On 2/1/15 1:44 PM, Chuck McCown wrote:
Doesn't it have a main engine thrust greater than Saturn V? (Saturn V used 5 of them didn't it)?
Saturn V was 7.6 million pounds thrust first stage. The Rocketdyne F-1 was huge. Everything I see about the Falcon Heavy says 3.9 or 3.8 million pounds. So... still not as impressive in terms of raw power. But the thrust to weight ratio of a Saturn V was something like 1.2 and it lumbered off the pad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uoVfZpx5dY).
If you consider a similar task of going to the moon: Falcon Heavy will be able to put 16,000 kg of payload into trans lunar injection. The Saturn V could launch almost 44,000 kg to the moon. SpaceX has some conceptual launch vehicles that would top that, but until then the Saturn V is still the world's most powerful rocket brought to operational status.
Now, I wasn't born yet back then, but I'm relatively sure that "economical" wasn't the primary driving force during the space race.
~Seth
