S-III

S-III
Country of originUnited States
Used onSaturn C-2 (stage 2)
Saturn C-3 (stage 3)
General characteristics
Diameter27 ft (8.2 m)
S-III
Powered by2 J-2 engine
Maximum thrust400,000 lbf (1.8 MN)
PropellantLOX/LH2

The S-III (pronounced "S 3") was a proposed third stage of the early Saturn C designs for a five-stage Saturn launch vehicle. The Saturn C configurations were based on a "building block" approach, in which the upper stages would be test-flown before the intermediate stages. The S-III was to have been fueled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen and powered by two J-2 engines. The original Saturn C-2 design would have been a three- or four-stage launch vehicle using the S-I plus S-III plus S-IV stages plus, for some missions, S-V.

References

  • Free return trajectory simulation, Robert A. Braeunig, August 2008
  • Bilstein, Roger E. (1980). Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles. NASA History Series SP-4206. NASA.
  • Stuhlinger, Ernst, et al., Astronautical Engineering and Science: From Peenemuende to Planetary Space, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1964.

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.