04-08-2011, 03:14 AM
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Master Modeler
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
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The S-1D embodied what I had wondered about ever since I first saw the original (five-engine) Atlas ICBM design proposal, in which the outer four engines were dropped and the center engine was the sustainer. It also reminded me of something I once asked my uncle Dan (who developed a gaseous hydrogen leak detector for the Saturn V's interstage areas while at Boeing): Could the S-IC by itself achieve SSTO (Single-Stage-To-Orbit) with a smaller payload? He answered that it very likely could, but that the payload would be small and the acceleration (going from the pad to low Earth orbit in just 2-1/2 minutes!) would be quite high.
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