54 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATEDGIANT TO CONQUER SPACE
The American space administration NASA is established in
July 1958 as a direct response to the Sputnik shock. Von
Braun, who has become a highly reputed man, is entrusted
with developing the world’s biggest rocket: Saturn. The
rocket is meant to be the vehicle, which will ensure US
space supremacy and make up the backbone of a projected,
manned space programme, which becomes even more
ambitious in 1961.
Speaking to US Congress on 25
May 1961, US President John F.
Kennedy makes a commitment
that the US will soon visit Earth’s
closest neighbour:
“I believe this nation should
commit itself to achieving the
goal, before this decade is out, of
landing a man on the Moon.”
At NASA’s Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville,
Alabama, Wernher von Braun and
his staff are speechless, as they
hear the president speak.
Finally, the dream of his life can be realised. With almost
unlimited resources and a powerful industry to back him up,
von Braun is given the opportunity to design the rocket for
the Apollo moon landing programme.
The prerequisite for the US being able to lift humans out
of Earth’s gravity and bring them the 400,000 km to the
Moon is a huge, powerful rocket booster that can launch
3000 tonnes of necessary equipment at an escape velocity
of 11.2 km/s or 40,000 km/h. That is what is required to
escape Earth’s field of gravity. And this is where Saturn
enters into the picture. The key to conquering the long
distance between Earth and the Moon is a multi-stage
rocket, whose stages are disengaged as the fuel in them is
used. Von Braun already has experience with this type ofrocket. In 1949, he successfully tested the world’s
first staged rocket, the RTV-G-4 Bumper, whose first
stage was, once again, the V-2.
The V-2 had one single engine, whereas the Saturn is
based on a design that includes several engines. The first
stage has five engines, which consume no less than 13 t of
fuel per second, accelerating the rocket to a speed of 8,500
km/h. The second stage also has five engines, which are
powered by liquid hydrogen and oxygen and take only six
minutes to increase the speed to
about 25,000 km/h, after which
the third stage, with only one
engine, takes over with two
ignitions. The first ignition
increases the speed to 28,000
km/h, i.e. the velocity required to
enter into an orbit around Earth.
The second ignition sends the
craft on to the Moon at the
required speed of 40,000 km/h.APOLLO 11 ON THE MOON
On Wednesday 16 July 1969, the
occupants of the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida are
trembling with excitement. The 111-m-tall Saturn V rocket
with the Apollo 11 spacecraft is ready for launch, and as
the three astronauts aboard check their instruments one
last time, millions of people throughout the world are glued
to their TV screens to watch the historic event. Kennedy’s
and not least Wernher von Braun’s vision of landing a man
on the Moon is put to the test.
From the space centre, von Braun watches calmly as
the launch progresses. He has put on his earphones to hear
the countdown, and shortly before lift-off, he bows his head
and says his prayers.
And then it happens. At 9.32 AM, the Saturn V lifts from
the ground in a cloud of white-hot gas and flames. A
deafening thunder, like a thousand thunderstorms, sweeps
the launch area, making the ground tremble. The next
moment, von Braun’s rocket, the Apollo 11 command
module, the LEM lander, and three astroauts at the top
disappear in a black and orange blaze, arching their way
through the air over the Atlantic.
Four days later, on Sunday 20 July, Apollo 11 reaches its
destination, and the Lunar Excursion Module Eagle lands
softly in the Sea of Tranquility. A few hours later, a very
emotional von Braun watches astronaut Neil Armstrong
descend the nine small steps down the ladder from the
LEM, to place his left foot on the Lunar surface.
For 57-year-old von Braun, a childhood dream has
suddenly come true. In 1942, his ground-breaking V-2
rocket travelled an impressive 85 km into the air, knocking
on the door to space, and now, 27 years later, the V-2
rocket’s monstrous successor has managed to send
humans to another world.
And best of all, the mission was not one of war, and the
Saturn V carried no warhead. Instead, as an inscripton on
the Moon still says:
"They came in peace, for all mankind".WERNHER VON BRAUN
ROCKET DEVELOPERMan's
ultimate fate
is no longer limited to
this world.Wernher von Braun
has left his mark on
many rockets. The
jewel in his crown
is the Saturn V
moon rocket.NASA
SPACE ROCKETS