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Kerosene’s Connection to the U.S. Space Program Adapted from Information by the American Oil & Gas Historical Society and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Canadian physician and geologist Abraham Gesner began refining an illuminating fuel from coal in 1846. “I have invented and discovered a new and useful manufacture or composition of matter, being a new liquid hydrocarbon, which I denominate kerosene,” he noted in his patent. By 1850, he formed a company which focused on installing lighting in the streets in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This led to the establishment of the North American Kerosene Gas Light Company in Long Island, New York, in 1854. Although Gesner had coined the term kerosene, from the Greek word keros (wax), since his fluid was extracted from coal, U.S. consumers called it coal oil as often as they called it kerosene. It didn’t take long for things to change. By the time of the first commercial U.S. oil well drilled by Edwin Drake in 1859, a Yale scientist (hired by the well’s investors) claimed oil was a far better source for making kerosene. Soon, demand for kerosene refined from petroleum launched the county’s exploration and production industry. Ultimately, electricity would replace kerosene lamps while gasoline dominated the demand for a transportation fuel. However, kerosene’s ease of storage and stable prop- erties gained the attention of rocket scientists. After decades of rocket engine research and testing, the Rocketdyne F-1 engines were developed to provide 7.5 million pounds of thrust for the Saturn V rocket. During a launch, five Rocketdyne F-1 engines (of the massive Saturn V’s first stage) would burn Rocket Grade Kerosene Propellant at 2230 gallons per second. Saturn’s rocket fuel is actually highly refined kerosene RP-1 (Rocket Propellant-1 or Refined Petroleum-1) which, while conforming to rigorous performance specifications, is basically the same coal oil invented by Gesner. According to David Woods, author of How Apollo Flew to the Moon , the F-1 remains the most powerful single-combustion chamber, liquid-fueled rocket engine ever developed. The Rocketdyne F-1 engines, which are 19 feet tall with nozzles about 12 feet wide, are equipped with fuel pumps capable of delivering 15,471 gallons of RP-1 per minute to their thrust chambers. When Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, it was kerosene rocket fuel powering the historic voyage. This event crowned liquid-rocket fuel research in America dating back to Robert H. Goddard and his 1914 rocket apparatus powered by gasoline. In March 1926, Goddard launched the world’s first liquid-fuel rocket, powered by liquid oxygen and gasoline, from his aunt’s farm in Auburn, Massachusetts. Even though propellants such as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen have since re- placed gasoline, RP-1 kerosene continues to fuel spaceflight. Cheaper, easily stored at room temperature, and far less of an explosive hazard, kerosene continues to fuel first-stage boosters for the Atlas, Delta II, Antares, and latest SpaceX rockets. Although the Saturn V was last launched in 1972, it remains the most powerful rocket ever built. In 1926, Robert Goddard used gasoline to fuel the first liquid-fuel rocket, seen here in its launch stand. Blasting by: Academy of Blasting and Explosive Technology Blasting Safety July 18-20 ~ Montville, OH phone: 440-474-6700 www.academyblasting.com by: Colorado School of Mines Shotcrete Fundamentals and Applications July 26-28 ~ Golden, CO phone: 303-279-5563 www.csmspace.com Education Connection Engine / Machinery Maintenance by: CFC Industrial Training Maintenance: Hydraulic Safety July 6 ~ Fairfield, OH Level 1 Mobile Hydraulics: In-Depth Fundamentals July 17-19 ~ Fairfield, OH Troubleshooting Mobile Hyd. Sys. July 24-26 ~ Fairfield, OH Hydraulic Pump Analysis July 27-28 ~ Fairfield, OH phone: 513-874-3225 www.cfcindustrialtraining.com Groundwater / Water Well by: American Ground Water Trust New Mexico Aquifer Conference July 12 ~ Albuquerque, NM phone: 603-228-5444 www.agwt.org by: National Ground Water Association Pumping Test Design and Aquifer Analysis July 18-19 ~ Westerville, OH phone: 614-898-7791 www.ngwa.org Pipe by: McElroy University Small Diameter Operator Qualification July 3-5 ~ Tulsa, OK Medium Diameter Operator Qualification July 5-7 ~ Tulsa, OK phone: 918-836-8611 www.mcelroy.com 44 JUNE 2017 WorldWide Drilling Resource ®