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Old June 22nd 08, 07:41 PM posted to sci.space.history
Damon Hill[_4_]
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Posts: 566
Default F-1 rocket engine thermal insulation (reflective "batting")

Pat Flannery wrote in news:VeSdnU31T910-
hdakotatelephone:



wrote:
I've posted a bunch of pictures of the external insulation applied to
the F-1 engine on my blog:

http://up-ship.com/blog/

The insulation was used on every flight of the Saturn V... and is
virtually never depicted in photos, art, toys or models.


Realspace models makes replacement F-1 engines for the Revell Saturn V
with it on them: http://www.realspacemodels.com/html/96f1pg.htm


The insulation was made of asbestos, and that's why we don't see any
on display with the insulation. Just as well, as the blankets cover
up lots of interesting details.

I don't recall seeing similar blankets on the SpaceX Merlin engines
used on the Falcon 9 cluster. There are blue blankets of some sort
visible while the equipment is being serviced, but they don't appear
in the firing videos. SpaceX has said that Kevlar 'flak jackets' will
be used to protect the engines in the event one does an unscheduled
disassembly during flight but I couldn't tell from the images if
those are being used during the test firings.

--Damon