Page 20 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Modern launchers
It was not until the Apollo Moon landing program that launchers were designed specifically for nonmilitary space use. The most famous of these launchers was called Saturn. Saturn 1B was made of two stages, and Saturn V had three stages. It was Saturn V that was eventually used for the lunar (Moon) missions.
Saturn V was 110.6 metres high and weighed over 2,700 tonnes when it was launched. Its payload was impressive for the time. It could put 104 tonnes of payload into Earth orbit and could propel 45 tonnes at a velocity great enough to escape from the Earth.
By the 1960s other countries
had developed launchers capable of putting satellites (but not manned spacecraft) into orbit. France,
China, and the United Kingdom all developed such launchers. European launch technology was eventually pooled under the heading of the European Space Agency (ESA), and the launcher Ariane was developed. Ariane is a three-stage vehicle. It uses solid propellants in its first two stages but uses a cryogenic engine (an engine that burns hydrogen and oxygen fuels) in the third stage. It can launch payloads of up to 4.7 tonnes, which means it can launch two “standard” satellites at a time.
Apollo spacecraft
Lunar module Instrument unit
Third stage
Payload
120
115
110
105
100
95
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
5
0
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0 metres
20
 The giant Saturn V launcher.
Second stage
First stage