What type of rocket propelled the astronauts to the moon?
The Saturn V was a 3 stage liquid-fuel expendable rocket used by NASA’s Apollo and Skylab programs between 1967 and 1973. The first stage burned RP-1 kerosene with liquid oxygen, using five F-1 engines to produce about 7.5 million pounds of thrust. It burned for just over two and a half mimutes, and was then discarded. The second stage then took over, burning liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen using five J-2 engines to provide about 1 million pounds of thrust. This burned for about 6 minutes before being discarded. The third stage also used liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, with one J-2 engine delivering about 200,000 pounds of thrust. A couple of minutes of this was enough to put the spacecraft in orbit. After a brief checkout period the third stage J-2 engine was re-ignited to send the spacecraft out of Earth orbit and on to the Moon.
