The Saturn V[f] is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon.

The largest production model of the Saturn family of rockets, the Saturn V was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama; the lead contractors for construction of the rocket were Boeing, North American Aviation, Douglas Aircraft Company, and IBM.

[16] Between 1945 and 1958, his work was restricted to conveying the ideas and methods behind the V-2 to American engineers,[12] though he wrote books and articles in popular magazines.

[24] Between 1960 and 1962, the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) designed a series of Saturn rockets that could be deployed for Earth orbit and lunar missions.

[25] NASA planned to use the Saturn C-3 as part of the Earth orbit rendezvous (EOR) method for a lunar mission, with at least two or three launches needed for a single landing on the Moon.

[32] Von Braun headed a team at the MSFC to build a vehicle capable of launching a crewed spacecraft to the Moon.

[35][11] NASA had finalized its plans to proceed with von Braun's Saturn designs, and the Apollo space program gained speed.

[36] The stages were designed by von Braun's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, and outside contractors were chosen for the construction: Boeing (S-IC), North American Aviation (S-II), Douglas Aircraft (S-IVB), and IBM (instrument unit).

[49] In contrast, the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle used on Freedom 7, the first crewed American spaceflight, was approximately 11 feet (3.4 m) longer than the S-IVB stage and delivered less sea level thrust (78,000 pounds-force (350 kN))[50] than the Launch Escape System rocket (150,000 pounds-force (667 kN) sea level thrust) mounted atop the Apollo command module.

This solid rocket motor would have simplified the design by removing the five-engine configuration and, in turn, reduced launch costs.

[64] The S-IVB was the only rocket stage of the Saturn V small enough to be transported by the cargo plane Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy.

[1] That same year, NASA received its largest total budget of $4.5 billion, about 0.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States at that time.

[67] Two main reasons for the cancellation of the last three Apollo missions were the heavy investments in Saturn V and the ever-increasing costs of the Vietnam War to the U.S. in money and resources.

In the time frame from 1969 to 1971 the cost of launching a Saturn V Apollo mission was between $185,000,000 to $189,000,000,[1][2] of which $110 million were used for the production of the vehicle[68] (equivalent to $1.18 billion–$1.2 billion in 2023).

The astronauts considered this one of the tensest moments in riding the Saturn V, for if the rocket did fail to lift off after release they had a low chance of survival given the large amounts of propellant.

Although velocity continues to increase, air density decreases so quickly with altitude that dynamic pressure falls below max q.

Eight small solid fuel separation motors backed the S-IC from the rest of the vehicle at an altitude of about 42 miles (67 km).

[9] After S-IC separation, the S-II second stage burned for 6 minutes and propelled the craft to 109 miles (175 km) and 15,647 mph (25,181 km/h), close to orbital velocity.

[35] On the Apollo 13 mission, the inboard engine suffered major pogo oscillation, resulting in an early automatic cutoff.

A pogo suppressor was fitted to later Apollo missions to avoid this, though the early fifth engine's cutoff remained to reduce g-forces.

The third stage remained attached to the spacecraft while it orbited the Earth one and a half times while astronauts and mission controllers prepared for translunar injection (TLI).

[11] For the final three Apollo flights, the temporary parking orbit was even lower (approximately 107 miles or 172 kilometers), using the Oberth effect to increase payload capacity for these missions.

This gave an energy-efficient transfer to lunar orbit, with the Moon helping to capture the spacecraft with a minimum of CSM fuel consumption.

[79] Seismometers left behind by previous missions detected the impacts, and the information helped map the internal structure of the Moon.

Wernher von Braun's earlier (1964) plans employed a "wet workshop" concept, with a spent S-II Saturn V second stage being launched into orbit and outfitted in space.

[87] Saturn V was also to have been the launch vehicle for the nuclear rocket stage RIFT test program and for some versions of the upcoming NERVA project.

[90] Lack of a second Saturn V production run killed these plans and left the United States without a super heavy-lift launch vehicle.

[93] Wernher von Braun and others also had plans for a rocket that would have featured eight F-1 engines in its first stage, like the Saturn C-8, allowing a direct ascent flight to the Moon.

An Orion crew vehicle launched on Ares I would have docked with Altair, and the Earth Departure Stage would then send the combined stack to the Moon.

[103] The F-1B is to have better specific impulse and be cheaper than the F-1, with a simplified combustion chamber and fewer engine parts, while producing 1,800,000 lbf (8.0 MN) of thrust at sea level, an increase over the approximate 1,550,000 lbf (6.9 MN) achieved by the mature Apollo 15 F-1 engine,[104] On September 3, 2002, astronomer Bill Yeung discovered a suspected asteroid, which was given the discovery designation J002E3.