Why Does SpaceX Use 33 Engines While NASA Used Just 5?
The race to the moon is back on, but why does SpaceX’s Starship & super heavy booster need 33 engines when NASA’s Saturn V rocket, which went to the moon six times 55 years ago only needed five. We look at what has changed since then and why many smaller engines and all the extra complexity that comes with them seem to be the way forward for the modern space industry.
Written, Researched, and Presented by Paul Shillito - The Curious Droid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okK7oSTe2EQ
NASA couldn’t build those F1 engines again, the design is there but the knowledge is dead and buried. Those engines required specific techniques in welding and baffles that died with the builders in the 1960’s.
There is a great series out there called Moon Machines, it goes over how they build everything in the Apollo program from the engines, to the suits to the computers.