Why was the Saturn V rocket painted black and white?

There's a pretty cool answer to this one... it all boils down to temperature.

Asked by: William Reeve, by email

The Saturn V was painted predominantly white to keep the craft cool as it sat on the launch pad in the hot Florida sun. Holding down the rocket’s body temperature reduced fuel boil-off and improved overall safety. The black markings were to help ground cameras with roll measurements as the craft rotated around its vertical axis on lift-off.

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