Saturn V: America’s Rocket to the Moon (America in Space Series, 5)

Love this series. Detailed, but not overwhelmingly so. For an acknowledged "space nut," this series is a joy.

Outstanding history of the technology that created America’s amazing moon rocket, the Saturn V.

This is a great introduction to the hardware of the Saturn rocket series. Don't be misled by the title; this book covers equally the Saturn I (blocks 1 and 2), Saturn IB, and Saturn V. There is some background provided for the Redstone, Jupiter and other rockets and engines leading to the Saturn series of boosters, then a moderately detailed description of the design of the various Saturn boosters and stages. It's a great introduction for anyone unfamiliar with the program hardware. What lets the book down is the poor, or non-existent editing, as is typical of the Schiffer series of books (I have many, and it's a consistent problem). The text is marred by typos and missing punctuation, but what is more troubling are inconsistencies in dates cited in the text and in summary tables. It is sometimes difficult to reconcile the discrepancies as Saturn stages were produced and mated at unintuitive dates due to long storage cycles, required de-mates and changing program requirements (Apollo I fire, for example). But some dates are obviously wrong (launch before the stages are mated? Hmm... No). So one needs to take all dates cited in the text and tables with a grain of salt; if it matters, then cross-check with other references. And, inexplicably, the text in half a dozen tables suddenly changes from English to German toward the end of the table. Likely a copy/paste error for a German translation of the book. Sigh... C'mon Schiffer... hire a professional editor for your books who pays attention to details! Irritating, even for the casual reader, but still a recommended book, nonetheless.

Received in good shape. Thanks!

Not technical enough. I would have liked to see pictures, drawings, and more history. The second half of the book is a diary of all the Saturn V missions. Much less interesting than the rocket itself.

Informative book on the Saturn V rocket with lots of color photos. Pages 1 - 79 provide a brief history of the development of the Saturn V; it starts with the Saturn I. Pages 80 - 142 provide 2-page summaries of every Saturn mission.I thought the book was worthwhile, although admittedly the story of the technical development of the rocket was probably too brief. Still, for a book under 150 pages it was pretty good.Overall, I am simply in awe of the scientific, engineering, industrial, and managerial accomplishments of the US 50 to 60 years ago. As pointed out in the book, the computer power of the control system for a Saturn V is less than what is contained in a modern cellphone. We live in a very different American society today.I think a comparison of the former Soviet rocket and satellite program with the American program is fascinating. The best publication I have found on the Soviet space program is the 4-volume series "Rockets and People" by Boris Chertok. I have read Volumes II and IV. The Soviet design system, manufacturing facilities, and test procedures were primitive by American standards, yet they accomplished amazing feats in the short term.

For the past year, I have been reading multiple books about the Apollo program, watching numerous documentaries about it, and even built the Saturn V Lego project (1,969 pieces and over 39" tall). I was looking for a good book focusing on the Saturn V, and this one is well-reviewed. On first glance it appeared to be just what I was looking for, a compact book with numerous diagrams and pictures to go along with the writing.Unfortunately, as I struggled through the first ten pages, all I could do was focus on how desperately the book needed an editor. The basics about rocket development prior to the Saturn V are there in parts, at least name-checked, but an editor is needed to lay it out as a coherent story. Introduce von Braun, perhaps via a spotlight on his initial thoughts of the Saturn. Then describe the progress of rockets over the 1942-1956 timeframe. Give a brief overview of each type and some info about their capabilities/limitations/successes/failures. Focus mostly on what was state-of-the-art in the late 1950's, and what the goals were. Talk about how they achieved those goals.My frustration makes me want to read all of this, as well as other books about pre-Saturn rockets, and write the book that this could have been.On the first two pages, the author throws out the name of rockets with no background and little-to-no context (Redstone, Jupiter, Jupiter-C, Redstone-S, Vanguard program - on the latter, it wasn't clear if it was a rocket or a group of people). On the following page, there are sentences such as this: "The satellite carriers then in preparation were like the Thor, the Juno II based on the Jupiter, and the Atlas C, supposed to be capable of placing payloads with a maximum weight of 3,085 pounds into orbit." If you are actually trying to learn the details of the rockets, how do you read that sentence? Should there be a comma after the word "were"? Is he trying to say, "At that time, the satellite carriers in preparation were the Thor, the Juno II which was based on the Jupiter, and the Atlas C. All of them were supposed to be capable of placing payloads with a maximum weight of 3,085 pounds into orbit."? Does the conclusion of his sentence apply to all rockets mentioned, or just the Atlas C? Unless you are just skimming the words and don't really want to learn the history, you have to read and re-read the language and determine what the point is. And at times it remains unclear.In the first ten pages, the book mentions the success of the Explorer I, with no background of what that is. It mentions the Redstone Arsenal, with no explanation of what it is. It mentions a Viking high-altitude research rocket with no context. It mentions the "Super Jupiter" with no context.Towards the end of the first section, the only part I could make it through, is the following: "Then von Braun described five generations of booster rockets. The first was the Vanguard, which as a super-light booster was in a class of its own. The next stage consisted of the Jupiter C, the Juno II, which was derived from the Jupiter, and the Thor-Able, a combination from the air force’s Thor medium range missile and the Able upper stage from the Vanguard program. The boosters of the first two generations had one thing in common: both been hastily developed in response to the Sputnik launches by the Russians. They were only capable of carrying very small payloads and were extremely unreliable.” It is hard to follow. It is missing a word ("both been hastily developed"?). Air Force should be capitalized (as should "Navy" elsewhere).Other sentences read odd or as if they were written by a high schooler: "Given the requirement for a launch thrust of 1,500,000 pounds of thrust…" or “Von Braun saw where the journey was leading, and he wanted to be part of the journey.”I had also bought the "Project Gemini" and "Project Mercury" books by the same author and publisher. Together, they would make a nice mini library. However, I dipped into the other two books and immediately see the same type of issues. Disappointing.