If you’re going to the moon, you’re going to need a rocket. A big one. Actually, scratch that, you’re going to need several rockets of varying types, uses, and fuels. This film, produced during the late stages of the design and testing of the rocket systems of the Saturn V and the Apollo Command, Service, and Lunar modules, goes into a detailed, but rather quick discussion on the various engines used in project Apollo, and their testing status up to that time.
By 1967, the Saturn V was ready for it’s first test fligh, and by December 1968, Apollo 8 had flown 3 men around the moon, and safely back to Earth. As we all know, in July 1969, we landed on the Moon for the first time on Apollo 11, and by 1972 we had done so another 5 times, ending at Apollo 17. The final Saturn V would launch the first (and so far only) United States space station, Skylab, into Earth orbit, and 3 more Apollo spacecraft would make the trip to the station, with one last mission docking with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft.
While the Saturn V is long gone from active flight, its legacy lives on in the 30 year Shuttle program, the Orion spacecraft and SLS booster, and in our own day to day lives in more ways than we can imagine.
It all started with the rockets, though, that provided the power to get there to begin with. Enjoy!