At almost midnight on April 24 at Cape Canaveral’s
Launch Complex 34, the scheduled ten hour
long countdown began for the launching of
the second Saturn test flight vehicle, SA-2.
All automatic propellant loading and sequencing
processes were conducted satisfactorily.
The countdown proceeded without a single technical
hold.
One thirty minute range hold was called, however,
until a ship could clear the range area.
Shortly after 9:00 A.M. on April 25, six months
after the spectacularly successful first Saturn
flight, the countdown for SA-2 had reached
its final seconds.
“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one, zero.”
Ignition, thrust buildup, and liftoff wee
normal.
Objectives of the SA-2 launch included flight
testing of the booster stage and operational
testing of associated launch facilities.
Structural integrity of the Block I airframe
and aerodynamic characteristics were confirmed
and capabilities of the control system demonstrated.
The propulsion system performed normally throughout
powered flight.
All electrical networks and instrumentation
functioned properly with very satisfactory
telemetry signals received.
Maximum velocity of over 3,700 miles per hour
was attained.
The sloshing effects observed during the SA-1
flight was reduced to an acceptable level.
Cutoff occurred at 110 seconds for inboard
engine and 116 for outboard as predicted.
In virtually every respect, the SA-2 flight
was successful.
[Sound of Engines Firing]
SA-2 also carried out a secondary, or bonus,
scientific experiment known as Project Highwater.
At an altitude of sixty-five miles, the vehicle,
whose dummy upper stages carried 23,000 gallons
of water as ballast, was purposely exploded
to investigate the optical, ionospheric, and
meteorological effects which water vapor has
on the high atmosphere.
About fifteen percent of the water evaporated
and the remaining eighty-five tons formed
a cloud of very small ice particles along
the remained of the vehicle trajectory.
Prior to SA-2’s flight, laboratory experiments
in connection with Project Highwater were
conducted at Marshall Center’s Astrionics
Division.
Saturn flight conditions are simulated by
using a vacuum chamber.
To facilitate viewing, coloring is added to
the water in the test tube.
In this experiment, the tube is suspended
in the horizontal position.
A solenoid operated hammer breaks the tip,
releasing the water.
Because of the low pressure, the water evaporates
rapidly.
Cooling is so fast that ice flakes for immediately.
With the tube in this position, water boil
off is slow and sporadic.
In a second experiment, a vial is suspended
vertically, the tip is broken, and a boiling
reaction occurs.
With the vial vertical, water boil off is
constant.
In both experiments, pressure is so low that
the ice which is formed has an unusually low
temperature.
Ice maintained at this temperature is very
hard and elastic.
Three static test firings of the third Saturn
flight vehicle, SA-3, were held at Marshall
this quarter, two of thirty seconds duration
and the final one running 119 seconds.
Defective bearings and main shafts resulted
in excessive turbopump vibration in the first
test.
Defective parts were replaced and pumps and
engines were satisfactorily retested before
the engines were reinstalled.
Later firings encountered no difficulty.
Assembly of the booster for the fourth Saturn
flight test vehicle, SA-4, was completed on
May 28, and the stage is now undergoing pre
static test checkout.
Fabrication of components and subassemblies,
such as this thrust frame barrel assembly
for the fifth Saturn flight booster, SA-5,
first of the Block II series, was carried
out this quarter by Marshall’s Manufacturing
Engineering Division.
A number of new fabrication fixtures, such
as this one for making Saturn spider beam
assemblies, have been placed into service
for Block II booster fabrication.
Looking toward future fabrication techniques
for Saturn or other space vehicles, Marshall
engineers are investigating exploding bridgewires
in a fluid media as a means of forming and
working metals.
In this test, a piece of flat stock aluminum
is loaded onto a female die and securely mounted.
A crane hoists the die and stock into the
forming tank, which is filled with water and
the exploding bridgewire is properly positioned.
The ultra-fast discharge of a large capacitor
bank explodes the bridgewire, creating a high
energy shockwave in the water.
This shockwave, along with hydrodynamic pressure
pulses, forms the metal into the previously
evacuated die.
Advantages of forming materials by this method
lie in the control of forming and relative
ease of operation.
Hayes International Incorporated in Birmingham
is fabricating several Block II booster components,
including fins, lower shrouds, and engine
skirts.
Fin design utilizes the spar, rib, and skin-type
structure, which provides a high degree of
structural reliability.
Three basic fin configurations are used.
Four large fins will be located at ninety
degree intervals around the booster.
Two configurations of stub fins will be located
at right angles to each other between the
large fins.
Three of these have provisions for venting
liquid hydrogen from the vehicle’s second
stage.
In addition to providing flight stability,
these eight fins have vehicle support and
hold down fittings.
The 
lower shroud, which Hayes makes for Saturn
Block II boosters, is basically a corrugated
skin structure with continuous rings supporting
the entire unit.
Republic Aviation Corporation of Long Island,
New York, is another prime example of industry
at work for Saturn.
One of the world’s largest banks of numerical
control machines, which operate from taped
manufacturing instructions, is being put to
use by Republic Aviation for fabrication of
various Saturn components.
The first of the Saturn LOX and fuel tanks
manufactured by Ling-Temco-Vought near Dallas,
Texas, were delivered to the Marshall Center
this quarter.
During transportation, the tanks are protected
from damage by a custom made shipping container.
Marshall personnel thoroughly inspect each
tank prior to acceptance.
Tanks are subjected to an air pressure leak
test with Freon used as a tracer gas.
If leakage exists, an electronic instrument
detects the area of escaping gas.
Delivery of the H-1 engines, both inboard
and outboard, for the SA-5 booster was accomplished
early in April by the contractor, Rocketdyne
Division of North American Aviation Company.
Small model rocket engines, such as the 500
pound thrust H-1 model are being fabricated
by the Marshall Center’s Test Division for
use in gathering data about their real counterparts.
One-tenth scale models of the C-I Saturn’s
booster and S-IV stage have been tested in
the high altitude chamber to study interstage
separation problems.
[Sound of Engines Firing]
Test objectives were to obtain data on pressure
versus interstage separation distances and
to determine the effect of a modified conical
flow deflector on the hot gas back lag.
A one-twentieth scale model of a Block II
Saturn booster was tested in conjunction with
a model flame deflector of the type intended
for use on the launch pedestal of Launch Complex
37, now under construction at Cape Canaveral.
[Sound of Engines Firing]
This test program enables engineers to study
base region environmental pressures, temperatures
and heating rates, as well as flame deflector
effectiveness under hot firing conditions.
The new Block II Saturn booster assembly station
was installed during this report period in
Marshall’s recently expanded Saturn assembly
building, which now contains over two hundred
thousand square feet of floor space.
The tooling ring for the SA-5 booster has
be fabricated and work is scheduled to begin
in July on SA-5 booster assembly.
Selection of International Business Machines,
Incorporated of [Wiego,] New York to develop
the guidance computer for Saturn C-I was announced
this quarter.
For test purposes, the computer will be aboard
the SA-5.
Also slated for initial use on SA-5 is a new
camera eject mechanism which will help to
provide a photographic record of vehicle actions.
Along the spider beam of the SA-5 booster,
eight movie camera pods and paraballoon recovery
packages will be mounted into ejection cylinders.
In this laboratory test at the Marshall Center,
gaseous nitrogen is used as a pressurant.
When sufficient pressure is attained, the
firing switch is closed and the camera pod
and recovery package are ejected.
SA-D, the test vehicle which had provided
vital dynamic vibration data contributing
to the success of the first two flight vehicles,
was removed from Marshall’s Dynamic Test
Stand this quarter, its mission completed.
A new vehicle, SA-D-5, a simulation of SA-5,
will be built at Marshall and later installed
in the stand for testing.
Marshall’s Static Test Stand will soon be
modified to accommodate two Saturn C-I boosters
simultaneously.
The old test position in which Jupiter and
Juno II rockets were once tested has already
been removed in preparation for creating a
second Saturn booster test position in its
place.
Several major construction projects are changing
the Marshall Center horizon.
The nine story central laboratory and office
building, scheduled for completion next January,
will be the center’s tallest building.
Personnel of the Propulsion and Vehicle Engineering
Division are due to begin occupying their
new five story addition in July.
And Manufacturing and Engineering Division
has already moved into its recently finished
addition.
At any division, a group of Chrysler engineers
and technicians are presently receiving orientation
on Saturn fabrication and assembly methods
in preparation for Chrysler’s future C-I
booster manufacturing at Marshall’s Michoud
Operations Plant near New Orleans.
Twenty miles from Michoud at Slidell, Louisiana,
this new $2 million building has been acquired
by NASA from the Federal Aviation Agency.
The building, which contains 53,000 square
feet of floor space, is being occupied by
some 500 Chrysler employees in a move to alleviate
a critical office space problem at Michoud.
At the Mississippi Test Facility site, negotiations
are now underway with some 200 land owners
in the construction area.
The government schedule calls for outright
acquisition of title to the area by July 31.
Construction of Saturn Launch Complex 37 continued
at Cape Canaveral during this report period.
Work includes construction of the mobile 3,500
ton steel service structure,
268 foot high umbilical tower and steel launch
pedestal,
circular concrete blockhouse,
LOX and fuel storage facilities, and servicing
facilities.
Construction of major items is about sixty
percent complete and progressing on schedule.
When finished, complex 37 will have two Saturn
launch positions, utilizing a single control
center and service tower.
At Douglas Aircraft Company, contractor for
Saturn’s S-IV stage, cold flow tests have
been successfully completed at the Sacramento
test facility using a single RL-10 liquid
hydrogen-liquid oxygen engine.
Five additional engines were received this
quarter from Pratt & Whitney.
After acceptance checking at Santa Monica,
the engines were shipped to Sacramento and
installed in the battleship test vehicle in
preparation for the second phase of the Battleship
Test Program.
Modification of test stand Number 2, which
will be used for the all systems testing,
continued on schedule.
The steam system was being installed during
this report period and other necessary hardware
is now available for completion of the stand.
Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, Buffalo,
New York, has been conducting a series of
tests with a S-IV model in an altitude chamber,
looking toward solution of problems which
occur when a portion of the engine’s hot
exhaust gas escapes from the exhaust plume
and flows into the base region.
During this test, which lasts for only five-thousandths
of a second, pressure and temperature measurements
are taken on the base plate of the model using
miniature, highly sensitive instruments.
By ESO electric pressure transducers are mounted
behind orifices in the base plate at locations
where pressure is to be read.
Fragile thermometers consist of a thin film
of metallic paint applied to a quartz button.
When the surface of the button is heated by
the gas, the electrical resistance of the
metallic film changes.
Then, the output voltage signal of the thermometer
denotes the instantaneous temperature of the
particular location under survey.
By observing the time history of this temperature,
the local heating rate is determined.
Fast responding instruments such as these
permit Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory scientists
to study rocket base heating problems in short-duration
experiments.
Such tests are better controlled and much
more economical to perform than conventional
techniques involving continuous operations.
Here is one frame taken from a high-speed
Schlieren motion picture film showing shockwaves
created by the combusted gases exhausting
into the vacuum chamber.
Preliminary flight rating endurance testing
of the S-IV stages RL-10A-3 engine was successfully
completed on June 9 by the engine contractor,
Pratt & Whitney, at West Palm Beach, Florida.
Twenty-six PFRT firings totaling 4,096 seconds
were conducted.
Initial inspection showed the engine to be
in good condition.
A series on non-firing gimbal tests of the
RL-10A-3 using Douglas Aircraft Company plumbing
connections was also carried out.
To test engines and hardware for possible
structural weakness, a stress coat was applied
on metal surfaces to locate areas of structural
yield.
Various gimbal angels and frequencies were
applied to the engine to simulate he worst
expected flight conditions.
Both engine and vehicle plumbing withstood
the tests satisfactorily.
In support of the engine program, facilities
completed at Pratt & Whitney’s Research
and Development Center this quarter included
a new vertical single engine test stand and
a 90,000 gallon vacuum jacketed liquid hydrogen
spherical storage container.
As progress continued this quarter on the
Saturn C-I, shown alongside the Statue of
Liberty in an artist’s conception to dramatize
its great size.
Work was also underway on the even larger
Advanced, or C-V, version of Saturn.
The C-V will stand about 350 feet tall, as
compared to 170 for C-I.
The C-V, shown in model form, will be able
to hurl over 200,000 pounds into a 300 mile
orbit.
The vehicle could use two stages for Earth
orbit missions and three stages for escape
missions.
Launching of the first C-V is expected in
1965.
At Marshall, construction is proceeding on
the Static Test Facility to be used for testing
C-V boosters.
The concrete foundation for the massive stand
plunges over forty-five feet into the Earth.
Including its crane, the new test structure
will be 405 feet tall.
Over 1,000 employees of the Boeing Company,
contractor for the Saturn C-V booster, are
now at work in the Huntsville area.
The company is expected to employ more than
1,500 there during 1962, most of whom will
later be transferred to Marshall’s Michoud
Operations where the giant boosters will be
manufactured.
At North American’s Aviation Space and Information
Systems Division, contractor for the Saturn
C-V’s S-II, or second, stage, work this
quarter included hot flow tests using scale
model engines with a model flame deflector
of comparable scale, to determine optimal
engine orientation for the five engine S-II
configuration.
[Sound of Engines Firing] Secondary objectives
of the tests include determination of various
deflector parameters such as pressure, temperature,
and heat flux profiles, plus investigations
of filmed coolant injection methods.
The scale model engines produce a total thrust
of 5,000 pounds.
The deflector is coated with zinc chromate
paint, which burns away during firings to
reveal areas of probable burn throw.
Fabrication of an S-II stage and transporter
model, designed to verify that the booster
transporter will meet all maneuverability
requirements, is now complete.
Using a road gauge fabricated to the same
dimensions as the S-II transporter, a month-long
survey has been conducted to determine the
feasibility of routes proposed for over land
transportation of the stage from Port Hueneme,
California to North American’s static test
facility at Santa Susana, a distance of some
fifty miles.
A plater model has been made to serve as a
tooling aid for constructing a female layup
dye, which will be used to form bulkhead gore
segments for the S-II mockup.
The sweeping frame employed in this operation
will later be used to sweep the production
tooling master.
Two antenna radiation pattern models of the
C-V Saturn have been completed and one has
been shipped to the Los Angeles Division where
initial testing will be performed until the
S&ID antenna range is operational.
The program will determine the numbers and
types of antennas required for telemetry,
command control, and tracking aids, and will
establish specific locations and angular orientation
of antenna types selected.
A highly significant advance in the Saturn
program occurred this quarter when the mammoth
F-1 engine, five of which will be clustered
for the C-V booster, underwent its first full
duration static tests at full thrust of 1.5
billion pounds.
The test was conducted at the NASA high thrust
area at Edwards, California by the F-1’s
developer, Rocketdyne Division of North American
Aviation.
The ground test was sustained for 151.8 seconds,
approximately flight duration, before being
terminated as programmed.
It was the longest test to date by the only
single rocket engine known to have been operated
above one million pounds of thrust.
