This 1960s NASA film shows viewers the test flights of the first two Saturn rockets, SA-1 and SA-2. The film follows the rockets from Marshall Space Flight Center to the barge transportation to Cape Canaveral for the test flights. The film begins with footage from August 1961 of a barge carrying SA-1 down what appears to be the Mississippi River on its way to Cape Canaveral. A truck drives onto a dock carrying part of the rocket (01:08). Viewers see the Saturn rocket in one of the buildings at Marshall Space Flight Center. Men check the rocket’s engines. Footage shows the firing of the eight engines, demonstrating the rocket’s thrust power. Basic animation is used to show the fuel delivery for the engines (02:46). A static test of the rocket is conducted in April 1960 (03:21), and the booster successfully fires. At Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 34 (03:42), NASA personnel make preparations to test the rocket. The rocket is positioned on the launch pad; several dummy levels of the rocket are placed on the booster for the test (05:32). The dummy nose cone is moved into place. The Saturn SA-1 stands on the launch pad (06:06). Dr. Wernher von Braun and an associate wait for test flight to begin. On the test day, 27 October 1961, onlookers crowd the nearby beaches to watch the launch. News crews ready their cameras for the event. Liquid oxygen and kerosene are pumped into rocket (07:30), completing the final fueling step. In the control room (08:00), the final countdown begins. The boosters fire and the rocket launches (08:29), flying up into the sky. Onlookers watch as the rocket climbs elevation during the successful test flight. Back at Marshall Space Flight Center, the SA-2 is built for the next round of tests (09:46). NASA employees test the rocket. Viewers see the static test firing of the SA-2 (10:22), then the rocket is prepared for barge shipping to Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex 34’s launch crew prepares for the test flight of the SA-2 (11:08). The rocket is positioned on the launch pad. This test flight includes “Project Highwater,” an experiment to determine the effect of a large volume of water suddenly released into the ionosphere by detonating the rocket in-flight. The film shows a good aerial shot of the rocket on its launch day, 25 April 1962 (12:58). Viewers see the control and data recording rooms. The rocket blasts off and climbs into the sky. Project Highwater is successful as the rocket is detonated in the ionosphere. The film concludes with shots of the development of larger, more powerful Saturn rockets (14:24).
The Saturn family of American rocket boosters was developed by a team of mostly German rocket scientists led by Wernher von Braun to launch heavy payloads to Earth orbit and beyond. Originally proposed as a military satellite launcher, they were adopted as the launch vehicles for the Apollo moon program. Three versions were built and flown: Saturn I, Saturn IB, and Saturn V. The Saturn name was proposed by von Braun in October 1958 as a logical successor to the Jupiter series as well as the Roman god’s powerful position. To date, the Saturn V is the only launch vehicle to transport human beings beyond low Earth orbit. A total of 24 humans were flown to the Moon in the four years spanning December 1968 through December 1972. No Saturn rocket failed catastrophically in flight.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
