S-III

The S-III (pronounced "ess three") was a proposed third stage of the early Saturn C designs for a five-stage Saturn launch vehicle. The Saturn C configurations were based on a "building block" approach, in which the upper stages would be test-flown before the intermediate stages. The S-III was to have been a LOX-Hydrogen fueled stage powered by two J-2 engines. The original Saturn C-2 design would have been a three- or four-stage launch vehicle using the S-I plus S-III plus S-IV stages plus, for some missions, S-V.

S-III

Country of origin	United States
Used on	Saturn C-2 (stage 2) Saturn C-3 (stage 3)
General characteristics
Diameter	27 ft (8.2 m)
S-III
Engines	2 J-2 engine
Thrust	400,000 lbf (1.8 MN)
Fuel	LOX/LH2

References

• Free return trajectory simulation, Robert A. Braeunig, August 2008
• Bilstein, Roger E. (1980). Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles. NASA History Series SP-4206. NASA.
• Stuhlinger, Ernst, et al., Astronautical Engineering and Science: From Peenemuende to Planetary Space, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1964.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.