The Flickr Sa500F Image Generatr

Clipped, edited, enlarged & posted as YET another supporting, complimentary & pointless ‘piling on’ WRT my original image (linked to below):

libarchstor2.uah.edu/digitalcollections/files/original/20...
Credit: UAH Digital Collections website

Pertinent extracts to this image, from the above documents, are:

“The S-IVB aft interstages are shipped separately from the parent stage.”

“As previously mentioned, the interstages and skirt sections are transported separately from the stage itself. Handling kits are provided for these items which include dollies for transporting the sections for short distances, and neoprene-coated nylon protective covers to protect the sections from the elements while in transit. Hoisting beams are also included and are attached to the forward end of the sections to provide a means of lifting the section when it is attached to the dolly. Figure 11 illustrates the aft interstage section, forward interstage section and aft skirt section waiting to be transported to Kennedy Space Center.”

Based on the above information, the other clipped photo & my original posted color photo, are all these parts of AS-500F?

“A S-IV-B inner stage for a Saturn V launch vehicle on a barge docked at the Barge Terminal Facility, facing northwest, November 2, 1965.”

“S-IV-B” & “inner” stage…good grief...give me strength.

Clipped, edited & enlarged from the following website in order to complement my below linked photo, both taken the same day. As Mr. Tony Hall points out in the comments to that other photo, identification of the S-IVB aft interstage assembly is problematic. But it does appear to have a form fitting environmental cover on it, maybe indicative of a longer transit, possibly from the manufacturer, Douglas Aircraft Company? My best/only guess, as Mr. Hall also alluded to, is that it’s part of AS-500F. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also of note (to me) is the legibility of the barge’s name, “KSC-1”. Prior to coming across this (and a photo I intend to post in the near future), I wasn’t aware of this NASA barge. The only open deck barges I was familiar with were “Pearl River” & “Little Lake”. Were there still others?

tdglobal.ksc.nasa.gov/servlet/sm.web.Fetch/HAERvabAnnex.p...

“Erection of Apollo verification vehicle spacecraft onto 500F facility vehicle at National Aeronautics and Space Administration Vehicle Assembly Building, John F. Kennedy Space Center.”

I wonder where the circumferential black aft portion of the Service Module (SM) is. Painted on later, prior to rollout? Note also the lack of RCS quads on the SM.

Amazing detail & resolution to be found, to include “SEXTANT & TELESCOPE” stenciled(?) on the outlined panel immediately below/adjacent to the forward heat shield (apex cover) of the M-11 boilerplate Command Module.

Posted in honor of Don Cole, former "NASA Spacecraft Photographer", in conjunction with the below linked photographs.

Per Mr. Cole's caption of the photograph, from his blog "DonColeCartoons":

"NASA Spacecraft Photographers at work. Donald Cole, on the left; Ken Lee, on the right. Cape Canaveral, Florida, 1960’s."

At:

doncolecartoons.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/where-i-was-when...

The outward appearance of the M-11 Command/Service Module (CSM) combination in this photograph and that of the below linked stacking photograph leads to my associating it with the SA-500F Facilities Verification Vehicle.
However, if so though, where's the circumferential black aft portion of the Service Module? Painted on later? Or is there something else going on here?

FANTASTIC:

www.capcomespace.net/dossiers/espace_US/apollo/vaisseaux/...
Credit: The consistently amazing "CAPCOM ESPACE" website

Regardless of all of the above, Thank You Mr. Cole!

A wonderfully composed shot of the May 25, 1966 rollout of the SA-500F Facilities Verification Vehicle (FVV) from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).

Other than a black & white thumbnail remnant of this photo, no longer actually posted, I couldn’t find it anywhere. It’s a shame it’s previously been handled by clueless dolts.
But hey, a shitty photo…at high resolution…is better than none.

Posted ‘in honor’ of the rollout of the SLS/Orion/Artemis I conglomeration.

“Excellent & rarely seen view of SA-500F Facilities Verification Vehicle stacking of the S-IVB stage, in the Transfer Aisle (I think) of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), Kennedy Space Center. Two of the four areas of the SA-500F’s distinctive paint pattern are on display, comprised of the alternating black & white pattern of the forward skirt and the circumferential black (with white ‘cut-outs’) of the aft skirt. The latter being the most noticeable, even from a distance, due to its proximity to the kinda, sorta, semi- alternating, partially bi-level black & white scheme of the S-IVB aft interstage.

Additionally. Absolutely wonderful:

gwsbooks.blogspot.com/2019/07/500-f-beauty-queen-with-fee...
Credit: Wes Oleszewski/"Growing Up With Spaceflight" blog

Saturn Apollo--Permann Collection Image--Please tag these photos so information can be recorded.---Note: This material may be protected by Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.)--Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum

“Overall view of light. LCC and 39A.”
I don’t know where/how “they” came up with “LCC”.

Based on the date, the Saturn V on the pad is the SA-500F Facilities Verification Vehicle.

Note the rust, the fuzzy thing stuck to the tire on the left & plenty of other visual clues…this wonderful relic was a World War II era searchlight, likely pulled out of storage. I love it.
Note also the embossed General Electric logo at the center of the light’s housing. I don’t know my searchlights; however, based on the following:

www.victorysearchlights.com/gotit.html
Credit: “Victory Searchlights” website

www.pinterest.com/pin/749849406681227048/
Credit: John Adams-Graf/Pinterest

It also looks to be a GE ‘Model 1942-A’.

Finally, note also the flame deflector in the background to its right – along with its size – damn! That’s a full size crane next to/in front of it!

The gorgeous, magnificent & glorious Saturn V…she rules to this day.

A wonderfully creative perspective of a Saturn V launch, before such ever occurred. That determination based on the similarity of the paint scheme to that of the SA-500F Facilities Verification Vehicle. Thus, also the date approximation.

Another extremely talented & enigmatic NASA artist, who, posthumously, ONLY because of the method of his ‘burial’ has a marker of his legacy, both personally & professionally. A little vexingly, one of the artists that modified his signature over time, from block letters/informal first name, to cursive/full first name. To me, sort of contradictory combinations & kind of clever. If they’re even the same person that is.

Rest in Peace Good Sir:

www.celestis.com/participants-testimonials/raymond-sheets...
Credit: Celestis Inc. website

“NASA-Apollo-Saturn V, 500-F roll out, from VAB bldg.”

The Mobile Service Structure (MSS) can be seen immediately to the right of the crawlerway, parked in its staging area. Launch Complex 39A, identifiable as the elongate whitish sliver of its elevated concrete pad, beckons in the distance.
The building positioned at an angle (in order to look out on Launch Complex 39) is the Launch Control Center (LCC). In fact, it’s angle reflects the optimism, anticipation & expectation of the future construction of LC-39C, even possibly LC-39D.

"Launch Complex 39, Mobile Service Structure first mating with Apollo Saturn V at Pad "A"."

A stunning view of the Saturn 500F/Facilities Integration Vehicle, possibly during rollout and the climb up the incline to Launch Complex 39A, 25 May 1966.

"Fit check-verification vehicle command module with H-14-090 stand. Overall view of removal of stand. Pyrotechnic Installation Building."

I’m pretty sure “verification vehicle command module" = M-11.

"View looking down from hoist to LES, C/M, and 500F vehicle."

A spectacular perspective from the MSS, nearly 410' up.

“Merritt Island Launch Area, Fla., -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Apollo/Saturn V, 500 F facilities vehicle is being erected in the Hi Bay area of the Vehicle Assembly Building. The NASA Apollo/Saturn 500 F facilities vehicle and the Apollo verification spacecraft will be used to check out the Vehicle Assembly Building, transporting the full scale vehicle on the Mobile Launcher to Complex 39 and complete checkout at the launch pad.”

Beautiful aerial view of the Saturn V 500-F facilities vehicle roll out to Launch Complex 39, on 25 May 1966.

“FIRST SATURN V LAUNCH--The 36-story-tall Apollo/Saturn V and its spacecraft are pictured at launch during the Apollo 4 mission later this year at Kennedy Space Center in this North American Space Division illustration. Apollo/Saturn V is bigger than any space vehicle ever launched, including any claimed by Russia. At launch, it weighs 6,200,000 pounds (A good-sized Navy destroyer weighs only 4,400,000 pounds.) The Apollo spacecraft and the Saturn V second stage are produced by North American’s Space Division for NASA.”

Note the SA-500F Facilities Vehicle paint scheme...the only thing to go on at the time.

Spectacular view from nearly the top of the Launch(er) Umbilical Tower (LUT), of the Mobile Service Structure (MSS) likely moving back from the SA-500F facilities verification vehicle at Launch Complex 39A.

Pathetically, this otherwise spectacular photograph is reversed left-to-right.

“BIRDSEYE VIEW of Apollo/Saturn V launch vehicle at Kennedy Space Center as 364-foot-tall giant and its launch umbilical tower move out of the vehicle assembly building atop its crawler-transporter to launch pad. The size of a 36-story building at launch, only the cone-shaped 12-foot-tall command module will be recovered after returning at lunar velocity speeds of almost 25,000 miles an hour and surviving 4,500 degree temperatures. The spacecraft command and service modules and the vehicle’s second stage are produced by North American Aviation’s Space Division, Downey, Calif. Apollo/Saturn V pictured above is almost identical to that of Apollo 4, first Saturn V to be launched later this year.”

Upon closer examination & having come across this photo at another (superior) site:

www.capcomespace.net/dossiers/espace_US/apollo/1966_500F.htm

it’s obvious that it's NOT of rollout, but of rollback, 14 October, 1966. So, not even the write-up by the manufacturer of essential components of this rocket (CSM & S-II stage) can get it right. Disappointing.