H-1 (Rocket Engine) (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Rocketdyne's H-1 is a 205,000 lbf (910 kN) thrust liquid-propellant rocket engine burning LOX and RP-1. The H-1 was developed for use in the S-IB first stage of the Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets, where it was used in clusters of eight engines. This was the H-1's only use. When Heinz-Hermann Koelle first drew up plans for what would become the Saturn, he selected Rocketdyne's E-1 to power it, with four engines in the lower stage. Rocketdyne was developing this 400,000 lbf (1,800 kN) engine for the Titan missile, and it was the largest engine available in the time frame that ARPA gave Wernher von Braun to develop what was then known as the "Juno V." In 1957, after the launch of Sputnik 1, the U.S. quickly developed plans to start a civilian space agency, which quickly developed into NASA. As the Army had lost interest in large rockets, they agreed to turn over von Braun's ABMA team to NASA, becoming the Marshall Space Flight Center. The handover would take place in 1960.