Author Topic: Saturn V - quick question about performance  (Read 1930 times)

Offline BertieSlack

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Saturn V - quick question about performance
« on: October 04, 2017, 01:25:46 AM »
When someone claims that the Saturn V wasn't powerful enough to do what we all saw it do, I usually ask them how they think Skylab got into orbit. Does anyone know, in terms of lifting capability, which is more impressive:

- putting a moon-capable SIV-B with CSM and LM into a parking orbit of 100 miles altitude
- putting Skylab into an orbit more than twice as high as the Apollo parking altitude without a third stage burn

I've seen Bob Brauenig's excellent Saturn V launch simulation relating to the Apollo 11 mission, but can anyone do a quick comparison of the two scenarios?

Offline bknight

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Re: Saturn V - quick question about performance
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2017, 09:11:05 AM »
I'm not sure if this is what you are seeking but:
Skylab-  195300 lb (88600 kg) at vel ~7.77 km/s
Apollo stack-  247000lb (112000 kg) at vel 7.8 km/s

Skylab - ~2.67 10^6 J
Apollo - ~3.4 10^6 J

So I would say that Apollo KE was slightly higher than Skylab.

Truth needs no defense.  Nobody can take those footsteps I made on the surface of the moon away from me.
Eugene Cernan