EDITORIAL INFORMATION

A classic study of the development of the Saturn launch vehicle that took Americans to the Moon in the 1960s, this book was first published in 1980 and still much in demand. This Saturn rocket was developed as a means of accomplishing President John F. Kennedy's 1961 commitment for the United States to reach the Moon before the end of the decade. Without the Saturn V rocket, with its capability to send as payload the Apollo Command and Lunar Modules-along with support equipment and three astronauts-more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth, Kennedy's goal would have been unrealizable. Stages of Saturn not only tells the important story of the development of the Saturn rocket, and the people who designed and built it, but also recounts the stirring exploits of its operational life from orbital missions around Earth testing Apollo equipment to the Moon and back.

One of the NASA History Series, Stages to Satun is one of the finest official histories ever produced. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the development of space flight in America, and the course of modern technology.

(Extracted from the back cover.)

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Contents/Illustrations.

-Foreword.

-Preface.

-Acknowledgments.

-I. Prologue.

-1. Concepts and Origins.

-II. The Saturn Building Blocks.

-2. Aerospace Alphabet: ABMA, ARPA, MSFC.
-3. Missions, Modes, and Manufacturing.

-III. Fire, Smoke, and Thunder: The Engines.

-4. Conventional Cryogenics: The H-1 and the F-1.
-5. Unconventional Cryogenics: RL-10 and J-2.

-IV. Building the Satun V.

-6. From the S-IV to the S-IVB.
-7. The Lower Stages: S-IC and S-II.
-8. From Checkout to Launch: The Quintessential Computer.

-V. Coordination: Men and Machines.

-9. Managing Saturn.
-10. The Logistics Tangle.

-VI. Step by Step.

-11. Qualifying the Cluster Concept.
-12. The Giant Leap.

-VII. Epilogue.

-13. Legacies.
-Appendix A - Schematic of Saturn V.
-Appendix B - Saturn V Prelaunch-Launch Sequence.
-Appendix C - Saturn Flight History.
-Appendix D - Saturn R&D Funding History.
-Appendix E - Saturn V Contractors.
-Appendix F - Location of Remaining Saturn Hardware.
-Appendix G - NASA Organization During Apollo-Saturn.
-Appendix H - MSFC Personnel During Apollo-Saturn.
-Notes.
-Sources and Research Material.
-Index.

OUR REVIEW

Some of the works published by the NASA History Office, given their importance, should be present in the library of any lover of astronautics worthy of the name. Stages to Saturn is one of these works, for a long time out of print (it was originally published in 1980) and which has now been reprinted in soft cover format.

Roger E. Blistein, the author, provides us with a technological history used for the launching of Apollo ships. This is no doubt an already classical study in which we can enter the unending paths that led to the creation, design, development and operation of the giant Saturn rockets, a technical marvel of the sixties and of the space program of all times.

This is a book in which the author spares us from getting immersed in the complex labyrinths of technical documentations, giving us, on the other hand, a fascinating history in which the famous yet nevertheless almost unknown space mammoth comes to be an almost living being, with its own personality.

The work reviews the origins of the system, the development of the engines in each one of their stages, the changing aspect and configuration of the rocket throughout the years, the personnel that participated in the project, the missions, etc. Also numerous statistical data, tables and photographs of those times are presented to us, most of them little known to the general readership so far.

In summary, the definite study on the Saturn rockets that opened up the door to the Moon and inaugurated for the NASA the stage for the great space stations.