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  Mercury - Gemini - Apollo
  Apollo-Saturn: "Impossible to recreate"

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Author Topic:   Apollo-Saturn: "Impossible to recreate"
Tykeanaut
Member

Posts: 2216
From: Worcestershire, England, UK.
Registered: Apr 2008

posted 11-26-2009 07:43 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Tykeanaut   Click Here to Email Tykeanaut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have just finished reading "The Man Who Ran the Moon" by Piers Bizony. If I may quote from page 235:
After more than 30 years, it's impossible to recreate Apollo's giant Saturn rockets and gantries. All the factory tooling was scrapped, and even the original drawings have been lost.
Is this really true? It's like forgetting how to invent the wheel!

micropooz
Member

Posts: 1532
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 11-26-2009 08:07 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for micropooz   Click Here to Email micropooz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Yup, it's true. Even the tooling for building the Shuttle Orbiter is long gone as well.

GACspaceguy
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Posts: 2516
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 11-26-2009 08:10 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for GACspaceguy   Click Here to Email GACspaceguy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Very much true. Unlike the wheel the Saturn V and its support equipment is very complex, so the comparison is not valid.

Like any complex machine it is more than just the documented engineering drawings and plans that are required to build it. It is also the expertise and nuances of the skilled craft persons to create the machine. That talent base is gone. I believe it would be simpler to create a new vehicle of comparable specifications than to bring a 45 plus year design out of moth balls.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-26-2009 08:19 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
...and even the original drawings have been lost.
This is an urban legend: the plans for the Saturn V and related hardware are stored on microfilm/fiche and in some cases, hard copy, in multiple archives, including at the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Apolloman
Member

Posts: 152
From: Ledignan, Gard (30), France
Registered: Mar 2009

posted 11-26-2009 09:30 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Apolloman   Click Here to Email Apolloman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I confirm writes Robert Pearlman: During an exchange of mail with Bill Ayrey (ILC Dover), it had written to me that (in the case of spacesuits) documents (materials used, dimensions) were on microfilm.

carmelo
Member

Posts: 1051
From: Messina, Sicilia, Italia
Registered: Jun 2004

posted 11-26-2009 08:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for carmelo   Click Here to Email carmelo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Recreate Saturn and Apollo is possible, but would be so expensive that is more simple and economic build another rocket and another capsule.

But in principle with many, many, many money and many, many, many efforts, yes we can.

Apollo Redux
Member

Posts: 346
From: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Registered: Sep 2006

posted 11-27-2009 04:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Apollo Redux   Click Here to Email Apollo Redux     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
To say it's "impossible to recreate", is to say it's impossible to land men on the moon.

The thing is, the scale of economy demands that the next heavy booster be more capable.

NAAmodel#240
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Posts: 315
From: Boston, Mass.
Registered: Jun 2005

posted 11-30-2009 08:21 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for NAAmodel#240   Click Here to Email NAAmodel#240     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Think of the Saturn V like a Samurai sword. The craftsmanship of the injector plate of the F1 engine is lost like the artistry of folding steel, shaping, and quenching an ancient Japanese weapon. It's not that we won't be able to accomplish what NASA did with the Saturn V. It's just the means to achieve the goal is no longer reproducible.

carmelo
Member

Posts: 1051
From: Messina, Sicilia, Italia
Registered: Jun 2004

posted 11-30-2009 10:25 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for carmelo   Click Here to Email carmelo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Is obvious that a "new" Saturn V not would exactly the same. But would found solutions for the parts unplayable.

At the end would work, but the costs and the efforts be more high that build a new rocket.

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