Table 3.9

Number of Engine Tests For the Thor and RS-27 Progranss1955 Through 198 3

Test Stand Use

XLR79-NA-S

(MB-1 and 2)

XLR79•NA-7

(MB-3)

LR79-NA-9

(MB•3-L)

LR79-NA- 1 1(MB-3 .2)

YLR-NA-1 3(MB-13) RS-27 Tulds

Tes t

Stands From To R&D Prod. R&D Prod. R&D Prod. R & D Prod. R&D Prod R&D Prod. R&D Prod.

Gran dTotal

Alfa 2 Sept . 6. 1957 Aug. 29,1958 54 0 98 0 83 0 34 0 0 0 0 0 269 0 269

Alfa 3a Nov. 18, 1955Feb. 19,1969

July 16.195 7

Sept . 16,198394 87 0 0 0 20 0 0 81 126 30 282 205 515 720

TRE 1 Nov. 29,1955 March 2,1957 275 90 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 275 90 365

THE 3A Feb. 5 . 19,17 Aug . 7,1959 50 86 0 89 4 7 0 9 0 0 0 0 54 191 245

THE 3B May 4 . 1957 Nov. 18,1958 9 12 10 26 0 8 64 0 0 0 0 0 83 46 129

Delta IA Feb . 27,1957 April 2,1963 80 0 12 3 105 100 35 28 0 0 0 0 232 131 363

Delta 13 May 23. 1957 April 6,1963 16 0 0 0 62 138 199 46 0 0 0 0 277 184 46 1

Delta 2A July 30 . 1957 1959 90 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 90 0 90

Delta 3B Oct . 23, 1957 Oct. 16,1958 19 0 166 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 185 0 185

Bravo 3A Jan. 26,1959 Feb. 5, 1959 0 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 1 2

Subtotals SSFL 687 275 298 118 254 273 332 83 81 126 30 282 1,682 1,157 2,839

ERB 1-38 March 16. 1956 Dec. 31,1959 417 85 115 7 181 0 268 0 0 0 0 0 981 92 1,07 3

Neosh olA

Dec. 12.1957 Oct. 24,1959 10 9 2 46 0 321 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 376 388

Neosho2A

March 20, 1959 May 19,1960 0 0 0 62 0 335 0 232 0 0 0 0 0 629 629

Neosh o1B

June 6,1958 July 17,1962 6 0 0 26 0 246 0 34 0 0 0 0 6 306 31 2

Neosh o2B

Aug. 16, 1962 May 10 . 1968 0 0 0 0 12 144 62 96 14 476 0 0 88 716 804

Subtotals Other 433 94 117 141 .193 1 .046 330 362 14 476 0 0 1,087 2.119 3,20 6

Totals 1,120 369 415 25 91

447 1-119 662 445 95 602 30 282 2,769 3,276 6,04 5

Rererence: Wilson (1984) . p . 25 . for all but the Delta 2A data. The Delta 2A references were Reed (1958) for 1957 data on the S3X engine, and R1C ono date (b)) for 1958-1959 data on the S3X engine.

aThe Affa 3 data is presented up through September 1983. However. the Alfa 3 test stand has continued to be used as a Thor/RS-27 test stand to the present day .

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During the period March through June 1959, fourteen thrust chamber tests

(Nos . 39036-39052) were conducted "under the sponsorship of NASA to provide

combustion stability data for the F-1 thrust chamber program . Consent to use E-1 thrust

chamber hardware for this effort was obtained from the E-1 sponsor, WADC . All

operating and damage replacement costs in support of this effort were funded by the E-1

sponsor, NASA" (NAA, 1960a, p . 128) . In addition, the 10 mainstage tests

(Nos . 39043-39093) occurring from April through December 1959, "were NASA

sponsored " (NAA, 1960a, p. 137) .

3 .6 H-1 Program

The H-1 rocket engine was developed and produced by Rocketdyne, primarily under the

technical direction of NASA/MSFC, to be used both in clusters on large launch vehicles

and as a single unit . -It is a LOX/RP-1 single=start engine (see Figure 3-8) that in its last

stage of development produced 205,000 lb thrust at sea level (lacobellis, 1966) . The

propellants are pumped to the thrust chamber by a turbopump driven by a gas generator

utilizing a fuel-rich mixture of the same propellants .

A cluster of eight H-1 engines powered the first stages of the Saturn 1 and Saturn lB

launch vehicles. Study of this concept of using engine clusters to launch large payloads

into space first began in April 1957 with the U .S . Army Ballistic Missile Agency

(ABMA) . The concept was judged to have merit by DoD's Advanced Research Projects

Agency (ARPA), and on August 15, 1958, ARPA authorized the Army team to build a

full-size vehicle. Less than a month later, on September 11, 1958 [RIC, no date (d)], the

Rocketdyne Division of NAA signed a contract with ABMA to develop the propulsion

system for the large launch vehicle . The propulsion system and the launch vehicle came

to be known as "H-1" and "Saturn", respectively .

When the ABMA Development Operations Division was transferred to the newly created

NASA to form the George C . Marshall Space Flight Center, responsibility for the Satur n

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went with it . The Saturn program transfer occurred on July 1, 1960 (Isakowitz, 1991,

pg . 289) .

The first engine test occurred in December 1958. R&D and production continued for

10 years, with the last engine delivered in the third quarter 1968 . The production engine

models, serialization, and number of engines built are shown in Table 3-11 .

Production of the early H-1 engines (e .g., the 1000 series) occurred at Canoga. In early

1961, however, much of the H-1 program shifted to the production facilities at Neosho,

Missouri [RIC, no date (g)] and thereafter, Canoga was used only for producing the

initial set of engines in a particular series . For example, engines H2001-H2015 and

H5001-H5016 were produced at Canoga, while H2016-H2043 and H5017-H5045 were

produced at Neosho [RIC, no date (e)] . Since engines were tested near their own

production facilities, the H-1 engine testing at SSFL dropped significantly in the early

1960s, as the program shifted to Neosho . Table 3-12 summarizes the total number of

tests at Neosho and SSFL for the H-1 engine, as well as estimates the number of tests

that occurred just at SSFL .

SSFL testing of the H-i engines occurred only in the Canyon area [RIC, no date (g) ;

Appendix A)], but at all three of Canyon' s test stands: THE 1, THE 2, and THE 3B .6

It is estimated that 4,047 tests, or 56 percent of the 7,257 total tests, occurred in the

Canyon area during the period 1958 through 1968 . No mention of H-1 thrust chamber

component testing was found during the SSFL records search . Bob Biggs (Appendix B)

suggests that this type of testing may not have been performed because the H-1 thrust

chamber was substantially similar to that already used in the Jupiter, Thor, and Atlas

booster programs .

'1TRE 3A is assumed to have been inactive during this time period because no reference toTHE 3A was noted in the documents researched .

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Table 3-11H-1 Production Engine Recapitulatio n

Thrust Number ofModel (lb) Engines Built Serialization

H1 165,000 59 H1001-H1059188,000 1 H1060

H1A 188,000 43 H2001-H2043

HIB 188,000 45 H5001-H5045

H1C 200,000 24 H4044-H4067205,000 47 H4068-H4115

N/A! NIAa H4116-H4129

HID 200,000 25 H7046-H7070205,000 48 H7071-H711 9NIAa NIAa H7120-H7133

Sum = 292

Reference : RIC, no date (d) .'Series terminated May 9, 1968 ; engine buildup did not occur .

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Table 3-12H-1 Engines -Testing Summary

Subtotal ofAcceptance , Estimated

Subtotal of Launch, and Total SSFL TestsYear R&D Tests Other Tests Tests' at Canyon'

1958 13 0 13 13

1959 430 76 506 506

1960 515 334 849 849

1961 574 283 857 4291

1962 404 352 756 3781

1963 630 286 916 45 8

1964 832 494 1,326 589

1965 429 328 757 44 1

1966 441 308 749 322

1967 147 192 339 0

1968 83 106 189 62

Sum 4498 2,759 7,257 1 4,0471

'This data was extracted from an exhibit within the reference : RIC [no date (d)] . Aseparate exhibit within the same reference gave test numbers that summed to 5,838, avalue lower by a factor of 1 .24 than the sum of 7,257 shown above. In addition, nodistinction was made in the exhibits as to whether the test numbers referred strictly toengine tests or whether they also included some component tests . For the purposes ofthis report, the test numbers are assumed to refer only to engine tests .bFor the years 1958 through 1960, the number of SSFL tests at Canyon are assumedto be equal to the total number of tests . For the years 1964 through 1968, thenumber of tests are extracted from LOX propellant curve worksheets (McGrath ,1968b) . For the years 1961 through 1963, as the H-1 program transitioned fro mCanoga to Neosha, it is assumed that the number of SSFL tests are approximately hal fthe total number of tests .`It was reported in RIC [no date (e)] that 71 production engine tests occurred in 196 1for the 1000-series engines (165,000-lb thrust), and that 79 similar tests occurred i n1962.

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