Looking for some info on Saturn V rocket launch

[QuantumCurt]

Hey everyone. I was hoping I could get some assistance locating some material to research on the launch of the Saturn V rocket. I'm doing my honors project for calculus 1 on rocket launches, and I'm going to be focusing on the Saturn V.

I'm going to do an in depth analysis on the forces required to launch the variable mass rocket beyond the atmosphere. It should make for a fun project. I'm going to have to cover integration before we get to it in class, and I'll have to pick up some of the basics of differential equations, but I think it should be very doable. My calculus professor seems very enthusiastic about working with me on it.

I need to locate some research material on it though. The current government shutdown is posing as a problem, because all of the NASA sites are down. Presumably I would be able to find all the information I needed amongst their various sites, but given that this isn't an option currently, I need to find some alternate sources.

Anyone have any recommendations? I'd also love any input or suggestions in general that pertain to this project.

 

[SteamKing]

Not everything is affected by the govt shut down. Last time I checked, Yahoo, google, wikipedia, etc. had not become departments in the federal govt.

Here are a couple articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V

http://www.space.com/18422-apollo-saturn-v-moon-rocket-nasa-infographic.html

There's about 33 million more pages out there, the vast majority of which are not from the govt.

 

[QuantumCurt]

Yes, I looked at both of those. And several others.

I was hoping to find something a bit more academic than Wikipedia. I can't exactly use that as a source in my project.

I'm also looking for some more general information on the physics of rocket launches in general. I've searched quite a bit, and haven't been able to find a whole lot. I need to find some other sources that go into the actual mathematics of rocket launches...rather than just clusters of specs and data. I realize that the actual physics is really just an application of Newton's 2nd Law, but researching some mathematics that are similar to what I'm going to be doing would likely be rather beneficial.

I did find this, which is pretty helpful.

http://www.real-world-physics-problems.com/rocket-physics.html


Sorry if I asked a simple question. I'm simply looking for some guidance, and hoping to be pointed towards some good academic sources that I can use in this project.

 

[SteamKing]

If you search the threads at PF, I'm sure you could find example calculations others have done as HW.

I still think you could use Wiki articles to help point you in the right direction. If the article is good, there will be sources and references at the bottom of the article.

For your particular task, you might google 'rocket launch physics' or 'Tsiolkovsky rocket equation'.

Learning how to search is often more important than what comes out of the search. Don't get discouraged if what you are looking for doesn't come at the top of the first search page. You might have to do some digging.