Saturn Apollo Program

The components of the Saturn V booster (S-IC stage) fuel tank are shown in this photograph. The liquid oxygen tank bulkhead on the left and both halves of the fuel tank were in the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, building 4707. These components were used at MSFC in structural testing to prove that they could withstand the forces to which they were subjected in flight. Each S-IC stage has two tanks, one for kerosene and one for liquid oxygen, made from such components as these. Thirty-three feet in diameter, they hold a total of 4,400,000 pounds of fuel. Although this tankage was assembled at MSFC, the elements were made by the Boeing Company at Wichita and the Michoud Operations at New Orleans.