| DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOON ROCKETS | ||
As early as 1955, the United States Air Force was moving to challenge the Soviet monopoly on big rockets. In 1958, the Air Force decided to move forward with the development of the F-1 rocket that would be able to generate 1 million pounds of thrust and could launch astronauts to the Moon. After the Marshall Space Flight Center was formed, NASA began working on a new, liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen upper-stage engine, called the J-2. When combined with the Saturn, the new J-2 engine would be able to send three astronauts on a looping path around the Moon. |
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