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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1255.PDF
FLIGHT, 5 August 1960 191 SPACE SPECIAL SATURN... Major elements of the main assembly fixture are clarified by this sketch of one end. Trusses 1 link the roller supports 2 for the tool rings 3. After assembly, the walking gears 4 are put on for transport tooJ "ng (3). These rings are segmented for ease of installation and bolted to the eight-armed spider of the prefabricated adaptersection and to the outrigger support frames of the tail section. Once assembled the rings form an integral part of the completeS-l, essential for all handling and ground transportation. Around the assembly station are scaffold structures with hoists and eleva-tors to serve workers at three levels. The complete installation includes optical alignment systems governed by remote push-button controls, and load-cells plus a further optical system for determination of weight and centre of gravity. First part to be installed in the fixture is the prefabricated tailsection, its tool ring being rested on the cradle rollers and held upright from above. To it is added the centre tank, and to theother end of this tank is then attached the adapter section and tool ring, 63ft away. The booster is completed by adding the fourouter liquid-oxygen tanks from above, the complete assembly being rotated 90° at a time, and finally the four fuel tanks. Allspecial equipment is then disconnected from the assembled booster, and the latter, complete with rings, cradles and trusses, is jackedup and put on front and rear tandem-wheel "walking gears" for transport. The first Saturn booster to be constructed was the SA-T static-test vehicle. It was built in building 4707 of the fabrication and assembly engineering laboratory at what was ABMA and is todaythe George C. Marshall Space Flight Center of NASA. The last Those familiar with aircraft manufacture will find the illustrations below instructive. Upper left is the upper spider beam, part of the adapter section, being aligned on its locating fixture; members are 20in deep, in 7075 aluminium. Upper right can be seen manufacture of one of the eight outrigger support frames in its jig. At lower left is the vertical fixture in which the complete tail barrel is assembled. Lower right is an end view of the tail section; arrows show thrust pads for an inner engine and an outer engine
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