Apollo 16 SIVB

Description

The Apollo Saturn V SIVB was the third stage of the Saturn V booster. The SIVB consisted of a truncated cone with a bottom diameter of 10.06 m topped by a long cylinder with a diameter of 6.60 m. Total height was 17.80 m. It contained liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks and a J2 engine. It was launched into Earth orbit attached to the Command, Service, and Lunar Modules (CSM and LM). The SIVB provided the thrust to take the CSM and LM from Earth orbit into a lunar transfer orbit. After achieving trajectory towards the Moon, the LM and CSM decoupled from the SIVB at 21:53:15 UT on 16 April 1972. The SIVB was left on a course towards the Moon where it impacted on 19 April. A malfunction resulted in premature loss of tracking data for the Apollo 16 SIVB. Estimates from seismic data indicate that impact occurred at about 21:02:03 UT at 1.3 N, 23.8 W at a velocity of 2.5 to 2.6 km/s.