posted 09-27-2019 09:51 AM               

Four hold-down arms had to secure the Saturn V firmly on the mobile launcher during assembly, transportation to the launch site, and its stay on the launch pad in all kinds of weather. These devices also had to have the strength to hold down the launch vehicle after ignition, until all engines registered full thrust. Then they automatically and simultaneously released the Apollo-Saturn for liftoff.

posted 09-27-2019 07:15 PM               

The MLP and tower were transported by the crawler-transporter between the VAB and launchpad.

The MLP and tower were positioned within the VAB, where the Saturn V rocket and Apollo Command and Service modules were stacked together as a huge assembly. When completed, The MLP, tower, and rocket were transported to the launch pad, where the crawler-transported positioned the assembly on top of huge plinths, and the Crawler-transporter was removed from below.

The launchpad has a huge flame trench designed to carry the exhaust away from the 5 massive F1 engines, which pass through the MLP cutout section, and was positioned above the vee-shaped flame deflector.

Study of the Saturn V first stage base will reveal four massive structural forgings that made up the attach points for the rocket, designed to hold the assembled weight of a fuelled Saturn V vehicle. These structural members were also capable of restraining the vehicle during launch when all five F-1 engines were running in anger. The structural loads that pass through these attach points were incredible forces.

The hold-down arms clamped the rocket at these structural members.

In addition to this, steel bolts restrained the rocket to the hold-down arms. These bolts were designed to be extruded through the structural members, attenuating the sudden release of the rocket being forced skyward by 7.5 million pounds of rocket motor thrust.