Surfing around the web I found a site that makes the following claim:
When talking about the Saturn V, the term “mighty” is an understatement. When those powerful F1 engines ignited and inched the huge rocket off the launch pad, it shook the ground with the full fury of an earthquake. At best, you might say it was a controlled explosion.
The sound waves could easily pulverize a human’s skeleton if he was unlucky enough to be within a mile of the launch pad.
(emphasis mine)
Any truth to this?
bump
June 20, 2002, 2:01am
#2
I sort of doubt it- after all, the astronauts were a whole lot closer than one mile, and they came through just fine.
The LC 39 Observation Gantry is located in the heart of the space shuttle launch complex, just over one mile away from Launch Pads 39A and 39B - the only sites for launching the space shuttle.
These are also the launch pads from which the giant Saturn V rockets blasted off to the moon during the Apollo program. The enclosed, air-conditioned observation deck provides an unobstructed 360 degree panoramic view of Launch Complex 39, which encompasses the space shuttle launch pads, the massive Vehicle Assembly Building, Launch Control Center and the 130-foot-wide Crawlerway. – Kennedy Space Center, LC 39 Observation gantry
So it sounds like it’s an exaggeration at the very least.
The Mighty F-1 was perhaps Rocketdyne’s greatest contribution to the American space program. Just one F-1 engine provided as much thrust as all three Space Shuttle Main Engines! If you ever get to see one up close you are sure to be impressed. How big is it? Even more amazing is that a cluster of FIVE F-1 engines were used in the first stage of the 363-foot tall Saturn V rocket. A single-start, fixed-thrust engine, the F-1 is gimbaled and uses liquid oxygen as the oxidizer, while RP-1 (kerosene) is used as the fuel, the turbopump lubricant, and the control system fluid. A gas generator utilizing the same propellants drives the turbine, which is direct-coupled to the turbopump.
Source: http://www.boeing.com/space/rdyne/sightsns/powapolo.html
Stage thrust versus time history for the three stages are graphically presented in figures 2-21 through 2-23.
The thrust profile for the S-IC stage (figure 2-21) shows the thrust increase from the sea level value of approximately 7,648,000 pounds to approximately 9,160,000 pounds at center engine cutoff , where the vehicle has attained an altitude of approximately 147,000 feet. At center engine cutoff, vehicle thrust drops to approximately 7,160,000 pounds.
Source: http://www.apollosaturn.com/s5flight/sec2.htm
Squink
June 20, 2002, 11:33am
#5
Sound pressure was and is a big problem when you launch a large rocket.
Anecdote:
I once watched a shuttle launce, and even sixteen miles away, the ground trembled. I can’t even begin to imagine what the vibration was like up close.
sailor
June 20, 2002, 3:30pm
#7
The Saturn vehicle weighs 3000 tons which is mostly fuel and oxidizer; the empty structure weighs 200 tons. To lift this off the pad the first stage uses five rocket engines for a total 3750 tons thrust burning fuel at the rate of fifteen tons per second . The fuel and oxidizer pumps require 300,000 HP to drive them which is twice the power of the largest ocean liner. The giant engines which drive an ocean liner could not even begin to drive the fuel pumps on the Saturn 5. (Arthur C Clarke - The promise of Space, 1969)