Instrument Unit
The Saturn V Instrument Unit served as the electronics hub for the first three stages of the rocket, controlling engine firing, guidance, stage separation, and climate for the three stages below. It consisted of two main parts, a rigid ring for structure, and within that, electronics.
Instrument units had a slightly different numbering scheme than the other parts. S-IU-200D/500D was for use with the SA-200D dynamic test article - a Saturn IB, and also for use with SA-500D, the Saturn V.
IBM won the contract to build electronics for the IU, and so, by 1964, constructed a $14 million four-building complex including a manufacturing facility with clean room in Huntsville.
The IU's structural ring had two responsibilities: provide a mounting location for IBM's electronics and hold everything on top of it. It needed to be structurally sound enough to hold the weight of the Lunar Module, Service Module, Command Module and the three astronauts during the acceleration provided by three mighty stages of rocket beneath. The rings were all fabricated at MSFC.
The IU for SA-500D was not the first built. MSFC built S-IU-200V/500V for vibration testing from September to November 1964. Wyle Labs tested it as part of the Saturn I-B program.
S-IU-200D/500D was the second IU to be built, with the ring completed in January 1965 and electronic components from IBM installed by February 1. It was the last piece necessary for dynamic testing in the Saturn IB program. It was stacked together with S-IVB-D, S-IB-D, and BP-27 for Saturn IB testing through much of 1965. On October 8, 1965, it began dynamic testing for the Saturn V program as part of SA-500D.
Read more about this topic: Saturn V Dynamic Test Vehicle, Development of The Test Article
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