An Illustrated Chronology of the NASA Marshall Center and MSFC ...

APRIL- JULY 1962
NASAHeadquartersannouncedon Apfll 18 that the highestnationalpriority(DX)had
been approvedfor the Apollo, SaturnC-I, and Saturn C-5. The pflority Includedall
stuges,engines,facilities,and rehlted constructlo, for production, test, research,launch,
andinstrumentation[681.
NASAlaunchedthesecondSaturnflightvehicle,the SA-2,from(:apeCanaveralon April
25. As with the SA-I, the vehicle was launchedwithout a technicalhold duringthe
IO.hourcountdown.Thisvehicleh.d u secondarymission.Afterfirststageshutoffat 65
milesaltitude,the watu_'-I_lled tipperstageswere exploded,dumping95 tons of waterIn
the upperatmosphere.The massiveIce clo.d producedrose to a heightof 90 miles.The
experiment,called Proj0ctHigh Water,was performedto Investigatethe effectson the
Ionosphereof the suddenreleaseof such a groatvolume of water.Thisexperimentdid
not interferewith the majorgoal of the flight which was achievedwhen the first.stage
engines burnedout 116 secondsafter launch.Everyphaseof the flight was considered
successful[69-721.
I. mid-Aprilreconstructionof the WheelerDam Lock on the TennesseeRiver was
completed;transportationof Saturn flight stagescould be made without landdetour
1731.
On May 26 Rocketdynesuccessfullyconductedthe first full-thrust,long-durationF-I
enginetest 1741.
In mid-MayMSFCdirectedDouglasto producea 260-Inch-diameterS-IVBstage. The
increaseof 40 inchesover the initially planneddiP.meterpermitteddevelopmentof a
more optimum size stage. Also duringMay the Centerdecided to increaseS-ll stage
lengthfrom 75 feet to 81.5 feetand decreasethe S-ICstagelengthfrom 141 feet to 138
feet 1751.
On June 5 MSFC contracted to modify the SaturnC-I booster static test standat MSFC.
The stand, originally built to test the Redstone and Jupiter missiles and later modified
for Saturn testing, would provide test positions for two C-I first stages [761.
More than 25 000 MSFC employees and relativesvisited the MSFC Space Museumduring
"Family Day." The occasion was the second birthdayof MSFC [77].
During June bids were requestedfor construction of a static test stand to captive flre the
Saturn C-5 booster, The stand, to be located at MSFC, would provide handling
equipment and thrust restraint for boosters up to 178 feet in length, 48 feet in diameter,
and with thrust of up to 7.5 million pounds, including a crane at the top, the tower
would stand 405 feet high, more than twice as tall as the current Saturn C-I booster test
stand [78].
As of Independence Day, July 4, a total of 1239 technical, administrative,and support
personnel were employed at the MSFC Mtchoud Operations. Fifty-four percent of the
employees had been hired from rite New Orleansarea [79).
45