[AR] F-1 (was Re: Re: SpaceX F9 Launch/Update...)
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2015 00:03:14 -0500 (EST)
On Sun, 27 Dec 2015, Derek Lyons wrote:
> ...amazed to hear just how early the first dev contracts for (what
> became) the F-1 and the Saturn were signed -- several months *before*
> JFK's "we choose to go to the moon" speech.
F1 development started (on spec, by the USAF) in *1955* - years before
Kennedy even took office.
Well, kinda. That was small design studies. In 1957 they got some USAF
funding for experimental work on a chamber for 1Mlb thrust. According to
folks who were there, "serious design work" on the real engine didn't
start until the first NASA contract, in Jan. 1959 (three months after NASA
itself came into existence), although the 1Mlb experimental chamber was
fired briefly that March. The first 1.5Mlb firing was in April 1961.
Henry
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