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The Saturn series of launch
vehicles are large-scale rockets developed for NASA's Apollo lunar landing program.
Saturn V
Saturn V was developed to carry the Apollo spacecraft into lunar
orbit. At 104 tons, the rocket payload was roughly 4 times that of the Space Shuttle.
Saturn V development commenced in 1961 with formal government approval of the Apollo
program. In order to launch what at that time would be the largest rocket ever, a special
rocket assembly facility and No.39 launch complex was newly constructed at the Kennedy
Space Center. The first test launch of the Saturn V took place in November 1967. In
December 1968, the third Saturn V to be launched sent Apollo 8 around the Moon. The sixth
Saturn V launched on July 20, 1969 propelled Apollo 11 to the Moon for the first
successful manned landing on the lunar surface. The Saturn V rocket was used for
subsequent Apollo missions to the Moon. With termination of the Apollo program after the
Apollo 17 mission, however, three Saturn V rockets out of the total of 15 produced
remained unused. Of these, one was subsequently used to carry the manned Skylab 1 (space
station) mission into space. The remaining two unused versions of the Saturn V are now on
display to the public. |
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