I've lived on Florida's east coast pretty much my whole life(sad, I know) BUT I can attest that watching a launch NEVER gets old! Even fron 200 miles south in WPB, it's a beautiful spectacle. Now I currently reside about 100 miles north, and I STILL rarely miss a SpaceX launch, which are quite frequent and even more dazzling when launched at night!
I saw one up close while at Kennedy space center and until you actually see one you really cant imagine the size. Its a spectacular piece of engineering
Michael Collins later became the first director of the Smithsonian' Air and Space Museum, a job he typically took quite seriously. On Gemini 10 he had become the first person to EVA twice on the same mission. During Apollo 11 he became the most isolated person in history as he would travel alone to the far side of the moon. He wrote poetry on the far side. He's still around, aged 90; he wrote a good autobiography called "Carrying the Fire", and Jethro Tull wrote a song about him. We should remember his name, even in jest.
I always have asked myself, how Michael Collins has dealt with the fact that he was alone, and, even worse, didn't appear on television worldwide like his fellow astronauts. I felt sorry for him. I hope that he has overcome that great dissapointment.
To add another comment: I’ve heard many people complain about the cost of the Apollo program. When I think of the technological advances that were made by the Apollo Guidance Computer project alone, not to mention the EVA suits, life support systems, thermal & radiation shielding, and so on, it starts to put it into a better perspective. The program directly and indirectly employed over 400,000 people through contractors, their subs, and all of their associated suppliers. We accomplished technical feats never thought possible. We shrank a computer from a room-sized tape-drive device down to a box that was less than 2 cubic feet with solid-state core memory. MIT’s demand for logic chips was so high that annual output increased 100-fold in the first year of the project alone, which immediately made them suddenly affordable and practical for other uses. Software theory that is still used today was invented by the pioneers that wrote the software for the Apollo landings. Without the Apollo program, and yes, the billions of dollars that it cost, we would be at least 10-15 years behind where we are today in terms of technological progress.
Exactly. People seem to forget how much US spends on military when complaining about space programs. Give even the half to NASA and we would already have a moon base there.
You look to see where an MRI scanner a CT scanner lexon bullet proof glass nomax fireproof suits. At what price can you put on just those two medical devices what price could you put on theme. And if we didn't go to the Moon would we even have those two medical devices today
For years I drove past the Saturn V at JSC sitting out in the open and corroding, and it broke my heart. When they finally decided to enclose it and restore it back in the 2000's, it became a place that I love to take family to see what I saw back in the day. I watched the last 3 launches in person, and I will never forget the feeling of the rocket firing miles away. I remember thinking that we would have bases and people living on the Moon by now, and now I can only hope that someday that will still happen.
Showing my age, I feel fortunate to have grown up in the area and seen Apollo 10 through 17 launches from KSC in Titusville (as well as the Skylab missions). For Apollo 11, I never have witnessed any event which generated so much overpowering enthusiasm. It was if it was launched by the mere cheers of crowds there. Apollo 17 was also so beautiful as it was a night shot and was like a sun rising into the sky.
I was five y/o living in Charlotte Co, 100 miles S of Tampa, when they launched 17 at night. Lit the whole neighborhood up almost like mid day! Clearly remember when it cleared over the trees, stunning. Now I see the launches from coastal NC.
I watched those shots as well from Titusville. The best memories from my childhood. It's a shame those Saturn 5 Rockets are just laying there at KSC and not being used anymore.
I want to point out that the center engine on the first stage was actually shut off 26 seconds before first stage cut off in order to reduce Gs, not 26 seconds after takeoff. The Saturn V had quite a low thrust to weight ratio on liftoff, famously appearing to crawl off the pad, but 142 seconds after liftoff the thrust to weight ratio due to the amount of propellant drained would have started to become unreasonably high, producing acceleration of more than four Gs. It was at this time the center engine would be shut down, and the acceleration rate would drop closer to 3 Gs, and then continue to climb to a maximum of nearly 5 Gs for the remaining 26 seconds of flight, at which point the stage would shut down and drop away.
Part of the slow initial speed that most people associate with the Saturn V is that almost all of the stock footage that is shown is from slow-motion cameras on the pad.
@@hutchison82 It might have been going 100 MPH when it cleared the tower, but that took 12 seconds. Even a Yugo would go quite a few of its lengths in 12 seconds. And top fuel dragsters hit 100 MPH in literally less than one second. And Usain Bolt did the 100 meters in 9.58 seconds.
‘I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of 2 million parts - all built by the lowest bidder on a government contract.’ - John Glen 1962
@Ken Hudson Partially. What is lost is the knowledge of the technicians who built the parts. The people who machined the F1s added changes to the engines as they were being built. Curious Droid has a video explaining it.
@@p_serdiuk You are partially correct, but please always rember: Elon SAYS that starship is going to do all this things for cheap. Well, ever heard of a reusable spacecraft designed in the 70s? It had a turnaround time of two weeks and was going to cost only a couble of millions per launch! Truly amazing!
I grew up with the Saturn 5 my father set up the computer center in Shidel La. and I met Dr. von Bran and many of the sciences involved with the Saturn 5 and the Astronauts involved.
@@nakulsharda6771 I hope that you thanked Von Braun for killing all the Londoners that he targeted and of course for killing all of the slave workers that built his rockets. He wasn't cool, he was a nazi killer
Apollo 9 seems to always be forgotten about. It's the only Saturn 5 manned mission that never left low Earth orbit but without the tasks it was set out to do NASA would never have known if the LM could dock with the CM. This is a mission that needs more coverage by documentary makers. Even it's crew seems to be forgotten about by the passage of time, how many people out there can name the crew without looking it up?
Cmdr. Jim McDivitt, CM Pilot Dave Scott and LEM pilot Rusty Schweikhart (not sure about the spelling). Like Frank Borman before him, the latter suffered a very severe bout of space sickness.
One of my lame claims to fame is that I got the American Heritage Dictionary to add Michael Collins, whom they had excluded while including the other two.
about a decade ago I was at Kennedy Center for a shuttle launch and was killing time a few days early touring the area. As I was about to go into a building Buzz Aldrin came out and I spoke to him for a few minutes, he was genuinely surprised that I knew him on sight. I can honestly say that he was a great fellow to talk with and passionate about space still so many years later.
Simon: This is another one of your typically superb videos. I would love to see one on the development of the legendary F-1 engine, the most powerful engine ever built. It's a story of brilliant engineering, setbacks, and triumphs...the kind of story that is just your cup of tea. Thanks a million.
What's so amazing about our space program back in the sixties,is the fact that it was all done with slide rule and some serious math.Also everything on the spacecraft was analog. What an awesome achievement.Talk about quality control.
7:20 the original quote is this: “I guess the question I'm asked the most often is: "When you were sitting in that capsule listening to the count-down, how did you feel?" Well, the answer to that one is easy. I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of two million parts -- all built by the lowest bidder on a government contract.” - John Glenn
John Glenn was joking. The lowest bidder did not necessarily receive the contract. Many of the contractors were chosen because they had superior facilities and/or a better record of reliability. Those factors plus prices were taken into account.
That's an Englishman and Scotsman sorted all we need now is an Irishman and we'll all have a good laugh and learn at the same time.... The Irishman has to Dara O Briain, surely? (Edit: After much thought and a niggling feeling in my mind didn't Simon once say he was Canadian, if so my comment is inaccurate, ⚽🔒s)
I live about 10 minutes from the Marshall Space Flight Center, and here in Alabama we have a full size Saturn V standing beside the interstate, next to a A12 Oxcart. And another Saturn V hanging inside a building with the stages separated. Most locals take it for granted, but driving past that monster nearly daily as a space nerd, is awe inspiring.
I grew up in the shadow of the space program; my dad worked for NASA for 30 years. We used to go out and see things out there all the time. Fascinating stuff!
Why not talk about the F1 engine itself? That thing was plagued full of problems, let alone the engineering challenges. A megaproject in itself for a megaproject. Edit: for those who are saying "pluaged of problems" is the wrong word, I'm referring to the design challange involed. Many problems only became apparent once then went to a full size F1 engine. I'm not saying its unreliable, more of the fact that getting such an engine to work was a monster project.
Each one was more or less hand built with modifications specific to each engine. And every single one that flew was hucked right fucking quick into the ocean.
There's an excellent series here: (ruclips.net/video/mucb4Ttt1oY/видео.html) It's like 5 or 6 episodes of a *wonderfully* detailed documentary (that I have yet to find other than on youtube) that covers many, many aspects of the program
When I first went to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, we did the circuit and ended up in the tour of the control room for the Apollo missions where the piece plays out and when the soundtrack played out, each work station lit up when that person spoke and then it ended, we went through the double doors and it led to an absolutely enormous building and then I saw it for the first time......... and I've NEVER forgotten that experience. It was unbelievably huge, 363 feet long to be exact, and when we took our son a couple of years ago, he had the exact same expression on his face that I first had according to my mother in law.... Priceless!! It's the best day out a boy/man can have in his life, I recommend it to everyone. 🇬🇧🇺🇸✌✌
My dad was a computer contractor (Control Data Corporation) and as a kid, about ten years old. I witnessed close hand the launch of Apollo 13, 14, 15 and 16. Watching the launch on TV does not do the Saturn V justice.
Indeed. I witnessed a shuttle launch from about 6 miles away (on the causeway),and it was unreal. The shock waves have your innards shaking like jello and the crackling sound...awesome!
@@dewayneblue1834 I know. I have a series of records that were released by Time Life back in the 1970s called "To The Moon". In the first record covering the Apollo program, the have a recording of Walter Cronkite talking in an excited voice about the launch of the first Saturn V, all the while desperately holding the Press booth together as the sound generated by the launch threatened to collapse the plexiglas enclosure. I always loved his excitement when he said, "Look at that rocket go!"
A video on the Apollo capsule, but not just that capsule but what they learned from Mercury and Gemini capsules to make Apollo possible. Additionally, a video on the Apollo lander but not just the lander but also the science they brought on board with them and their different iterations. Either that or how they practiced docking with Gemini capsules and the Agena. That way it's only 3 or 4 videos for all programs
Simon, the APOLLO project is indeed "The Mother of all Megaprojects", both for the costs, the massive quantity of people involved, and the sheer advances in technology needed to develop in order to complete the Project. Please, make more videos about it.
It makes no difference to the RUclips algorithm whether you hit like or dislike - both show interest and will move the video up in the recommended scale. That's why idiots who hit dislike, thinking it will have an adverse effect are..well..idiots. So all those flat-Earthers who dislike anything to do with NASA are wasting their time.
@@stmounts HAH! Take that, you stupid space denier! In addition, all of those negative comments are disregarded as the unimportant ravings of deluded conspiritards. Why are they even watching if they don't believe? :-)
Love seeing videos on this rocket! My Dad worked on the Apollo project. He designed the rocket boosters for the ejection seat on the lunar landing test vehicle. Purchased a book on the history of rockets called "Fire in the Sky". In it there's a sequence of photographs depicting Neil Armstrong's test flight in the desert (Edwards AFB?). Apparently he started losing control of it and had to eject. Photos show that event. Very cool to know my Dad worked on that very ejection seat! The company he worked for was Weber Aircraft in Burbank CA
What is never mentioned by the news media, are the thousands of techs that designed and made the small parts that went into the Saturn V.......and they all had to work.
“I guess the question I'm asked the most often is: "When you were sitting in that capsule listening to the count-down, how did you feel?" Well, the answer to that one is easy. I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of two million parts -- all built by the lowest bidder on a government contract.” - John Glenn
@@DarkKatzy013 haahaahaa are you an idiot? That was literally what John Glenn said while sitting on the launch pad for the US first manned launch 🤣 Talk about being ignorant 🤣🤣🤣
@@alxjcaboose yuh duh I know that I'm pointing out that it's bullshit millions or billions of dollars go into that shit . Blah blah blah lowest bidder bullshit. It has to be that way or nobody would get anything done. That is a insult and degrading to all those people that give up their time energy lives to do these things. That's my point.
That's basically saying that what they worked hard on is a big cheap pos. When in fact it was not. It drove many pieces of tech far beyond what they where in that day. It employed hundreds perhaps thousands of families. So yes just go ahead and shit on what many and generations worked so hard. That includes the said astronaut that just shit all over the people whom worked there asses off to get him where he was, and to what he is now gods rest his brave soul.
@@DarkKatzy013 I don't think you really understand how dangerous it was for John Glenn, and every thing he said was 100% true, yet he sat on top of that rocket anyway. I think that shows so much trust in all the people who built the machine, even at the lowest cost. I also think you don't seem to understand that just because it was the lowest bidder doesn't mean that it is cheap or lesser than any other price put forward, all the estimates were miles away from there final cost anyway. Anything and everything you buy these days are always produced by the lowest bidder, that's how people and companies make profit. You would be awful if 2 companies say they will produce what you have speced and you choose the most expensive.... they should be the same!
I love how over the year Simon has become less and less serious throughout his videos. I feel Business Blaze has brought out his chaotic neutral personality.
Simon, the 'lowest bidder' is how the joke, which was coined before the Appollo program, was told. I'm 65 and heard my parents tell the joke around the dinner table then I was a kid. Love your vids, esp Biographics. The detail is soooo refreshing.
A slight correction: at 17:35, you stated that Apollo 11 was our “first trip to the moon,” when that distinction actually goes to Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders on Apollo 8, seven months earlier (Christmas 1968). They were the first humans to orbit the moon, at an altitude of ~60nm. They also had the distinction of being the first humans to be launched aboard the Saturn V. And had no lunar module “lifeboat” with them for the trip. Talk about guts! Also, another fun fact: the record for highest altitude (distance) achieved from earth goes to the Apollo 13 crew (Jim Lovell again), 248,655 miles, during their swing around the far side of the moon while on their Free-Return Trajectory after the explosion aboard their service module. And, when mentioning Jim Lovell, I can’t help but mention his Gemini 7 flight (again with Frank Borman), that set an at-the-time endurance record of 13 days, 18 hrs, 35 minutes inside a spacecraft cabin the size of two small phone booths. The man had a truly inspirational career, and is an amazing interview as well - just an all-out nice guy. Incredibly intelligent but also funny as all hell. I’m still holding out hope that I get to meet him someday soon.
I appreciate your diligence to giving both measurement systems. I wouldn't fault you, though, if you wanted to go to using subtitles for conversion if it helped to clean up the spoken script.
@@VinCoxRides Nah, everyone should understand that there are two systems. I'm an American and believe that the US really needs to adapt to the metric system. If the gov had followed through back in the 70s, the process would be complete by now and we wouldn't be using imperial measurements anymore. We could at least do what the Canadians are doing - making sure both systems are represented at all times, such as speed limit signs in mph and kph.
@@VinCoxRides Vin, repectfully - only the USA is on the old measurement system. The rest of the world is metric. We do like to think we are that important - but that is clearly NOT half the English speakers in the world!
@@Sciguy95 I heard about this quote many many years ago. However, I would be curious to know exactly how he wrote or spoke it. Still, it’s quite humorous, all the same!
The point you made about tolerance, when referring to the pins mounted at the rockets base, further exemplifies the amazing engineering & design that was done without computer assistance.
The Apollo missions were, by far, the most amazing space project yet, possibly ever, considering the state of technology at the time. An underappreciated project was the Soviet Venera robotic probe landings on Venus. The Soviet space program was replete with failures; they did not even number the missions until one succeeded. In other words, many launch and orbit failures were simply not counted among the Venera missions, 1 - 16. That said, the Soviets did successfully land probes on the hellish surface of Venus, even managing to send back a few pictures. As most of what we can usefully learn about Venus is likely the geology shown from detailed radar mapping, perhaps the best reason to land a probe there is that it is difficult, the same reason the United States landed men on the moon, returning them safely to Earth. The Soviet Venera program was an astounding project.
Very well explained Simon, thank you. It is one of my fav subjects. It has been done before but I would love to see the same format but talking about Top Fuel Dragsters. I saw how excited you got about the Saturn numbers, Top Fuel cars are the fastest land based vehicle! You wanna stat: "Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 7.2 litres of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced" Food for thought, cheers mate.
It blows my mind how many people now days think this was all just a hoax. Think of all the work hours that went into this program, all the families fed, all the college tuitions paid for, and all sleepless nights spent crunching numbers. Look at all the amazing technologies that were invented to make this all happen. It's amazing that we, as a species, accomplished this feat.
My parents watched the Saturn V launches (we lived 45 min. away from the launch complexes in FL) and said that no launch ever shook or sounded like they did. I was born a few years after the last Saturn V launch, so I sadly did not get to experience this even as a small child. I did, at least, get to watch a bunch of other launches over the years. Fun fact, the VAB is so large, clouds can form inside of the building. Fun anecdote, my father worked for a contractor inside the VAB and apparently the final test to see if someone was right for a job working there was to carry a document from one office to the other. They didn't tell the person that the two offices were connected by a narrow catwalk that spanned across a yawning gap, with only chain link fencing on the sides of the walk. If they managed to deliver the document successfully, they were hired. Some people apparently were so terrified of heights that they had to pry their fingers off of the chain link fencing they clung to in terror.
Story from my grandfather (who worked for NASA for many years): A couple engineers were given the task of measuring the RF (amount of radio waves) on top of the VAB so they could know what kinds of interference to correct for, if needed. The three guys climbed up to the top of the building with their radio antennas and measuring equipment and set it all up. Problem was, it was windy up there. One of the engineers volunteered to bring up some 50 lb sandbags to weigh the antennas down so they wouldn't fall over. Once they finished their measurements, the engineer who brought them up refused to bring them back down because they were so heavy. One of the engineers came up with a brilliant idea. Drop them over the side. An engineer went down, got one of the NASA pickup trucks, and backed it up to the side of the VAB. The engineer who dropped the first sand bag, my grandfather says "should have been a WW2 bomber crewman" because he dropped that sandbag into the back of the pickup truck. Luckily, the engineer was not in the truck, because the sandbag hit the pickup truck with so much energy that it broke the rear axle in half and wrapped much of the truck around its impact point, utterly destroying it.
We will never build anything as majestic as the Saturn V rocket so your video was pure perfection! Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1, the Mercury and Gemini space capsule missions, the Saturn V rocket liftoff to the Moon with the Apollo missions, and the Space Shuttle Atlantis - at one time America’s Space Program was envied and unrivaled. It’s an awesome thought that we will be making frequent trips to the Moon again. There was a time when we had the determination, ability and huge national pride of travelling to our nearest celestial neighbor. I have a model rocket of this mighty ship, so I loved your giddiness! The upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon will be thrilling to see, but nothing like the Apollo missions.
Marvelous! This is 3 years old and I just found this bit of gold. I've already seen or am about to see your content on the JWT and I'm sure I'll find more about Apollo, Gemini, STS (funny name, I.E. they made it sound like some mundane cargo container), Skylab, etc., etc.! All I can say is keep up these great artifacts ---they are truly wonderful, and you are the perfect host for them!
I got lucky back in 1976. My folks and I went to the Kennedy Space Centre before they started up the Space Shuttle Program, so the tour took you into the VAB building and the Launch Control Centre. The latter was set up so you could watch all the panels light up as they simulated the launch sequence for Apollo 11. It was a fantastic experience.
I was fortunate enough to work at Space Camp, located on the mainland side of the intercoastal waterway across from Kennedy Space Center. While there the staff was invited to go on a VIP tour inside the VAB -- something we couldn't have possibly afforded on our meager income. Our tour guide had been doing these tours for decades. He advised us that the best way to "experience" the VAB was to keep our eyes down, looking at your feet, until we had walked into the center of the building. He then told us to look up. To quote Douglas Adams: it gave a better impression of infinity than infinity does of itself. It gave me a mind bending sensation of trying to grasp something beyond any experience I've ever had. Truly memorable. @Simon if you ever want to do a video on the Space Transportation System a.k.a. Space Shuttle then I would be happy to help edit your script. I leaned a good bit about it while working at Space Camp.
I was born 3 days before they landed in Redstone arsenal. My mother worked for NASA keypunching for the rocket. Thank you for making a video. It made me smile.
Keyboard runner The N1 had most thrust, but less payload. The first stage had a larger diameter at the base,M but that quickly tapered down, and it was shorter than the Saturn V
Most likely it will remain as such, with maybe SpaceX super heavy booster with Spaceship being bigger. SLS is similar in size to Saturn V. The thing is, there is no real need or reason to go much bigger as there are more problems than benefits from going that big. Most likely we'd either find another more efficient way to launch things from Earth or, more likely, separate the whole process into 2 parts: from Earth to orbit or the Moon where infrastructure would facilitate the next step of the travel - so in the end there would not be a need to build monstrous rockets for journey to outer solar system. For instance, you could take Saturn V... and it can't really go beyond the Moon. But take Falcon Heavy, it is smaller than Saturn V but it can go to orbit, refuel, and go way beyond Moon unlike Saturn V. It is actually easier (and better) to make smaller rockets + space infrastructure than it is to build monstrous rockets that start from Earth.
It is amazing to consider that one of the greatest achievements of humanity basically boils down to strapping a few blokes on top of a bomb and setting it off.
Fun side note: it's actually pretty crazy how un-bomb-like rocket engines are. One might be tempted to imagine a big tank of fuel with a steerable nozzle at the end, you light it, and off the rocket goes -- but that's not at all how it works. Here's the problem: the fuel's weight and inertia push it downwards at a pressure of several atmospheres. The explosion in the combustion chamber pushes upwards at a pressure of several hundred atmospheres. What to do? Turbopump. A really absurdly strong turbopump that pushes fuel and oxygen downwards even more ferociously than the gigantic explosion pushes the rocket upwards. The big fireball coming out the end is impressive, but the turbopump is the real MVP.
It will always be the largest from its era, and that is what matters. Technology is supposed to improve and exceed past accomplishments. ruclips.net/video/Vn9BeN8NBaA/видео.html
@@TCV12 I doubt Starship/Superheavy will be ready for orbital flight by the end of '21. It's been a year since the Starhopper 150m hop and none of the full-scale Starship core prototypes have yet to reach their respective goals. MK1 blew up, MK2 was abandoned, SN1 blew up, SN3 buckled, and SN4 blew up. On top of that we had absolutely no trace of Superheavy development until Musk announced that they were constructing a larger highbay a few weeks ago.
@@absalomdraconis Starship is not SSTO so an "orbital" flight isn't on the cards without superheavy. They have 3 hop milestones before an orbital flight which they can possibly get done before the end of this year (150m, 5km and 20km) The bottleneck isn't construction of the stages, it's the Raptor development...they need over 30 raptors at the site to have a fully capable first stage...they can build superheavy in weeks (maybe even in less time than the starships due to its simplicity)
Thank you so much. A very nice account of the Saturn V. I was 25 years old when I watched the first humans set foot on the Moon. I was thrilled-I thought we were on our way. Alas, it's been almost five decades since the last Apollo mission, and we have yet to return to the Moon let alone go to Mars. However, like you said at the end, it looks like there is a new interest in space, and that gives me hope.
"If there are other parts of the Apollo program that you would like me to cover" Well, since you mentioned it..... Magaprojects: The Lunar Excursion Module (No seats?) Magaprojects: Apollo Command Module (There is a hole in the tip......*wink*) Magaprojects: Apollo Service Module (Liquid oxygen tanks go BOOM!) Magaprojects: Lunar Rover (Piano wire for wheels?) Magaprojects: A7L Pressure Suit (The only piece of clothing to ever touch another planet) Magaprojects: Westinghouse SEB16101081-701(Live streaming a TV signal from the FUCKING MOON!!!!) Magaprojects: Apollo Guidance Computer (The first computer to use Silicon IC Chips {Also, someone recently got one of the originals to work, fucking LEGENDS!}) Magaprojects: B-377-SG/SGT Super Guppy (The plane that carried the Saturn V's 3rd stage) Megaprojects: Crawler-Transporter (From Apollo to the Space Shuttle {I realize I listed this as an idea on another Megaprojects video, but it is part of the Apollo program}) Megaprojects: Apollo Mission Control Center (Holy fuck, that is a lot of CRTs) Megaprojects: The Vehicle Assembly Building (A building so large, that if you turn off the air conditioning, it starts to rain {indoors}) Megaprojects: Rocketdyne F-1(The powerful rocket engine ever built)
Like you I have always had a fascination with the Apollo missions then the Space Shuttle missions and most recently the Space X missions. Keep up the cool videos!
The "and" doesn't have to be there, it would be a fine example of asyndeton, but the "a" does have to be there. I met Neil Armstrong once. I'll never forget that moment.
10:05 pretty sure that center engine cut off wasn't at 26s ;) According to the flight report of AS-501 (first Saturn V flight, Apollo 4) S-1C Center Engine cutoff occurred at shortly after 135,52s (at this point the cutoff signal was recieved) [Source: NASA Flight Evalation Report AS-501, 5.4]. I don't own the other flight reports of the Saturn V, but I am pretty sure, that there was never a cutoff that early :) And the S-IV stage didnt crash into the moon on the last 5 Apollo Missions (well, depends how you count, but i would argue, that Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz were still part of the Apollo programm) and Apollo 12's S-IVB was orbiting the sun (if I remeber it correctly). And if i want to be picky (yes, i want that): The last Saturn V also didnt carry humans (Skylab 1). Therefore there were 3 unmanned Saturn V launches (Skylab, Salyut and MIR could be interesting topics for future videos). Beside these "GIANT" mistakes, i wasnt able to find more. Really good, well researched and entertaining video. There are not many videos about that topic with so few mistakes.
You are correct. The center engine cut off was typically at about 2 minutes and the other four engines cut off at about 2 1/2 minutes. If a Saturn V lost a single first stage engine at 40 seconds it could continue to climb although it would not be able to put the spacecraft into orbit. As such a cutoff of one engine at 26 seconds would cause the Saturn V to fall back onto the launch pad and explode.
The US got the scientists and engineers - Russia got the technicians who actually knew how to build the rockets - the Scud was very literally a Russian V2. The Redstone was the next generation.
I think it was more of a battle of the budgets. Simon nailed it when he said astronauts are scared because their rocket was built by the cheapest contractor 😂
My folks traveled to Florida to watch a Saturn V launch, which got delayed so they missed it. My Dad and I stayed up to watch the moon landing on TV. Decades later, I was privileged to fly Neil Armstrong on the company jet. An amazing, historical figure and hero of mine.
FWIW: The escape velocity of a moon mission was ~24000 mph as you mentioned, which is about once around the earth in 1 hour. This was a very good synopsis of a big megaproject. Thank you.
Instead of saying “Saturn vee” you just continually showed the space shuttle instead of the Saturn v launches, of which there were many and almost all of them were broadcast and recorded 🤨🤨
@@jerrylevin2536 In another video he talks about how you would probably end up falling into the sun if you were to nudge yourself away from the ISS without tether. He's clearly not a rocket scientist, nor a Kerbal Space Program player, I guess some leeway can be given. ;) (Just like how he doesn't mention anything about circularizing the orbit at Apogee, nor does he mention that von Braun actually had a hard time convincing the US to actually go to the Moon.)
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I think you should do an in depth look at the command module of apollo
Any plans for an episode on the SR-71?
I've lived on Florida's east coast pretty much my whole life(sad, I know) BUT I can attest that watching a launch NEVER gets old! Even fron 200 miles south in WPB, it's a beautiful spectacle. Now I currently reside about 100 miles north, and I STILL rarely miss a SpaceX launch, which are quite frequent and even more dazzling when launched at night!
Megaprojects:- Alcubierre Drive or Hyperdrive
You said the part about cubic meters wrong. Great show.
The Crawlers that carry the rockets to the pad would be a great video.
Agreed. That mobile platform is a megaproject on its own
This must be a video.
I agree
I saw one up close while at Kennedy space center and until you actually see one you really cant imagine the size. Its a spectacular piece of engineering
@@xx7legion7xx99 did you check out the saturn V while you were there? unbelievable how big it really is
Michael Collins later became the first director of the Smithsonian' Air and Space Museum, a job he typically took quite seriously. On Gemini 10 he had become the first person to EVA twice on the same mission. During Apollo 11 he became the most isolated person in history as he would travel alone to the far side of the moon. He wrote poetry on the far side. He's still around, aged 90; he wrote a good autobiography called "Carrying the Fire", and Jethro Tull wrote a song about him. We should remember his name, even in jest.
Every interview I’ve ever seen with Collins has me cracking up laughing. That guy has a great sense of humor.
I always have asked myself, how Michael Collins has dealt with the fact that he was alone, and, even worse, didn't appear on television worldwide like his fellow astronauts. I felt sorry for him. I hope that he has overcome that great dissapointment.
Collins died a couple days ago.
NASA released a tribute video to him.
RIP Michael Collins (The Austronaut, not the cat)(I hope).
Collins was wasted as a test pilot and astronaut - he was a born writer and comedian!
To continue with Apollo do the nasa crawler
Yes! The Crawler is an amazing machine.
Interesting machine but by far not complex or big enough to be called megaproject.
There is a piece of mining equipment that is considerably bigger, still holding the record for biggest vehicle ever made as far as I'm aware...
@@benistingray6097 could always tag the crawler with the vast launch complex and all the civil engineering it took to build
I cosign this statement
To add another comment: I’ve heard many people complain about the cost of the Apollo program. When I think of the technological advances that were made by the Apollo Guidance Computer project alone, not to mention the EVA suits, life support systems, thermal & radiation shielding, and so on, it starts to put it into a better perspective. The program directly and indirectly employed over 400,000 people through contractors, their subs, and all of their associated suppliers. We accomplished technical feats never thought possible. We shrank a computer from a room-sized tape-drive device down to a box that was less than 2 cubic feet with solid-state core memory. MIT’s demand for logic chips was so high that annual output increased 100-fold in the first year of the project alone, which immediately made them suddenly affordable and practical for other uses. Software theory that is still used today was invented by the pioneers that wrote the software for the Apollo landings.
Without the Apollo program, and yes, the billions of dollars that it cost, we would be at least 10-15 years behind where we are today in terms of technological progress.
The common saying, I believe, is that every dollar invested in the _Apollo_ program was returned tenfold.
Absolutely well written, and often forgotten
I wish politicians like Proxmire and Mondale had realized this.
Exactly. People seem to forget how much US spends on military when complaining about space programs. Give even the half to NASA and we would already have a moon base there.
You look to see where an MRI scanner a CT scanner lexon bullet proof glass nomax fireproof suits. At what price can you put on just those two medical devices what price could you put on theme. And if we didn't go to the Moon would we even have those two medical devices today
For years I drove past the Saturn V at JSC sitting out in the open and corroding, and it broke my heart. When they finally decided to enclose it and restore it back in the 2000's, it became a place that I love to take family to see what I saw back in the day. I watched the last 3 launches in person, and I will never forget the feeling of the rocket firing miles away. I remember thinking that we would have bases and people living on the Moon by now, and now I can only hope that someday that will still happen.
That won't happen. White people have different priorities now.
Showing my age, I feel fortunate to have grown up in the area and seen Apollo 10 through 17 launches from KSC in Titusville (as well as the Skylab missions). For Apollo 11, I never have witnessed any event which generated so much overpowering enthusiasm. It was if it was launched by the mere cheers of crowds there. Apollo 17 was also so beautiful as it was a night shot and was like a sun rising into the sky.
I was five y/o living in Charlotte Co, 100 miles S of Tampa, when they launched 17 at night. Lit the whole neighborhood up almost like mid day! Clearly remember when it cleared over the trees, stunning. Now I see the launches from coastal NC.
Bearing in mind the Cold War was still going, even Czech TV reported 'this is the America we love!'
How loud was it? Did the earth shake?
I watched those shots as well from Titusville. The best memories from my childhood. It's a shame those Saturn 5 Rockets are just laying there at KSC and not being used anymore.
I saw Artemis 1 launch 366 days ago now at near 2AM. That thing made night look like day for a short bit. I really wish I could see a Saturn V launch.
I want to point out that the center engine on the first stage was actually shut off 26 seconds before first stage cut off in order to reduce Gs, not 26 seconds after takeoff.
The Saturn V had quite a low thrust to weight ratio on liftoff, famously appearing to crawl off the pad, but 142 seconds after liftoff the thrust to weight ratio due to the amount of propellant drained would have started to become unreasonably high, producing acceleration of more than four Gs. It was at this time the center engine would be shut down, and the acceleration rate would drop closer to 3 Gs, and then continue to climb to a maximum of nearly 5 Gs for the remaining 26 seconds of flight, at which point the stage would shut down and drop away.
Shut up Nerd.
Part of the slow initial speed that most people associate with the Saturn V is that almost all of the stock footage that is shown is from slow-motion cameras on the pad.
they say slow but the Saturn V was doing 100 Miles per Hour after clearing the tower how many cars can have that acceleration in their own length
@@hutchison82
It might have been going 100 MPH when it cleared the tower, but that took 12 seconds.
Even a Yugo would go quite a few of its lengths in 12 seconds.
And top fuel dragsters hit 100 MPH in literally less than one second.
And Usain Bolt did the 100 meters in 9.58 seconds.
Also to manage the pogo oscillation
‘I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of 2 million parts - all built by the lowest bidder on a government contract.’ - John Glen 1962
GREAT quote! :-)
@Ken Hudson Partially. What is lost is the knowledge of the technicians who built the parts. The people who machined the F1s added changes to the engines as they were being built. Curious Droid has a video explaining it.
Sitting in a human friendly craft only thirty yards high on top of a bomb would do it for me.
Lowest bidder....that meets spec.
@@p_serdiuk You are partially correct, but please always rember: Elon SAYS that starship is going to do all this things for cheap.
Well, ever heard of a reusable spacecraft designed in the 70s? It had a turnaround time of two weeks and was going to cost only a couble of millions per launch! Truly amazing!
I grew up with the Saturn 5 my father set up the computer center in Shidel La. and I met Dr. von Bran and many of the sciences involved with the Saturn 5 and the Astronauts involved.
Really?
Wow!
That's soo cool.
It’s Slidell. I live there. And coincidentally, I’ve worked at the Michoud Assembly Facility where the Saturn Vs were assembled.
@@nakulsharda6771 I hope that you thanked Von Braun for killing all the Londoners that he targeted and of course for killing all of the slave workers that built his rockets. He wasn't cool, he was a nazi killer
Apollo 9 seems to always be forgotten about. It's the only Saturn 5 manned mission that never left low Earth orbit but without the tasks it was set out to do NASA would never have known if the LM could dock with the CM. This is a mission that needs more coverage by documentary makers. Even it's crew seems to be forgotten about by the passage of time, how many people out there can name the crew without looking it up?
Probably about as many as can name the man who stayed in the CM while neil and buzz went to the moon.
Cmdr. Jim McDivitt, CM Pilot Dave Scott and LEM pilot Rusty Schweikhart (not sure about the spelling). Like Frank Borman before him, the latter suffered a very severe bout of space sickness.
Jim Mcdivitt is an test pilot by heart disguised as an astronaut. He turned down Apollo 14 just so he could test ride the LM for Apollo 9
Simon's beard is headed for its own episode on Megaprojects.
check out Aubrey de Grey's. Simon's isn't even close.
@@ebt12 He's got a full Dumbledore lol
RIP Michael Collins, "the loneliest man in history". Thank you for all that you did Sir, farewell and godspeed.
Godspeed Mike Colin’s
@Thevictoryoverhimself Louis Armstrong !!!! LOL
One of my lame claims to fame is that I got the American Heritage Dictionary to add Michael Collins, whom they had excluded while including the other two.
There were six lonliest men in history (seven if you count John Young on Apollo 10)
about a decade ago I was at Kennedy Center for a shuttle launch and was killing time a few days early touring the area. As I was about to go into a building Buzz Aldrin came out and I spoke to him for a few minutes, he was genuinely surprised that I knew him on sight. I can honestly say that he was a great fellow to talk with and passionate about space still so many years later.
"Why haven't we gone back[, Buzz]?"
"That's not a child's question, that's my question. I want to know why."
-8 year old girl and Buzz
Simon: This is another one of your typically superb videos. I would love to see one on the development of the legendary F-1 engine, the most powerful engine ever built. It's a story of brilliant engineering, setbacks, and triumphs...the kind of story that is just your cup of tea. Thanks a million.
What's so amazing about our space program back in the sixties,is the fact that it was all done with slide rule and some serious math.Also everything on the spacecraft was analog. What an awesome achievement.Talk about quality control.
7:20 the original quote is this:
“I guess the question I'm asked the most often is: "When you were sitting in that capsule listening to the count-down, how did you feel?" Well, the answer to that one is easy. I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of two million parts -- all built by the lowest bidder on a government contract.”
- John Glenn
I thought it originated with the Movie Armegedan with Bruce Willis,,, Guess they got it from John Glen
Silly bastards
John Glenn was joking. The lowest bidder did not necessarily receive the contract. Many of the contractors were chosen because they had superior facilities and/or a better record of reliability. Those factors plus prices were taken into account.
Can we get a collab between Simon and Scott Manley? They can nerd out over rockets together!
That's an Englishman and Scotsman sorted all we need now is an Irishman and we'll all have a good laugh and learn at the same time.... The Irishman has to Dara O Briain, surely?
(Edit: After much thought and a niggling feeling in my mind didn't Simon once say he was Canadian, if so my comment is inaccurate, ⚽🔒s)
Scott Manley is on a whole different level on rockets then Simon. It would be like sitting a kindergartner finger painter down with Leonardo Da Vinci.
@@hawkdsl "It took me a couple of years to learn how to paint as a master, and my whole lfe to paint as a toddler" - Pablo Picasso
@@hawkdsl that would be part of the beauty of the collaboration. Imagine seeing Simon in awe at how much he learns from Scott.
Im thinking Destin from Smarter Everyday would be a better fit but in a business blaze setting.
13:52 - it occupied 3.665 cubic meters of space. Damn, by that measure I have a massive house.
Million cu meters
"The VAB occupies Three point six six five cubic meters..." - that's smaller than my bathroom!
Björn Eberhardt
The script left out 10E06
Millions
He's English, they have small apartments so are easily impressed.
I live about 10 minutes from the Marshall Space Flight Center, and here in Alabama we have a full size Saturn V standing beside the interstate, next to a A12 Oxcart. And another Saturn V hanging inside a building with the stages separated. Most locals take it for granted, but driving past that monster nearly daily as a space nerd, is awe inspiring.
When they fired a Saturn Engine in testing you could hear it 40 miles away.
I grew up in the shadow of the space program; my dad worked for NASA for 30 years. We used to go out and see things out there all the time. Fascinating stuff!
Von Braun: "I aimed for the stars... But I kept hitting London!"
Success is dropping 7 vengeance weapons on London and landing on the Moon with the 8th.
@Pax Sierra LMAO.
“Once rockets go up
Who cares where they come down?
That’s not my department”
Says Wernher Von Braun
-Tom Lehrer, 1965
@@franciscodanconia45 well he was linda right, he didnt selected the targets, he just build the rockets
@@carso1500 I thought it was slave labor from Mittelbau-Dora that built the rockets.
Why not talk about the F1 engine itself? That thing was plagued full of problems, let alone the engineering challenges. A megaproject in itself for a megaproject.
Edit: for those who are saying "pluaged of problems" is the wrong word, I'm referring to the design challange involed. Many problems only became apparent once then went to a full size F1 engine. I'm not saying its unreliable, more of the fact that getting such an engine to work was a monster project.
Each one was more or less hand built with modifications specific to each engine.
And every single one that flew was hucked right fucking quick into the ocean.
@ I'm talking about design and development m8
@Thunderbirdlead should add the RS-25 engine to the list as well
There's an excellent series here: (ruclips.net/video/mucb4Ttt1oY/видео.html)
It's like 5 or 6 episodes of a *wonderfully* detailed documentary (that I have yet to find other than on youtube) that covers many, many aspects of the program
@ but constantly blew up during testing
I want a whole episode on the moon buggy! It doesn't get enough love!
When I first went to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, we did the circuit and ended up in the tour of the control room for the Apollo missions where the piece plays out and when the soundtrack played out, each work station lit up when that person spoke and then it ended, we went through the double doors and it led to an absolutely enormous building and then I saw it for the first time......... and I've NEVER forgotten that experience. It was unbelievably huge, 363 feet long to be exact, and when we took our son a couple of years ago, he had the exact same expression on his face that I first had according to my mother in law.... Priceless!! It's the best day out a boy/man can have in his life, I recommend it to everyone. 🇬🇧🇺🇸✌✌
My dad was a computer contractor (Control Data Corporation) and as a kid, about ten years old. I witnessed close hand the launch of Apollo 13, 14, 15 and 16. Watching the launch on TV does not do the Saturn V justice.
I bet. I remember watching a night launch of the Space Shuttle from Daytona Beach back in the 1980s. It was spectacular.
Indeed. I witnessed a shuttle launch from about 6 miles away (on the causeway),and it was unreal. The shock waves have your innards shaking like jello and the crackling sound...awesome!
@@dewayneblue1834 I know. I have a series of records that were released by Time Life back in the 1970s called "To The Moon". In the first record covering the Apollo program, the have a recording of Walter Cronkite talking in an excited voice about the launch of the first Saturn V, all the while desperately holding the Press booth together as the sound generated by the launch threatened to collapse the plexiglas enclosure. I always loved his excitement when he said, "Look at that rocket go!"
Saw three Apollo launches. To this day, I can still FEEL the sound!
@Nature and Physics 12,15 and 17.
@Nature and Physics Saw the first strike, but missed the second. Too far downrange at that point.
Simon, what about a programme on the F1 engine alone?
A video on the Apollo capsule, but not just that capsule but what they learned from Mercury and Gemini capsules to make Apollo possible. Additionally, a video on the Apollo lander but not just the lander but also the science they brought on board with them and their different iterations. Either that or how they practiced docking with Gemini capsules and the Agena. That way it's only 3 or 4 videos for all programs
The redesign of the Apollo capsule after Apollo 1.
And the fact the Agena propulsion system was used on the LM. The Agena was at the time the most flown space propulsion system the US had at the time.
Simon, the APOLLO project is indeed "The Mother of all Megaprojects", both for the costs, the massive quantity of people involved, and the sheer advances in technology needed to develop in order to complete the Project. Please, make more videos about it.
I'm in love with the Saturn V. The look is just so much cooler and sexier than the look of modern rockets. It was like a work of art.
The most powerful 1st stage ever built was for the Soviet N1 rocket. Of course, the N1 rocket was prone to "unscheduled rapid disassembly".
Keyboard runner you add the thrust of each engine and get the total
@@3gunslingers The N1 had a thrust of 45,400 kN, that's how.
@@G5rry
Thanks
Yeah but the Saturn V had more delta V
The last clause is a bit problematic.
The one thought that went through my mind as I sat atop this giant machine was that it was built by the lowest bidder.
~ John H. Glenn Jr.
“Smash that dislike button” not the same as during business blaze.
It makes no difference to the RUclips algorithm whether you hit like or dislike - both show interest and will move the video up in the recommended scale. That's why idiots who hit dislike, thinking it will have an adverse effect are..well..idiots. So all those flat-Earthers who dislike anything to do with NASA are wasting their time.
Fun to see the blaze sneaking into his more serious channels
Allegedly
@@stmounts HAH! Take that, you stupid space denier! In addition, all of those negative comments are disregarded as the unimportant ravings of deluded conspiritards. Why are they even watching if they don't believe? :-)
Does the dislike button even do anything for comments? Like we have the option.. but ya
Love seeing videos on this rocket! My Dad worked on the Apollo project. He designed the rocket boosters for the ejection seat on the lunar landing test vehicle. Purchased a book on the history of rockets called "Fire in the Sky". In it there's a sequence of photographs depicting Neil Armstrong's test flight in the desert (Edwards AFB?). Apparently he started losing control of it and had to eject. Photos show that event. Very cool to know my Dad worked on that very ejection seat! The company he worked for was Weber Aircraft in Burbank CA
What is never mentioned by the news media, are the thousands of techs that designed and made the small parts that went into the Saturn V.......and they all had to work.
“I guess the question I'm asked the most often is: "When you were sitting in that capsule listening to the count-down, how did you feel?" Well, the answer to that one is easy. I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of two million parts -- all built by the lowest bidder on a government contract.” - John Glenn
Just because it is built by the lowest prices builder does mean a damn thing...... 🤦🤦🤦. Some people are so ignorant..
@@DarkKatzy013 haahaahaa are you an idiot? That was literally what John Glenn said while sitting on the launch pad for the US first manned launch 🤣
Talk about being ignorant 🤣🤣🤣
@@alxjcaboose yuh duh I know that I'm pointing out that it's bullshit millions or billions of dollars go into that shit . Blah blah blah lowest bidder bullshit. It has to be that way or nobody would get anything done. That is a insult and degrading to all those people that give up their time energy lives to do these things. That's my point.
That's basically saying that what they worked hard on is a big cheap pos. When in fact it was not. It drove many pieces of tech far beyond what they where in that day. It employed hundreds perhaps thousands of families. So yes just go ahead and shit on what many and generations worked so hard. That includes the said astronaut that just shit all over the people whom worked there asses off to get him where he was, and to what he is now gods rest his brave soul.
@@DarkKatzy013 I don't think you really understand how dangerous it was for John Glenn, and every thing he said was 100% true, yet he sat on top of that rocket anyway. I think that shows so much trust in all the people who built the machine, even at the lowest cost. I also think you don't seem to understand that just because it was the lowest bidder doesn't mean that it is cheap or lesser than any other price put forward, all the estimates were miles away from there final cost anyway.
Anything and everything you buy these days are always produced by the lowest bidder, that's how people and companies make profit. You would be awful if 2 companies say they will produce what you have speced and you choose the most expensive.... they should be the same!
I love how over the year Simon has become less and less serious throughout his videos. I feel Business Blaze has brought out his chaotic neutral personality.
"I'm trying to fly to the moon, but all my rockets land in London" -Wernher Von Braun
u made my day HAHAHAHAHA
..and Antwerp, Norwich, Liege, Lille, Paris.
I'm pretty sure somebody said that about him. I doubt he would remind anyone about his former employer!
@@oxcart4172 I think he said it while working for his former employer
@@perfumedmanatee6235 he didn't command the slave labour
Having stood below a Saturn V multiple times in the past, it’s a pretty awe inspiring thing to see
Simon, the 'lowest bidder' is how the joke, which was coined before the Appollo program, was told. I'm 65 and heard my parents tell the joke around the dinner table then I was a kid. Love your vids, esp Biographics. The detail is soooo refreshing.
A slight correction: at 17:35, you stated that Apollo 11 was our “first trip to the moon,” when that distinction actually goes to Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders on Apollo 8, seven months earlier (Christmas 1968). They were the first humans to orbit the moon, at an altitude of ~60nm. They also had the distinction of being the first humans to be launched aboard the Saturn V. And had no lunar module “lifeboat” with them for the trip. Talk about guts!
Also, another fun fact: the record for highest altitude (distance) achieved from earth goes to the Apollo 13 crew (Jim Lovell again), 248,655 miles, during their swing around the far side of the moon while on their Free-Return Trajectory after the explosion aboard their service module.
And, when mentioning Jim Lovell, I can’t help but mention his Gemini 7 flight (again with Frank Borman), that set an at-the-time endurance record of 13 days, 18 hrs, 35 minutes inside a spacecraft cabin the size of two small phone booths. The man had a truly inspirational career, and is an amazing interview as well - just an all-out nice guy. Incredibly intelligent but also funny as all hell. I’m still holding out hope that I get to meet him someday soon.
I appreciate your diligence to giving both measurement systems. I wouldn't fault you, though, if you wanted to go to using subtitles for conversion if it helped to clean up the spoken script.
I must respectfully disagree. Simon has an awesome British accent. I say, let him speak.
Simon has an accent?! What?!
But Chad, then he'd have to pick one to speak and one to subtitle... and half the world would be pissed off by that decision.
@@VinCoxRides Nah, everyone should understand that there are two systems. I'm an American and believe that the US really needs to adapt to the metric system. If the gov had followed through back in the 70s, the process would be complete by now and we wouldn't be using imperial measurements anymore. We could at least do what the Canadians are doing - making sure both systems are represented at all times, such as speed limit signs in mph and kph.
@@VinCoxRides
Vin, repectfully - only the USA is on the old measurement system. The rest of the world is metric. We do like to think we are that important - but that is clearly NOT half the English speakers in the world!
“Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.” - Wernher von Braun
I have a shirt that says "If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research."
@@Sciguy95 I heard about this quote many many years ago. However, I would be curious to know exactly how he wrote or spoke it. Still, it’s quite humorous, all the same!
Simon: "Smash that like button!"
Me: "The like button is already smashed, it can't be anymore smashed!"
Allegedly.
Legend.
Smash it twice more, then.
I always smash the like button as the video starts too!
The point you made about tolerance, when referring to the pins mounted at the rockets base, further exemplifies the amazing engineering & design that was done without computer assistance.
Watch “In the Shadow of the Moon”. The Apollo astronauts could feel the engines gymballing beneath them to keep the rocket upright.
Apollo 8's crew said they felt the CSM-S-IVB veer sideways from Earth orbit with the start of the lunar trajectory burn.
Do one on Chicago Pile 1, the first nuclear reactor, its a very interesting story with some interesting facts.
The Apollo missions were, by far, the most amazing space project yet, possibly ever, considering the state of technology at the time. An underappreciated project was the Soviet Venera robotic probe landings on Venus. The Soviet space program was replete with failures; they did not even number the missions until one succeeded. In other words, many launch and orbit failures were simply not counted among the Venera missions, 1 - 16. That said, the Soviets did successfully land probes on the hellish surface of Venus, even managing to send back a few pictures. As most of what we can usefully learn about Venus is likely the geology shown from detailed radar mapping, perhaps the best reason to land a probe there is that it is difficult, the same reason the United States landed men on the moon, returning them safely to Earth. The Soviet Venera program was an astounding project.
I would love to see a video just on the Vehicle Assembly Building! Also, I agree with Animal Facts, the crawlers would be awesome too!
Very well explained Simon, thank you. It is one of my fav subjects. It has been done before but I would love to see the same format but talking about Top Fuel Dragsters. I saw how excited you got about the Saturn numbers, Top Fuel cars are the fastest land based vehicle! You wanna stat: "Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 7.2 litres of nitro methane per second;
a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced" Food for thought, cheers mate.
Actually the Thrust SSC is the fastest land based vehicle at 763 mph.
You opened up a can of worms on this one. Literally could do an entire series on JUST space stuff. I'd love to see it all!
talk to Amy Shira Teitel about the saturn V and its predecessors
It blows my mind how many people now days think this was all just a hoax. Think of all the work hours that went into this program, all the families fed, all the college tuitions paid for, and all sleepless nights spent crunching numbers. Look at all the amazing technologies that were invented to make this all happen. It's amazing that we, as a species, accomplished this feat.
The same people that think that an evening watching junk You Tube conspiracy videos substitutes for the education that eluded them.
Yeah do they really think NASA paid half a million people who worked on the project to take the “hoax” to their graves?
Great job as always, Mr. Whistler. How about one on the space suits the Apollo astronauts used? A saga in itself!
My parents watched the Saturn V launches (we lived 45 min. away from the launch complexes in FL) and said that no launch ever shook or sounded like they did. I was born a few years after the last Saturn V launch, so I sadly did not get to experience this even as a small child. I did, at least, get to watch a bunch of other launches over the years.
Fun fact, the VAB is so large, clouds can form inside of the building.
Fun anecdote, my father worked for a contractor inside the VAB and apparently the final test to see if someone was right for a job working there was to carry a document from one office to the other. They didn't tell the person that the two offices were connected by a narrow catwalk that spanned across a yawning gap, with only chain link fencing on the sides of the walk. If they managed to deliver the document successfully, they were hired. Some people apparently were so terrified of heights that they had to pry their fingers off of the chain link fencing they clung to in terror.
Story from my grandfather (who worked for NASA for many years):
A couple engineers were given the task of measuring the RF (amount of radio waves) on top of the VAB so they could know what kinds of interference to correct for, if needed. The three guys climbed up to the top of the building with their radio antennas and measuring equipment and set it all up. Problem was, it was windy up there. One of the engineers volunteered to bring up some 50 lb sandbags to weigh the antennas down so they wouldn't fall over. Once they finished their measurements, the engineer who brought them up refused to bring them back down because they were so heavy. One of the engineers came up with a brilliant idea.
Drop them over the side. An engineer went down, got one of the NASA pickup trucks, and backed it up to the side of the VAB. The engineer who dropped the first sand bag, my grandfather says "should have been a WW2 bomber crewman" because he dropped that sandbag into the back of the pickup truck.
Luckily, the engineer was not in the truck, because the sandbag hit the pickup truck with so much energy that it broke the rear axle in half and wrapped much of the truck around its impact point, utterly destroying it.
"3.665 cubic metres of space" I'm sure its much more than that :D
"The VAB occupies Three point six six five cubic meters..." - that's smaller than my bathroom!
i had to look wayy too far down to find this comment
3,664,883 cubic metres (129,428,000 cubic feet)
He forgot the kilo.....
@ 13:53...glad someone else noticed...a bit concerned this isn't the top comment =P
13:55 The interior cavity is big and tall enough that it can actually rain inside.
13:10. You must absolute do an episode on the Intracoastal Waterway! That was a megaproject!
We will never build anything as majestic as the Saturn V rocket so your video was pure perfection! Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1, the Mercury and Gemini space capsule missions, the Saturn V rocket liftoff to the Moon with the Apollo missions, and the Space Shuttle Atlantis - at one time America’s Space Program was envied and unrivaled. It’s an awesome thought that we will be making frequent trips to the Moon again. There was a time when we had the determination, ability and huge national pride of travelling to our nearest celestial neighbor. I have a model rocket of this mighty ship, so I loved your giddiness! The upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon will be thrilling to see, but nothing like the Apollo missions.
Marvelous! This is 3 years old and I just found this bit of gold. I've already seen or am about to see your content on the JWT and I'm sure I'll find more about Apollo, Gemini, STS (funny name, I.E. they made it sound like some mundane cargo container), Skylab, etc., etc.! All I can say is keep up these great artifacts ---they are truly wonderful, and you are the perfect host for them!
8:45 "I'm a busy dude" - understatement of the year, from the guy who runs half of RUclips hahahaha
"The VAB occupies Three point six six five cubic meters..." - that's smaller than my bathroom!
I'm guessing he toured the Saturn V assembly room at the Hot Wheel's factory.
He forgot the "million. It's 3,665,000 cubic meters in volume.
But somehow still larger than the avg apartment in new york city 🤣
@@richardgreen7225 a cubic km is a billion cubic meters.
@@KCNusach - 1e3^3 = 1e9 ... My bad.
Beard looking awesome at the moment Simon. 💪🏼
It looks darker than normal, might be due to be lighting
I concur, beard game is STRONG... wish I could jump up in it and hunker down for the rest of 2020. I'd feel SO safe!
I got lucky back in 1976. My folks and I went to the Kennedy Space Centre before they started up the Space Shuttle Program, so the tour took you into the VAB building and the Launch Control Centre. The latter was set up so you could watch all the panels light up as they simulated the launch sequence for Apollo 11. It was a fantastic experience.
It seems like Simon is taking over RUclips, and I’m all for it.
Kerbal Space Program made me realize we spent a lot of extra fuel keeping those squishy astronauts from getting all smushed by G forces.
As a child in Florida I still remember one day at the beach when I felt the ground tremble.... I looked up and there was a Saturn V lifting off...
How about the human genome project, a mega project on a tiny scale
I was fortunate enough to work at Space Camp, located on the mainland side of the intercoastal waterway across from Kennedy Space Center. While there the staff was invited to go on a VIP tour inside the VAB -- something we couldn't have possibly afforded on our meager income. Our tour guide had been doing these tours for decades. He advised us that the best way to "experience" the VAB was to keep our eyes down, looking at your feet, until we had walked into the center of the building. He then told us to look up.
To quote Douglas Adams: it gave a better impression of infinity than infinity does of itself.
It gave me a mind bending sensation of trying to grasp something beyond any experience I've ever had. Truly memorable.
@Simon if you ever want to do a video on the Space Transportation System a.k.a. Space Shuttle then I would be happy to help edit your script. I leaned a good bit about it while working at Space Camp.
I was born 3 days before they landed in Redstone arsenal. My mother worked for NASA keypunching for the rocket. Thank you for making a video. It made me smile.
Saturn V: The largest rocket ever made*
*for now
@@VinCoxRides : It was a tragically good bomb, yes.
@@VinCoxRides Who exactly was the N1 bigger?
Keyboard runner it was taller and wider
Keyboard runner The N1 had most thrust, but less payload. The first stage had a larger diameter at the base,M but that quickly tapered down, and it was shorter than the Saturn V
Most likely it will remain as such, with maybe SpaceX super heavy booster with Spaceship being bigger. SLS is similar in size to Saturn V. The thing is, there is no real need or reason to go much bigger as there are more problems than benefits from going that big. Most likely we'd either find another more efficient way to launch things from Earth or, more likely, separate the whole process into 2 parts: from Earth to orbit or the Moon where infrastructure would facilitate the next step of the travel - so in the end there would not be a need to build monstrous rockets for journey to outer solar system.
For instance, you could take Saturn V... and it can't really go beyond the Moon. But take Falcon Heavy, it is smaller than Saturn V but it can go to orbit, refuel, and go way beyond Moon unlike Saturn V.
It is actually easier (and better) to make smaller rockets + space infrastructure than it is to build monstrous rockets that start from Earth.
1:15 - Chapter 1 - Blast off
2:35 - Chapter 2 - The rocket
3:45 - Chapter 3 - Wernher von braun
5:10 - Chapter 4 - Development
7:40 - Mid roll ads
9:10 - Chapter 5 - Stage 1
10:35 - Chapter 6 - Stage 2
11:15 - Chapter 7 - Stage 3
13:05 - Chapter 8 - Assembly
14:35 - Chapter 9 - Launch
17:15 - Chapter 10 - Apollo missions
19:20 - Chapter 11 - End of the road
You the real MVP
I feel like the VAB should have an entire video to itself
The blue landscape painting in the background is very beautiful.
More Stuff Like This!!!! The LEM, Crawler and the Rover would allbe great topics!
I've got a suggestion for you: The Maginot Line
It is amazing to consider that one of the greatest achievements of humanity basically boils down to strapping a few blokes on top of a bomb and setting it off.
Fun side note: it's actually pretty crazy how un-bomb-like rocket engines are. One might be tempted to imagine a big tank of fuel with a steerable nozzle at the end, you light it, and off the rocket goes -- but that's not at all how it works. Here's the problem: the fuel's weight and inertia push it downwards at a pressure of several atmospheres. The explosion in the combustion chamber pushes upwards at a pressure of several hundred atmospheres. What to do? Turbopump. A really absurdly strong turbopump that pushes fuel and oxygen downwards even more ferociously than the gigantic explosion pushes the rocket upwards. The big fireball coming out the end is impressive, but the turbopump is the real MVP.
basically its just very fast plumbing
It’s soon going to be the second largest, but it will always be a legend.
It will always be the largest from its era, and that is what matters. Technology is supposed to improve and exceed past accomplishments.
ruclips.net/video/Vn9BeN8NBaA/видео.html
@@TCV12 might push that to 22... for... obvious reasons...
@@TCV12 I doubt Starship/Superheavy will be ready for orbital flight by the end of '21. It's been a year since the Starhopper 150m hop and none of the full-scale Starship core prototypes have yet to reach their respective goals. MK1 blew up, MK2 was abandoned, SN1 blew up, SN3 buckled, and SN4 blew up. On top of that we had absolutely no trace of Superheavy development until Musk announced that they were constructing a larger highbay a few weeks ago.
@@absalomdraconis Starship is not SSTO so an "orbital" flight isn't on the cards without superheavy.
They have 3 hop milestones before an orbital flight which they can possibly get done before the end of this year (150m, 5km and 20km)
The bottleneck isn't construction of the stages, it's the Raptor development...they need over 30 raptors at the site to have a fully capable first stage...they can build superheavy in weeks (maybe even in less time than the starships due to its simplicity)
The Saturn V will always be first.
Thank you so much. A very nice account of the Saturn V. I was 25 years old when I watched the first humans set foot on the Moon. I was thrilled-I thought we were on our way. Alas, it's been almost five decades since the last Apollo mission, and we have yet to return to the Moon let alone go to Mars. However, like you said at the end, it looks like there is a new interest in space, and that gives me hope.
I was privileged to have been alive when such history was made. Thank you for a respectful episode.
"If there are other parts of the Apollo program that you would like me to cover"
Well, since you mentioned it.....
Magaprojects: The Lunar Excursion Module (No seats?)
Magaprojects: Apollo Command Module (There is a hole in the tip......*wink*)
Magaprojects: Apollo Service Module (Liquid oxygen tanks go BOOM!)
Magaprojects: Lunar Rover (Piano wire for wheels?)
Magaprojects: A7L Pressure Suit (The only piece of clothing to ever touch another planet)
Magaprojects: Westinghouse SEB16101081-701(Live streaming a TV signal from the FUCKING MOON!!!!)
Magaprojects: Apollo Guidance Computer (The first computer to use Silicon IC Chips {Also, someone recently got one of the originals to work, fucking LEGENDS!})
Magaprojects: B-377-SG/SGT Super Guppy (The plane that carried the Saturn V's 3rd stage)
Megaprojects: Crawler-Transporter (From Apollo to the Space Shuttle {I realize I listed this as an idea on another Megaprojects video, but it is part of the Apollo program})
Megaprojects: Apollo Mission Control Center (Holy fuck, that is a lot of CRTs)
Megaprojects: The Vehicle Assembly Building (A building so large, that if you turn off the air conditioning, it starts to rain {indoors})
Megaprojects: Rocketdyne F-1(The powerful rocket engine ever built)
And the History of pad 39A
Vyppaaa11
Very nice list, thank you.
Wait, is it true that part about the vehicle assembly vehicle, because holy fuck
@@carso1500 yes.
last 1 isn't strictly accurate
I always thought it was cool that the space shuttle was booking at 100 mph by the time it cleared the tower
You should cover John Houbolt on biographics. He was ther driving force behind LOR.
The Saturn V in Houston at NASA-JSC is a great visit, especially since they built a structure to protect it. The exhibit alone is worth the visit.
Like you I have always had a fascination with the Apollo missions then the Space Shuttle missions and most recently the Space X missions. Keep up the cool videos!
“A first successful flight of the V2 today. Of course, it landed on the wrong planet.” - Wernher von Braun from his personal journal.
I'm sure the actual quote was, "The V2 was a good rocket, it worked well in all respects, it just landed in the wrong planet".
"It's one small step for (a) man (and) one giant leap for mankind."
The actual statement of Armstrong but was broken in transmission 😐
The "and" doesn't have to be there, it would be a fine example of asyndeton, but the "a" does have to be there. I met Neil Armstrong once. I'll never forget that moment.
10:05 pretty sure that center engine cut off wasn't at 26s ;)
According to the flight report of AS-501 (first Saturn V flight, Apollo 4) S-1C Center Engine cutoff occurred at shortly after 135,52s (at this point the cutoff signal was recieved) [Source: NASA Flight Evalation Report AS-501, 5.4]. I don't own the other flight reports of the Saturn V, but I am pretty sure, that there was never a cutoff that early :)
And the S-IV stage didnt crash into the moon on the last 5 Apollo Missions (well, depends how you count, but i would argue, that Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz were still part of the Apollo programm) and Apollo 12's S-IVB was orbiting the sun (if I remeber it correctly).
And if i want to be picky (yes, i want that): The last Saturn V also didnt carry humans (Skylab 1). Therefore there were 3 unmanned Saturn V launches
(Skylab, Salyut and MIR could be interesting topics for future videos).
Beside these "GIANT" mistakes, i wasnt able to find more.
Really good, well researched and entertaining video. There are not many videos about that topic with so few mistakes.
You are correct. The center engine cut off was typically at about 2 minutes and the other four engines cut off at about 2 1/2 minutes. If a Saturn V lost a single first stage engine at 40 seconds it could continue to climb although it would not be able to put the spacecraft into orbit. As such a cutoff of one engine at 26 seconds would cause the Saturn V to fall back onto the launch pad and explode.
13:53 you forgot about 3.665 cubic *meters* of space. Also it might have been 26s before MECO when they shut down the center engine.
Simon, well done. I am a space geek. born in 58. I have built models of all the rockets and capsules...really have. well done video.
Simon...I have to admit, I am addicted to your videos. Your presentation is outstanding and very entertaining.
Saturn V: "I'm the largest rocket to ever exist."
Starship: *"For now."*
Saturn V maybe surpassed but will always be a legend.
@@DanM012324 Agreed.
Too bad Blue Origin's New Glenn is bigger than Starship even....
@@karlchilders5420 With or without the Superheavy?
Starship's payload to LEO is the same as Saturn V
Apollo program:
USA’s German Nazi scientists were better than the Soviet Union’s German Nazi scientists.
The US got the scientists and engineers - Russia got the technicians who actually knew how to build the rockets - the Scud was very literally a Russian V2. The Redstone was the next generation.
Korolev wasnt german and he was an absolute genius. Sadly he died before he could achieve his dream. Putting a man on the moon.
West Germany beat East Germany to the moon.
@@Manublablabla Korolev was indeed the best space scientist/administrator the world ever had.
I think it was more of a battle of the budgets. Simon nailed it when he said astronauts are scared because their rocket was built by the cheapest contractor 😂
Do a video on the Rocketdyne F1 engines in all its variants through the Apollo program. It's amazing the advancements they made while running these.
My folks traveled to Florida to watch a Saturn V launch, which got delayed so they missed it. My Dad and I stayed up to watch the moon landing on TV. Decades later, I was privileged to fly Neil Armstrong on the company jet. An amazing, historical figure and hero of mine.
Why keep showing the space shuttle while you are talking about the Saturn V?
It's not like there aren't enough clips of the Sat V to use.
Yep noticeably wrong footage.
Totally agree. Too many people believe Space Shuttle went to the moon
Smash that dislike button!
ruclips.net/video/Vn9BeN8NBaA/видео.html
@rwsthedemonking The shuttle videos weren't 4K
13:50 "...it occupies 3.665 cubic meters of space which is definitely enough space to assemble the largest rocket ever constructed."
Lol I noticed that too, he forgot the "million"
You should do an episode on just the Saturn V F1 Engine... a mega project all of its own.
FWIW: The escape velocity of a moon mission was ~24000 mph as you mentioned, which is about once around the earth in 1 hour. This was a very good synopsis of a big megaproject. Thank you.
Ahem *Vehicle* Assembly Building.
To be fair, it was only renamed from VERTICAL to VEHICLE a short 55 years ago.
The one building where the Air Condition MUST be run 24/7 or else clouds form, and rain falls.. Inside the building...
@@kryptyk3 True, but there used to be another building with its own weather - the airship hangar at Lakehurst Naval Air Station.
Do the entirety of launch complex 39
@@rcknbob1 I believe Boeing's main assembly building in Everett Washington also has it's own weather.
Instead of saying “Saturn vee” you just continually showed the space shuttle instead of the Saturn v launches, of which there were many and almost all of them were broadcast and recorded 🤨🤨
He also stated the center engine on the first stage was shut down after 26 seconds. The center engine was not shutdown until just prior to staging.
@Ziva David I agree, it was very poor form indeed.
@@jerrylevin2536 In another video he talks about how you would probably end up falling into the sun if you were to nudge yourself away from the ISS without tether. He's clearly not a rocket scientist, nor a Kerbal Space Program player, I guess some leeway can be given. ;)
(Just like how he doesn't mention anything about circularizing the orbit at Apogee, nor does he mention that von Braun actually had a hard time convincing the US to actually go to the Moon.)