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Saturn 5 rocket was a super heavy-lift launch vehicle which was also certified for human-rating and had been used by NASA between the year 1967 and 1973. Saturn V consisted of three stages and each of the stage was fueled by a liquid propellant. Its development took place due to the Apollo programme which would usher in the human exploration of the Moon and was later also used to launch Skylab, the first American space station.
The Saturn 5 rocket saw nearly 13 launches from Kennedy Space Center with no loss of crew or the payload. As of now i.e. 2021, the Saturn V still remains the tallest, heaviest, and also the most powerful (i.e. highest total impulse) rocket ever brought to operational status, and holds the distinction for the heaviest payload launched and largest payload capacity to low Earth orbit (LEO) of 310,000 lb or 140,000 kg which included the third stage and unburned propellant needed to send the Apollo command and service module and Lunar Module to the Moon.
As the largest production model of the Saturn family of rockets, the Saturn 5 rocker was designed under the supervision of Wernher von Braun at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, along with cooperation from Boeing, North American Aviation, Douglas Aircraft Company, and IBM.
Fun fact, till date the Saturn 5 rocket remains the only launch vehicle to carry humans beyond the low Earth orbit. Although a total of 15 flight-capable vehicles were built, but only 13 were ever flown. Also an additional three vehicles were built for ground testing purposes. In total, 24 astronauts were launched to the Moon in the four years from December 1968 to December 1972.
The Saturn 5 rocker size and payload capacity dwarfed all other previous rockets successfully flown during that time. With the Apollo spacecraft on top, the Saturn V stood nearly 363 feet or 111 metres tall, and was nearly 33 feet or 10 metres in diameter. With full fuel, the Saturn V weighed 6.5 million pounds or about 2,900,000 kg. At a height of 363 feet (111 m), the Saturn 5 rocket was almost 58 feet or 18 metre taller than the Statue of Liberty from the ground to the torch, and 48 feet or 15 metre taller than the Big Ben clock tower.
The Saturn 5 rocket was mainly designed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, although many numerous major systems, including propulsion, were designed by major players as subcontractors. Saturn V made use of powerful F-1 and J-2 rocket engines for propulsion, which were known for shattering the windows of nearby houses when they were tested at Stennis Space Center. Initially the designers decided to make use as much technology from the Saturn I program as possible. As a result, the S-IVB-500 third stage of the Saturn V was based on the S-IVB-200 second stage of the Saturn IB. The instrument unit that controlled the Saturn 5 rocket shared characteristics with the one carried by the Saturn IB.
U.S. proposed to built rockets larger than the Saturn 5 rocket from the late 1950s through out the early 1980s and these would be called Nova. Over thirty different large rocket proposals carried the Nova name, but none were developed practically.
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