Saturn C-3

Saturn C-3

Proposed Saturn C-3 and Apollo configuration (1962)
Function	LEO and Lunar launch vehicle
Manufacturer	Boeing (S-IB-2) North American (S-II-C3) Douglas (S-IV)
Country of origin	United States
Cost per launch	43.5 million
Cost per year	1985
Size
Height	269.0 feet (82.0 m)
Diameter	320 inches (8.1 m)
Mass	2,256,806 pounds (1,023,670 kg)
Stages	3
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass	100,000 pounds (45,000 kg)
Payload to GTO
Mass	50,000 pounds (23,000 kg)
Payload to TLI
Mass	39,000 pounds (18,000 kg)[1]
Associated rockets
Family	Saturn
Derivative work	Saturn INT-20, Saturn INT-21
Comparable	Falcon Heavy New Glenn Vulcan
Launch history
Status	Proposed (1961)
Launch sites	Kennedy Space Center, SLC 37 (planned)
First stage – S-IB-2
Height	113.10 feet (34.47 m)
Diameter	320 inches (8.1 m)
Empty mass	149,945 pounds (68,014 kg)
Gross mass	1,599,433 pounds (725,491 kg)
Powered by	2 Rocketdyne F-1
Maximum thrust	3,000,000 pounds-force (13,000 kN)
Specific impulse	265 sec (sea level)
Burn time	139 seconds
Propellant	RP-1/LOX
Second stage – S-II-C3
Height	69.80 feet (21.28 m)
Diameter	320 inches (8.1 m)
Empty mass	54,978 pounds (24,938 kg)
Gross mass	449,840 pounds (204,040 kg)
Powered by	4 Rocketdyne J-2
Maximum thrust	800,000 pounds-force (3,600 kN)
Specific impulse	300 sec (sea level)
Burn time	200 seconds
Propellant	LH2 / LOX
Third stage – S-IV
Height	61.6 feet (18.8 m)
Diameter	220 inches (5.6 m)
Empty mass	11,501 pounds (5,217 kg)
Gross mass	111,500 pounds (50,600 kg)
Powered by	6 Rocketdyne RL-10
Maximum thrust	90,000 pounds-force (400 kN)
Specific impulse	410 sec
Burn time	482 seconds
Propellant	LH2 / LOX
[edit on Wikidata]

The Saturn C-3 was the third rocket in the Saturn C series studied from 1959 to 1962. The design was for a three-stage launch vehicle that could launch 45,000 kilograms (99,000 lb) to low Earth orbit and send 18,000 kilograms (40,000 lb) to the Moon via trans-lunar injection.^[2][1]

U.S. President Kennedy's proposal on May 25, 1961, of an explicit crewed lunar landing goal spurred NASA to solidify its launch vehicle requirements for a lunar landing. A week earlier, William Fleming (Office of Space Flight Programs, NASA Headquarters) chaired an ad hoc committee to conduct a six-week study of the requirements for a lunar landing. Judging the direct ascent approach to be the most feasible, they concentrated their attention accordingly, and proposed circumlunar flights in late 1965 using the Saturn C-3 launch vehicle.^[3]

In early June 1961, Bruce Lundin, deputy director of the Lewis Research Center, led a week-long study of six different rendezvous possibilities. The alternatives included Earth-orbital rendezvous (EOR), lunar-orbital rendezvous (LOR), Earth and lunar rendezvous, and rendezvous on the lunar surface, employing Saturn C-1s, C-3s, and Nova designs. Lundin's committee concluded that rendezvous enjoyed distinct advantages over direct ascent and recommended an Earth-orbital rendezvous using two or three Saturn C-3s.^[3]

NASA announced on September 7, 1961, that the government-owned Michoud Ordnance Plant near New Orleans, Louisiana, would be the site for fabrication and assembly of the Saturn C-3 first stage as well as larger vehicles in the Saturn program. Finalists were two government-owned plants in St. Louis and New Orleans. The height of the factory roof at Michoud meant that a launch vehicle with eight F-1 engines (Nova class, Saturn C-8) could not be built; four or five engines (first stage) would have to be the maximum (Saturn C-5)

This decision ended consideration of a Nova class launch vehicle for a direct ascent to the Moon or as a heavy-lift companion with the Saturn C-3 for Earth orbit rendezvous.