The Mighty Saturns - Saturn V DVD Set First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Building on the successful tests of the Saturn I, NASA engineers continued to design the next system in the heavy lift booster family that would put a capsule and lunar lander not only into orbit, but also push the duo into lunar orbit. This next generation vehicle was the Saturn 5. Originally not inteded to be the last of the US heavy lifters, the Saturn V would end up being the last US super lifter of the 20th century. The US had shifted to the Space Shuttle concept with reusable element.

This DVD set is an excellent documentary outlining the history and development of this incredible machine - the Saturn. Throughout its flight test and manned flight history in the Saturn I, IB, and V series, this powerful lifter has never experienced a catastrophic failure, probably the only man-rated launcher in the world to have such a record.

This three-disc DVD set covers the development of the Saturn V and contains the camera footage from numerous instrumentation cameras around the launch complex for each of the Apollo 4, Apollo 8, Apollo 9, and Apollo 11 flights.

This series has been available now for a few years, but it recently caught my attention when I saw one of the other titles in this series on sale at Sam's Club.

If you're looking for a better alternative to commercial-laden one-hour documentaries on television, this set is the next best thing to being there as you'll witness the long silences as well as the flurry of activities, just as the astronauts experienced them so many years ago.