NASA Saturn V 1967-1973 (Apollo 4 to Apollo 17 & Skylab) (Owners' Workshop Manual)

I grew up in the 1960's watching the space program. My imagination was captured by these massive vehicles, belching flame as they soared into the great darkness beyond the blue sky.This book is a wonderfully well-written, highly detailed account of the design, engineering and construction of the mighty Saturn V and all its variants. It goes into just enough detail without being boring, delivered in a lively, conversational style that will keep you turning the pages.I was just struck by one thing. In the chapter on the S-II, the second stage of the rocket, the author goes into detail about the problems faced insulating the liquid oxygen and hydrogen tanks, which needed to stay cold, of course. The North American engineers tried various methods, and then settled on a spray-on foam insulation - the author notes, 'It was a solution that was carried over to the external tank of the Space Shuttle.' What isn't mentioned, and might have been outside the scope of this book, is that same spray-on foam insulation directly led to the loss of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003. It's just one of those things - a successful engineering decision in the mid-1960's that led to disaster 40 years later.It does point up the value of taking a broad view of history and noting how small decisions can have unforeseen effects - no one in 1965 could have imagined this result.I don't know why this detail jumped out at me. It did not affect my enjoyment or appreciation for this book, which I highly recommend.

Love the styling like an old car manual repair book. Lots of excellent details. great coffee table book. Lots of fun. It's a good value.

The Saturn V is one of my favorite subjects, it being the mother of all launch vehicles (to date). Its 13 flights, all successful, stand as some of the greatest voyages of exploration in the history of mankind, and without the elegance and power of the Saturn V it is unlikely the lunar voyages would have been so successful, so soon. The ability of the vehicle to increase payload over its short 6-year flight lifetime shows the robust nature of the von Braun team's design, making possible longer stay times and a fine motor vehicle (see the LRV Haynes Manual) with which to explore.This volume, by the extremely capable David Woods, is an excellent technical description of the Saturn V's engines, stages, and systems. Any true aficionado of launch vehicles should find it accessible. One of Mr. Woods' strengths is explaining complex systems in a simple way, and he doesn't disappoint here, while at the same time providing enough depth for the more advanced. If there's a weakness, it's in the Haynes format holding the author back from breaking out and exploring details more deeply; but this is one big, complicated, badass rocket, and there's only so much that can fit.Littered with well-cultivated diagrams and photographs, well written and thoughtfully organized, my own personal disappointment stems from it not offering more for the modeler of the Saturn V, alas this was not its function. Perhaps best of all, there are no mis-labeled photos of SA-500F in awkward places, further proof this author knows what he's talking about.Highly recommended.

I lived the Space Race, was educated in orbital theory and space issues from sixth grade on, was schooled at Marshall Spaceflight/Redstone Arsenal in 1969 (first moon landing) and involved in the US Army missile ordinance systems. I am now, for 50 years a power system electrical engineer. For all my interest, and direct experience, near the Apollo Program, I found this book to be absolutely full of detail I did not know, very well documented, and written with excellent diagrams, photos, schematics, etc. It is for the technically experienced, but I found it just fascinating. Apollo was one of the greatest achievements of mankind, maybe the greatest ever. The Saturn V Booster made it possible.

A great book about the greatest launch vehicle in human history. The only slightly distasteful thing is the use of SI units (metric) to describe dimensions and numerical values. Woods is a younger man writing for a worldwide audience, possibly, but originally, all the design and development used English (SAE, inches, feet, pounds-per-square-inch, for example.) For us older (much) crowd, we remember when the US still held onto our way of measures and still led the world in most technical things. Great book, though.

This book really brought back memories of the Apollo program, and sitting in front of the TV as Apollo-11 landed on the moon! Good detail, and answered a lot of the usual questions folks have about the Apollo program/Saturn-5. I read it multiple times, and then sent it to my grandson, who hopes to become an aeronautical engineer. Book is well made of high quality materials so should last a good long time. This is a good book to add to your "rocket scientist," book collection. Better than an e-book too, a hardcopy picture just cannot be virtualized.

In preparation for giving a two hour lecture on the Apollo 11 mission at our local observatory, I wanted to learn more about the machine that made it all possible and the incredible engineering required. This book gave me everything I needed for material and much more. I could have lectured for two hours on the F-1 engine alone! There are a lot of new rockets currently being developed by both NASA and the private sector but the Saturn V will always be my favorite.

excellent book for those interested in America 🇺🇸 space history add it to your collection

Excelente para quem quer conhecer melhor o assunto! Livro ricamente ilustrado com muitos detalhes sobre uma das maiores obras da engenharia humana. Recomendo fortemente!!

This is an amazing book for anyone interested in the space race and especially in it's technology

Bel ouvrage nombreux schémas et photos, pour nostalgiques et fans du programme Apollo, les pionniers de la conquête de la lune.

This book covered the whole history in good detail - lots of which I did not know, even listening to Appolo 11 live on Voice of America as South Africa had banned TV! Believe it or not..

Text ist in Fach-Englisch. Das ist eine einzige Schande, dass es sowas nicht in Deutsch gibt. Aber mit etwas Vorwissen kann ich es mir bei meinen eher bescheidenen Englischkenntnissen zusammenreimen was gemeint ist. Ich dachte auch beim Kauf daran, dass diese Art von Büchern auch später z. B. für meinen Enkelsohn vielleicht interessant ist. Viele Fachbücher gibts später nicht mehr. Deshalb: Bücher bleiben lange erhalten, Internetdaten nicht unbedingt