4 ms·
For a machine as complex as the Saturn 5 rocket, it is truly a credit to the builders that it never suffered a major failure in any of the manned missions. Same
by sizzzzlerz 8y ago
For a machine as complex as the Saturn 5 rocket, it is truly a credit to the builders that it never suffered a major failure in any of the manned missions. Same for the LM rocket which returned the astronauts to the command module. Both had to absolutely work and both did.
As John Glenn quipped "It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract."
- delibes 8y agoGus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee :( I do get your point, and it's amazing it worked as well as it did. Space is tough, and things are likely to go wrong, just as they still do with civil aviation.
- arethuza 8y agoSilly nitpick: Apollo 1 was a Saturn 1B not a Saturn 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1
- sizzzzlerz 8y agoIt also wasn't a "mission". They were performing in a test. And, in any case, the fire wasn't a fault of the rocket; it was a fire in capsule.