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This has to be the least fuel efficient vehicle ever...
Saturn V
Quote:
S-IC first stage
The S-IC was built by The Boeing Company at the Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, where Space Shuttle External Tanks would later be built by Lockheed Martin. Most of its mass of over two thousand metric tonnes at launch was propellant, in this case RP-1 rocket fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer with a fuel efficiency of just under 5 inches per US gallon (just under 4 cm per liter) overall.[15] It was 42 metres (138 ft) tall and 10 metres (33 ft) in diameter, and provided over 34 meganewtons (7,600,000 lbf) of thrust to get the rocket through the first 67 kilometres (220,000 ft) of ascent. The S-IC stage had a dry weight of about 131 tonnes (290,000 lb) and fully fueled at launch had a total weight of 2,300 tonnes (5,100,000 lb). The initial design included four F-1 engines, which provided just enough force to lift the spacecraft and rocket. A fifth F-1 engine was added in the center of a quincunx to provide additional thrust to accommodate the growing weight of the Apollo payload.[8] That center engine was fixed, while the four outer engines could be hydraulically turned (gimballed) to control the rocket.[15] In flight, the center engine was turned off about 26 seconds earlier than the outboard engines to limit acceleration. During launch, the S-IC fired its engines for 168 seconds (ignition occurred about 7 seconds before liftoff) and at engine cutoff, the vehicle was at an altitude of about 67 kilometres (42 mi), was downrange about 93 kilometres (58 mi), and was moving about 2,300 metres per second (7,500 ft/s).
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More stats here,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V
I was in grade school during the Apollo missions. Back then the teachers would roll in a TV anytime there was a launch, landing or anything important. I remember when Neil Armstrong spoke the first words to Mission Control and the world from the lunar surface were,
"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." and "I'm going to step off the LEM now" (referring to the Apollo Lunar Module). He then turned and set his left boot on the surface at 2:56 UTC July 21, 1969, then spoke the famous words
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." are things I will
never forget.
The feelings of national pride were everywhere back then.
Another quote:
Quote:
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"The Apollo program had a tremendous impact on the United States," said Space Foundation Chief Executive Officer Elliot Pulham. "It built national pride and, more importantly, it influenced a whole generation of children to study hard to become scientists, engineers, and astronauts. We could use another program like that today to jumpstart the economy and reverse the disturbing trend of falling U.S. student proficiency in math and science."
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I couldn't agree anymore with that statement.
Funny, back then we could invent new technologies and processes in order to achieve the goals of the Apollo program in a few short years.
But somehow, over the last 100 years we can't figure out how build a fuel efficient automobile...
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