Saturn V Ground Winds Program

The concept on Saturn V was to "budget" an amount for the dynamic portion of the wind load as a factor on the steady state drag. Wind tunnel tests paralled the development and fabrication phases. The results indicated that the system was unable to withstand the design winds; thus, a decision was made to implement a viscous damper "fix" on the facility vehicle at the Kennedy Space Center. Damping tests in the Vertical Assembly Building (VAB) will have been completed and response tests on the pad will be in progress at the time of this symposium. This paper will present the history and status of this program to date.