Where are the Saturn 5 rockets?



    One of the lunar legends of conspiracy says that the Americans, frightened by the alien threat, were forced to urgently curtail the Apollo program. One of the arguments of this version says that the rush was such that out of the case there were three ready-made copies of the Saturn 5 rocket, very expensive to operate. But even apart from the conspiracy doctrines, it is still interesting what happened to the original copies of the legendary Saturn 5 rocket, can they be seen in museums, or was it the fate of a direct competitor — the Soviet H 1 rocket?

    Outsiders

    After the unsuccessful expedition of Apollo 13 in April 1970, the American authorities realized that missions of this kind were completely uninsured against possible tragic consequences (both for astronauts and for the prestige of the country). The government ordered NASA to "tighten their belts", issuing funds only until the Apollo 17 mission. In contrast to the conspiracy theorists, the decision was not made at all urgently, due to the discovery of an alien expeditionary force on the Moon. The missions of Apollo 18 and 19 were canceled on September 2, 1970, after which Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17 expeditions visited the moon.

    However, the American conveyors already by the year 70 managed to stamp several sets of Saturn 5 missiles that were available after the last planned mission of Apollo 17. The congressional decision to tighten NASA belts took this into account, and the space agency had already begun modifying two carriers for the Skylab program (orbital station).

    The last carrier used for the lunar expedition was SA 512 (Apollo 17). The rocket SA 513 (the canceled expedition of Apollo 18) lost the third stage attributed to it, instead of which it placed the Skylab station, converted from a parallel third stage, into orbit. The rocket SA 514, from the annulled expedition of Apollo 19, remained out of work and was a reserve in case of problems with SA 512. The booster carrier SA 515 took the path of CA 513, and became a backup carrier for the Skylab doubler the third step of SA 515.

    "Everything is mixed up, people, horses ..."

    The steps of the missiles that remained after the launch of Skylab dragged around museums so that almost all three surviving copies of Saturn 5 are chimeras from each other's steps.
    In the Johnson Space Center, Saturn 5 with the first stage from SA 514, the second stage from SA 515 and the third stage of the SA 513 rocket, which was replaced by Skylab. A single copy, all the steps of which were created for a real lunar expedition.

    Saturn 5 at the Johnson Space Center, Houston.








    The second and third stages of SA 514, together with the first test stage (not designed for flight), represent the second copy of Saturn 5, exhibited at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.







    In the American museum of aeronautics and astronautics, Saturn 5 is made up consisting of three test stages, the rocket was not intended for flight. The doubler of Skylab station - Skylab - B, converted from third stage SA 515, is also on display.

    Semi fake test Saturn 5 in Huntsville, is it not a godsend for supporters of the lunar conspiracy?



    The first stage of the rocket SA 515 remained in Michuda (near New Orleans), where it was assembled (the external fuel tanks of the Space Shuttle system were also collected there).

    In general, there are enough complete sets of Saturn 5 steps in museums to assemble two lunar versions of this rocket (All three steps are SA 514 and SA 515 with the third step from SA 513). So, “experts of space technology”, of which there are many among conspiracy theorists, can quite well assess on the spot whether the Saturn 5 missiles could carry out their official task or not.

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