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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0506.PDF
484 FLIGH Internal otu, 4 April %] Above, a view of the main assembly building at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, showing three Saturn I boosters in various stages of assembly. At right, background, is the SA-4 first stage prior to its journey to Cape Canaveral; at left, the SA-6 booster; in the centre background, the SA-7 booster framework. Below, Saturn SA-4 in its servicing tower at Complex 34, Cape Canaveral, prior to launch. As reported on this page, the main new feature of the SA-4 flight was an engine-out experiment Missiles and Spaceflight FOURTH SATURN LAUNCH The fourth in a series of ten research and development flights planned for the Saturn I launch vehicle took place on schedule from Cape Canaveral on Thursday last, March 28. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration stated that all phases of the flight appeared normal. The main difference in the planned flight, compared with the previous three Saturn launches, was that an engine-out experiment was to be attempted. At 100 seconds after lift-off, one of the in board engines (No 5), was to be shut down. The burning time of the other seven engines was to be extended to compensate for the loss of thrust, and the expected overall performance was about the same as that of an ideal eight-engine flight. Several other changes in the vehicle were designed to contribute to the development of the Block II version (fifth flight and beyond) of Saturn. The fourth Saturn (designated SA-4) was powered by eight H-l engines each developing 165,0001b, giving a total of 1.3m pounds thrust. Second and third stages were inert, ballasted with water to simulate propellant weight. The payload comprised an inert Jupiter nosecone, and the booster carried a propellant load of about 625,0001b. The following details of the SA-4 flight were given by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration prior to the launch:— "The vehicle will be launched on a path 100° east of north. A smooth tilt programme will begin at about the tenth second of flight and continue until about the 105th second, when the rocket will be inclined at 43° from the launch vertical. It will pass through the region of maximum dynamic pressure about 65sec after lift off. Impact will occur about seven minutes after lift-off, some 229 miles downrange. Maximum velocity will be 3,600 m.p.h... . "The overall objectives of the flight are to provide further con firmation of the in-flight performance of the booster engines, the controlling movements of the four outboard gimballed engines,
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