History

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded North American's Rocketdyne Division a contract to build the F-1 rocket engine in late 1959. The single-chamber F-1 used liquid oxygen (lox) and RP-1, a kerosene, and was the largest and most powerful single liquid-fuel rocket engine ever built.

Five F-1 engines powered the first stage of the three-stage Saturn V launch vehicle for the Apollo program. The F-1 engine also placed the Skylab Orbital Workshop into Earth orbit in May 1973.