This is the F-1 rocket engine used in the first stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle, which launched astronauts to the Moon in the Project Apollo program. The first, or S-IC stage, of the Saturn V, was fitted with five F-1s for a total lift-off thrust of 7.5 million pounds. The fully-fueled Saturn V weighed 6.5 million pounds.
The F-1 used RP-1, a type of kerosene, and liquid oxygen as the propellants. The F-1's 2,500 pound turbopump pumped in the propellants at 42,500 gallons per minute. The engine was regeneratively-cooled.
This engine was donated by Rocketdyne Division, Rockwell International.
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
United States of America
PROPULSION-Rocket Engines
Rocketdyne Division, Rockwell International
Overall: 196 long x 54 in. diameter (497.84 x 137.16cm)
Other: 131 in. wide (332.74cm)
Cooling tubes (178 tubes), Inconel X; injector, stainless steel and copper; propellant lines, aluminum; valves, aluminum and stainless steel
A19760765000
Gift of Rocketdyne Division, Rockwell International
National Air and Space Museum
Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.