The Saturn V F-1 Engine: Powering Apollo into History

Anthony Young writes superbly, with a similar style to David Harland and has authored nine previously published books on post-war automotive history covering engineering, styling and automotive marketing. Much of the history recorded in these books was acquired from personal interviews with the principal engineers involved with vehicle and engine design programs. Interview locations included various cities in Michigan, England and Switzerland. During this time he was a fulltime contract design engineer.

When the mighty Rocketdyne F-1 engine was conceived in the late 1950s for the U.S. Air Force, it had no defined mission and there was no launch vehicle it could power. It was a bold concept to push the technological envelope of rocket propulsion in order to put massive payloads into Earth orbit. Few realized at the time that the F-1 would one day propel American astronauts to the Moon.

Anthony Young's first automotive book, published in 1984, became the best-selling automotive title sold in America within three months of its publication, according to Auto Week magazine. His first Springer-Praxis book, Lunar and Planetary Rovers: The Wheels of Apollo and the Quest for Mars will be published in the fall of 2006. He is a regular contributor to Space Times magazine and the online weekly website, The Space Review.