Take an in-depth look at some of the tallest rockets in history. During the history of human spaceflight, NASA and other space agencies have developed some serious rockets: behemoths of space that aimed to send astronauts to the moon and elsewhere in deep space.
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NASA’s Powerful Saturn V Rocket
The supreme champion of giant rockets is NASA’s massive Saturn 5, a three-stage booster used to launch American Apollo astronauts to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
And like the NASA shuttles and Ares I-X, the towering Saturn V launched from the famous Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It rose 363 feet (110 meters) high and remained the most powerful rocket ever constructed, even though the last one flew in 1973.
The Saturn V rocket could launch payloads of up to 45 tons to the moon or 120 tons into orbit. It measured 6.5 million pounds (3 million kilograms), completely fueled at liftoff. The Ares I-X rocket weighs 1.8 million pounds (816,466 kilograms), somewhat less than the full Ares I.
The last Saturn 5 was a modified version that launched NASA’s huge Skylab space station. Somewhat smaller versions of the Saturn V rocket were used to launch astronauts to Skylab. And with the last one, a 224-foot (68-meter) Saturn 1B, launching in 1975 to fly American astronauts to meet up with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft during the Apollo-Soyuz joint mission.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket
The mighty SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket may not be the tallest rocket in use today, but at 230 feet (70 meters), it’s somewhat close.
And while it’s not the most towering of the bunch, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy is the most powerful booster of the 21st century. The rocket can launch payloads of up to 141,000 lbs. (64 metric tons) using two side boosters based on the company’s Falcon 9 engine and a central core.
That gives the Falcon Heavy rocket 27 engines on its first stage to produce more than 5 million pounds-force (22,819 kilonewtons) of thrust at the launch.
It is the equivalent force of nearly 18 Boeing 747 jumbo jets at full power.
One bonus to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy: It’s designed to be somewhat reusable. SpaceX built the first-stage boosters to be able to return to Earth for land or drone ship landings.
Soviet Union’s Mighty N-1 Rocket
The former Soviet Union’s N-1 rocket is an enormous booster intended to launch Soviet cosmonauts to our only satellite, the moon, during the Space Race with the United States.
The colossal Russian rocket stood approximately 345 feet (104 meters) tall, had five separate stages, and resembled a huge, tapering cone about 55 feet (17 meters) wide at the base. During the launch, it weighed around 6.1 million pounds (2.7 million kg) and was meant to blast off payloads of up to 95 tons into space. And also to send cosmonauts to the moon.
But the N-1 rocket never successfully entered space, despite four tried launches. It exploded during all four efforts between 1969 and 1972.
The past Soviet Union did have other massive rockets in its space launch inventory. Like the enormous D-1E and D-1 modifications of the Proton used for the 1968 lunar probe missions and the 1971 Salyut 1 space station launch. Neither came near to the N-1’s towering size.
Today, Russia still utilizes Proton rockets and smaller Soyuz boosters to take satellites into Earth orbit, though cosmonauts proceed to ride only Soyuz rockets into orbit. The country is also developing a new class of Angara rockets.
Delta IV Heavy Rocket
The highest 21st-century rocket in regular service in the United States currently is the Delta IV Heavy. It is a heavy-lift variant of the United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4 booster.
The 235 feet (72 meters) in height, the Delta 4 Heavy rocket made its takeoff debut in 2004 but underwent a sensor glitch that stopped it from reaching its planned Earth orbit. The problem was fixed. The giant rocket launched a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office.
The Delta 4 Heavy is an assortment of three boosters, each called a Common Booster Core. They are arranged in a line to give it a three-column look. Furthermore, at least two more Delta 4 Heavy missions are expected for future classified satellite launches, according to Spaceflight Now.
The Delta 4 Heavy rocket is capable of launching payloads of up to 24 tons into orbit, and 11 tons toward the geosynchronous Earth orbits used by communications satellites.
The Delta 4 Heavy rocket is also touted to be capable of launching 11-ton payloads on trans-lunar injection orbit routes toward our moon and 8.8-ton payloads on Mars-bound trajectories.
NASA Space Launch System
NASA’s latest giant rocket is the SLS or Space Launch System, which is intended to launch NASA’s Orion space capsule. It is a vehicle originally drawn up as part of NASA’s now-canceled Constellation program for space exploration.
The agency officials say the Space Launch System will be a Saturn V-class rocket that can also be used to launch equipment, cargo, and science operations to Earth’s orbit and targets beyond. NASA says it could also work as a backup booster for low-Earth orbit trips.
And according to NASA, the Space Launch System will have an initial lift capability of 70 metric tons and reach nearly 322 feet (98 meters) tall, making it a bit shorter than the Saturn V rocket. It can be expandable to 130 metric tons. The first developmental mission is targeted for mid-2020.
NASA’s Ares 1 Rocket
Ares I was the astronaut launch vehicle that NASA was developing as part of the Constellation program. And the name Ares refers to the Greek deity Ares, who is identified with the Roman god Mars. Ares I was originally known as the CLV or “Crew Launch Vehicle.”
In 2009, NASA launched the most towering rocket to launch in the 21st century so far. The mighty Ares 1 rocket on the Ares 1-X test flight. The colossal rocket launched in October 2009 on a mission to test the agency’s rocket design to launch its Orion crew capsule on future moon missions for the now-scrapped Constellation program.
The huge Ares 1 rocket stood 327 feet (100 meters) high. It is 14 stories taller than the space shuttle. However, the 2009 flight was the only trip for the Ares 1 design. Former President Barack Obama cut NASA’s moon-oriented Constellation program in 2010 and replaced it with a different plan directed at deep space missions to Mars and asteroids.
Furthermore, the first stage of the huge Ares 1 rocket was developed by shuttle solid rocket booster builder ATK, which has since repurposed the design for its latest commercial rocket: the Liberty booster.
NASA’s Space Shuttle Program
NASA’s space shuttle fleet may look inferior compared to the giant rockets of the past. However, its 30-year flight history makes it a good measuring stick for rocket booster match-ups. And, of course, it depends on how you measure the shuttles.
Each NASA space shuttle is about 122 feet (37 meters) long from nose to stern and stands 56 feet (17 meters) tall. They have a total wingspan of about 78 feet (23 meters).
However, in the launch position, the orbiter sat on the side of the 15-story external fuel tank, and two solid rocket boosters flanked it. The space shuttle on the launch pad measured 184 feet (56 meters) tall from the tip of the external tank to the aft skirts of its twin solid huge rocket boosters.
NASA Launched 135 Shuttle Missions
The shuttle had a 60-foot (18 meters) long payload bay that was 15 feet (4.5 meters) wide. Orbiters could bring large payloads into Earth’s orbit, making the space shuttle the only vehicle capable of launching large segments of the International Space Station, which involved the bulk of the space shuttle fleet’s flight manifest for more than a decade.
The agency launched 135 space shuttle missions since the fleet’s debut flight made by the historic Columbia in April 1981. There were two huge failures: The space shuttle Challenger and seven NASA astronauts were lost just after takeoff in January 1986 due to an O-ring seal leakage in a solid rocket booster that led to an explosion. The space shuttle Columbia broke apart during its re-entry in February 2003 due to wing heat shield damage. Seven NASA astronauts were killed.
And after each accident, the agency stood down from space shuttle flights to make safety improvements. NASA retired its successful space shuttle fleet in 2011 with the final flight of Atlantis on the STS-135 mission.
Thanks for reading this article. If you want to learn more about Saturn V, then head over to this interesting article; Why Was The Saturn V Rocket Painted Black And White?