The Rocketdyne F1 - Biggest ever engine

At the heart of the Saturn V that took man to the moon in 1969 was the Rocketdyne F1 engine. It remains the most powerful single combustion chamber liquid-propellant rocket engine ever developed,  Five of these monster engines powered the S1-C first stage.

The F-1 burned RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) using liquid oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer since of course rocket engines also operate in space where there is no oxygen to burn fuel with.


Each second an F-1 engine burned 788 kg (1,738 lb) of RP-11 fuel and 1,789 kg (3,945 lb) of liquid oxygen generating 1,500,000 (1.5 million) pound feet of thrust (6.7 Mega Newtons) and each were more powerful than all three space shuttle main engines combined. Four of the five engines were mounted on gimballs allowing for adjustments to trajectory of the rocket after launch.

In the two and a half minutes of operation before all the fuel in the first stage was used up the five engines of the S1-C first stage propelled the Saturn V to a speed of 9,920 km/h (6,164 mph) and a height of 68km of 222,000 ft. By comparison the average commercial jet aircraft cruises the world at between 35 and 43,000 ft and the now retired Blackbird SR71 reconnaissance aircraft usually operated at around 80,000ft.


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