The Saturn 1 project originated with a U.S. Army requirement for a heavy lift launch vehicle in the late 1950s and was ready for initial test flights shortly after President Kennedy announced the Apollo moon landing program.
The timing was perfect, since the program needed launch vehicles to test Apollo flight hardware a fast as possible. Reliability of launch vehicle systems early 1960s was not good and explosions, guidance problems and propulsion failures were surprisingly common.
Saturn 1 however, in its first iteration, flew 10 times between 1961 and 1965, with no failures. And then the follow-on Saturn 1B flew 9 times, again with perfect reliability. Why? Great design and forward planning.
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*ABOUT END OF THE LINE:*
Manufacturing veteran James Anderton expresses his compelling and unique opinions about the state of the manufacturing sector and the engineering industry more broadly. He shares his thoughts and insights to help engineering and manufacturing professionals navigate through the challenges of world events, the blending old with new technologies, evolving processes, gaps in skilled labour, in an effort to help maximize productivity of their daily operations. Occasionally, he just likes to vent.
James is a former editor of trade publications in the automotive, metalworking and plastics industries with contributions to a wide range of print and on-line publications. He also brings prior industry experience in quality and manufacturing for a Tier One automotive supplier.
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