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Author
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Topic: Photo of the week 1066 (April 5, 2025)
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heng44
Member Posts: 3803
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 04-05-2025 02:52 AM
   
 A beautiful shot of the Saturn V facilities checkout vehicle AS-500F at Launch Pad 39A in June 1966. |
East-Frisian
Member Posts: 685
From: Germany
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 04-05-2025 03:12 AM
Great shot. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 4091
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 04-05-2025 07:53 AM
This is interesting, from a 2021 NASA article on the AS-500F rollout: Managers scrapped plans to roll out Saturn 500F to test Launch Pad 39B in 1967 since all objectives were met in the tests at Pad 39A. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 1393
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 04-05-2025 10:37 AM
Never get tired of good Saturn V images, as long as it is vertical and complete. Beautifully proportioned machine. It has an elegance far beyond that of Starship/Super-Heavy or the SLS. |
hlbjr
Member Posts: 588
From: Delray Beach Florida USA
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 04-06-2025 03:59 AM
Whatever ultimately happened to this vehicle? Do any of its parts still exist? |
PeterO
Member Posts: 463
From: North Carolina
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 04-06-2025 07:41 AM
This Wikipedia article details the fates of the stages: The first stage, S-IC-F, was returned to the Marshall Space Flight Center and was stored there for an extended time (possibly for a few years). The stage was eventually scrapped to make more room.The second stage, S-II-F, was reassigned as a dynamic test stage at Marshall in early 1967 as S-II-F/D for use in the dynamic test vehicle SA-500D, after its predecessor was destroyed in an accident on a test stand. It is now displayed as part of the Saturn V at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. The third stage, S-IVB-500F, was originally manufactured as a dummy third stage for the smaller Saturn IB and was used to fit-check the two Saturn IB launch complex facilities (LC 34 and LC 37). It was then modified to meet the Saturn V third stage configuration for use on the SA-500F. In 1970, it was modified into the Skylab Workshop Dynamic Test Stage and was shipped in December to the Johnson Space Center for dynamic testing. In June 1971, it was shipped to Marshall for Skylab workshop static testing; and in June 1974 it was returned to KSC. It was scrapped in the 1980s or 1990s, with a possible sighting in 1986. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 4091
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 04-07-2025 11:37 AM
There were two AS-500F rollouts and two rollbacks, because the vehicle had to be moved to the VAB on June 8 for a few days to avoid Hurricane Alma. |
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