Bring Back the Saturn V!

Apollo 8 Saturn V launch vehicle SA-503 at Launch Complex 39A. Photo courtesy of NASA.

If not humankind's greatest technological acheivement, then Apollo 11 is definitely the technological feat that united the world, if only for a few fateful days in July of 1969.

The Saturn V was the largest space launch vehicle ever produced by the United States. The rocket was used to propel the Apollo spacecraft to the moon. Immense in size in capability, this great machine was unrivalled in its performance:

7.5 million pounds of thrust at lift-off generated by five Rocketdyne F-1 engines.
250,000 pounds to low earth orbit (LEO).

Unfortunately, after the last moon shot, no new Saturn Vs were produced. The last mission performed by the Saturn V was the launching of Skylab. Now only a couple of museum examples remain, along with all the engineering drawings, lots of photographs, and plenty of memories.

Today, debates have raged on about the future of America's space launch capability. The Space Shuttle, although a technological wonder, is horrendously expensive to operate and can lift only about 55,000 pounds to LEO. Two programs are currently designing the "next generation" of launch vehicle:

DoD's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)
NASA's X-33 and X-34 Reusable Launch Vehicles

EELV is a family of medium lift launch vehicles designed to meet the U.S. Air Force's requirements within strict affordability limits. The X-33 and X-34 are similar to the Shuttle in that they return to earth like an aircraft and can are reusable. Both both of these programs are costing billions of dollars.

Meanwhile, the Titan IVB had its first launch this past February, and was delevoped at relatively low cost due to an evolution of the Titan platform to accommodate increased payload capabilities as opposed to a "clean sheet" design like X-33. The Titan IVB now enjoys the distinction of having the largest lift capability since the Saturn V...48,000 pounds to low earth orbit (LEO).

Ah, back to the Saturn V. Could we have not used the same efficiencies gained in the evolution of the Titan on Saturn? Saturn V lifted almost 250,000 to LEO. If the Saturn production line was kept alive, perhaps the cost of having this massive launch capability would be a fraction of the budget for EELV or X-33.

Let's bring back the Saturn V, with all its payload and cost advantages, NOW, before its too late. Let's accept the sunk cost of EELV and X-33/34 where they are at now, and start reaping the cost and performance benefits of the Saturn V.

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Paul Segura
April 1997