Sea Dragon is a two-staged sea-launched super-heavy rocket built by NASA and first launched from the South Pacific Ocean on its maiden flight, in 1977. The rocket was used on a mission to resupply and expand Jamestown with components for a plutonium fueled nuclear power-source, in an effort to cut the costs of living, on the moon.
At 150 m (490 ft) long and 23 m (75 ft) in diameter, Sea Dragon is the largest rocket ever built, and could carry 550 metric tons of payload into orbit. It was also large enough to fit the entire Saturn V into its first stage.
Trivia
- The Sea Dragon was designed in 1962 to serve as a low-cost heavy launcher, commonly known as a "big dumb booster".
- To keep costs low, Sea Dragon was designed to be built from inexpensive sheet steel, launched from the ocean to reduce launch infrastructure, and operate using simple, reliable engineering principles.
- The rocket was to be built at a sea-side shipbuilder and towed to sea for launch.
- The rocket was partially reusable, as the first stage engine could be recovered after each flight.
- It was first launched in 1977, carrying parts of the Jamestown lunar base to begin expansion
- It was to be fueled using hydrogen produced from the surrounding sea water via electrolysis generated from the nuclear reactor of a nearby aircraft carrier. (Hence the "Carrier task force" Ed mentions in 1983).
- It remains the largest rocket ever launched.
- As of 1983 there have been 17 Sea Dragon launches. The Sea Dragon Rocket Has 42,000,000 pounds of thrust as for the saturn V has 9.5million pounds of thrust.