from michoud to the moon

8/4/2019 From Michoud to the Moon

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FROMTO THEMOON

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION


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SSISSIPPI TESTFACILITY


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MICHOUD ASSEMBLY FACILITY

HIS TORYFifty years of progress is i l lustrated a t the site of the National Aero-nautics and Space Adm inistrat ion's Micho ud Assembly Faci l i ty inNew Orleans, La. Both the one-horse wagon, photographed i n 19 15,and the 1.5 mi l l ion-pound-thrustSaturn I rocket booster are shownpassing the same aged chimneys that frame the entrance to Mi-choudls Administrat ion Bui lding.

Th e uprated Saturn I (Saturn IB ) and Saturn V f i rs t stages tha t wil lenable m an to explore th e surface of th e moon and beyond areassembled a t Michoud, a division of th e George C. Marshal l SpaceFlight Center a t Huntsvi l le, Ala. Th e faci l i ty is managed by Dr . GeorgeN. Constan.

Unt i l September 7, 1961, th e 20-year-old Michoud Ordnance Plantha d seen relat ively l i t t le use. Then, a f te r an intensive nation-widesurvey, NASA announced it would us e th e faci l i ty fo r th e fabricationof large space vehicle f i rs t stages.Th e plant wa s original ly conceived as a shipyard dur ing World War II .I t wa s used brief ly fo r the manufacture of cargo planes and later-dur ing th e Korean conflict-for th e bui ld ing of tank engines.Three pr imary factors inf luenced th e selection of Michoud: I t offeredseveral exist ing buildings, inc luding a 43-acre manufactur ing bui ld-ing; it wa s accessible by water, necessary in ransport ing large rocketstages; and sparsely inhabited land wa s avai lable nearby fo r a statictest ing site.Th e 900-acre Michoud Assembly Faci l i ty is located on a triangulart ract 15 mi les east of downtown Ne w Orleans o ff U. S. Route 90 .Support services to a ll NASA-contractor elements operat ing a tMichoud are provided by th e f i r m of Mason-Rust. These servicesinclude: Transportation, security, f i re protection, photography,medical, food, supply, communications, custodial, p lan t engineeringan d maintenance, messenger and mail , reproduction and uti l i t ies.


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UPRATED SATURN /

T he two-stage uprated Saturn I (Saturn 16) space vehicle wi l l launch manned Apollospacecraft fo r astronaut t ra in ing and spacecraft development preparatory t a mannedf l ights t o th e moon using th e larger Saturn V.Standing 2 2 4 f e et tall, th e uprated Saturn I is a "hybrid" vehicle, incorporat ing th ef i r s t stage of the pioneer ingSaturn Iand th e th i rd stage of th e more powerful Saturn V.Fo r th is application, th e Saturn 1's f i rs t stage wa s reduced i n weight b y some 20,000pounds, and it s eight H -1 engines were increased in thrust f rom 188,000 to 200,000pounds each.

This launch of the two-stage uprated Saturn I(Saturn IB) on February 26, 1966, marked thebeginning of the National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministrat ion's u prated Saturn Iseries of Apollospace f l ights. I t was the f ir st test i n space of thespacecraft which w il l send Americans to explorethe moon.


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UPRATED SATURN 1 FIRST STAGETh e uprated Saturn I f i rs t stage-designated S-IB-is a ref ined Dur ing f l ight, th e booster engines wi l l bu rn fo r tw o and on e hal fversion o f th e rel iable Saturn I booster, a ll te n of which were success- minutes, consuming more than 100,000 gal lons of propel lants.fu l ly launched between October, 1961, an d July, 1965. Uprated Saturn I f i rs t stages ar e static f i red a t th e Marshal l SpaceTh e newer Saturn 1 f i rs t stage measures 2 1 feet i n diameter an d Fl ight Center, Huntsvi l le, Ala., whi le Saturn V boosters wi l l be static8 0 feet in height. It contains more than ,900,000 component parts. tested a t Marshal l 's Mississippi Test Facility, Hancock County, Miss.I ts e ight engines develop a to ta l th rus t equivalent to 33 mi l l i on Both stages wi l l he launched f rom th e NASA-Kennedy Space Center,horsepower. Fla.Th e booster, bu i l t by th e Chrysler Corporat ion Space Division, iscomprised of eight 70- inch-d iameter anks assembled around a 105 -inch-diameter tank. Four of th e outer tanks contain RP-1 (kerosene)fue l and four carry l iqu id oxygen. The larger center tank containsonly l i qu id oxygen. When fueled, the booster weighs about 1,000,000pounds.

Five uprated Saturn I boosters are shown in f inal assembly andcheckout posit ions in Michou d's Ma nufactur ing Bui lding.Chrysler, which assembled th e f inal two Saturn 1 f i rs t stages, is nowproducing th e uprated Saturn I boosters.Following assembly, th e Saturn I f i rs t stages are moved to a funct ionalcheckout ba y fo r tests of the boosters' mechanical, electrical, hydrau-l ic an d pneumatic systems.


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SATURN V

Establishment of a manned lunar landing as a national goal broughtabout the early need for a space vehicle much larger than the SaturnI. In January, 1962, follow ing several mon ths of extensive studies,NASA approved the dev elopm ent of an advance Saturn vehicle, des-ignated Saturn V.Standing 365 feet high, the three-stage Saturn V is tal ler than t heStatue of Liberty. At l i f t-o ff, it wil l weigh more than six mil l io n pounds,which corresponds to the take-off weight of some 25 ful ly-load ed argejet airl iners. Its three stages, f ir ing in sequence, w il l burn only 17minutes in the Apollo lunar mission.The Saturn V's payload, a 45-to n Apollo spacecraft, is equal in weightto 25 standard size, four-door automobiles.At right, a ful l-scale Saturn V facil i t ies checkout vehicle is shownassembled on it s crawler transpor ter a t the Kennedy Space Center.


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SATURN V FIRST STAGE

The f irs t stage of the Saturn V-designated S-IC-is bui l t at Michoudby The B oeing Company Launch Systems Branch. It measures 33 feetin d iameter and 138 feet ta l l . Generat ing 7.5 mi l l ion pounds of thrustat l i f t -of f , i t wi l l boost the Apol lo spacecraf t on the f i rs t le g of thelunar voyage.The f irst stage's two propel lant tanks have a capacity of more than500,000 ga l lons of l iq uid oxygen and RP-1 (kerosene) fuel. Poweredby f ive, 1.5-m il l ion-pound -thrust F-1 engines, the booster wi l l developa total thrust equivalent to about 1 60 mil l io n horsepower. Fueled, thefirs t stage wil l weigh in excess of 4.5 mil l ion pou nds.

A Saturn V booster is removed from its assemblystation in Michoud's 215-foot-tal l Vert ical As-sembly Bui lding. After vert ical assembly, thebooster is lowered onto a special transporter andremoved to the Ma nufactur ing Bui ld ing or insta l -lat ion of engines, wir ing and other inte rnal com-ponents. It then undergoes a series of functionaltests pr ior to stat ic f ir ing.


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COMPUTER OPERATIONS OFFICE

Michoud's Computer Operations Uffice in nearby Slidell, La., is on e ofth e largest high-speed electronic camputer centers in he nation. Thacenter, operated fo r NASA by t h e Range Systems Division of Ling-1 1 T ~ c Q - V o u g h t , nc., a l s ~ upports NASA's Mississippi Test Facility(MTQ where th e f irst tw o stages s f th e Saturn V rocket a r ~tatic fired,

I Th e preserjt system a t Slidell includes operation an d maintenance of! some 28 digital an d analog computers, a data transmission system,a data reduction system an d related electronie equipment.

Comput@m re employed in NAS&_'sspace pragrams because of their

e n o m o u s mernary capabil ity a nd lightning-like processing speed.Some of the camputer applicat ions i n th e Michowd an d MT F opera-t ions include pre-launch performance evaluation, scientific prO-gramming, theoretical p r ~ b l e r n olving, inventory of components,persannel utilization, p ~ y ~ o l l ,nd r a m r d - k ~ e p i n g .11 digital computer solves problems by arithmetic processes, makingvery simple logical decisions. An analog computer is more versatile,Fo r example, it can be used ta simulate th e f l ight performance of aspace vehicle. This type of computer is shown a b w e .


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WATER TRANSPORTATIONWater transportat ion is the only pract ical means of mo ving themam moth S aturn launch vehicles. The boosters simply are too largefor conventional road, rai l , or air t ransport. The largest unit , theSaturn V f i rst stage, is 13 8 feet long, 33 feet wide and weighs about300,000 pounds empty.Major manufactur ing, test and launch areas for the boosters areNASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsvil le, Ala.,Michoud Assembly Faci l i ty, New Orleans, La.; Mississippi TestFacility (MTF), Hancock County, and K enned y Space Center, Fla.When an uprated Saturn I (Saturn I B) f i rst stage is assembled atMichoud, it is sent on a 5-to-7-da y barge tr ip to Huntsvi l le for stat icf i r i ng ests. The barge travels up the Miss issippi, Ohio and TennesseeRivers, a trip of about 1,100 mil 'es. After testing, the booster is re-turned to Michoud for re furb ish ing. It is then carr ied on a 5-day, 930 -mi le barge tr ip to th e Kennedy Space Center.

First stages of Saturn V are manufactured a t M ichoud and barged 4 0miles to MTF for stat ic f i r ing. They are then returne d to Michoud forcheckout before be ing shipped to Cape Kennedy.

Two of NASA's f ive special barges used to transport Saturn rockets tages f rom Michoud to s ta t ic f i r ing and launch ing s ites i n A labama,Mississippi and Flor ida are shown passing the New Orleans skyline.The Poseidon, on the left , moves Saturn V f i rst and second stagesbetween Michoud, the Marshal l Center and Cape Kennedy, whi lethe Promise car r ies the upra ted Saturn I f i rst stages between thethree instal lations. A th ird covered barge, th e Palaemon, transportsuprated Saturn I boosters between Michoud and Marshal l . Twoopen-decked shu tt le barges, the Li t t le Lake and Pearl River, moveSaturn V f i rst a nd second stages from Michoud to MTF.


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MICHOUD ASSEMBLY FACILITY, GEORGE C. MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

from michoud to the moon

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