too close, but by then F-1s were very mature and reliable engines. Absolutely unforgettable! Last year, when I went to see that Apollo 11 documentary in an IMAX theater, i looked around at the faces of the audience during the launch sequence because i was disappointed in the sound mix. They just cranked up a lot of rumbling and failed to captured that hard staccato quality. I realized that I was probably the only person in the theater who had ever actually heard an F-1...