Lifting the first stage from the transporter

Hoisting the stage in vertical attitude

Erecting the upper stages

Early design concepts of C-1 and C-5 versions of the Saturn launch vehicles

16-Unloading Compromise in Florida

15-S-I and S-IV stages aboard the Compromise

14-Booster movement around Wheeler Dam

11-Launch Complex 34

10-Configurations of Saturn flight vehicles

9-Saturn Barge route

7-Six-engine configuration of the S-IV stage

6-Redesigned tail of the Saturn booster

5- The barge Palaemon

3-First horizontal mating of the Saturn vehicle

2-Movement of dummy S-IV stage to checkout

To assemble the large Saturns, NASA needed a plant, preferably one already built. The Michoud facility (above), close to New Orleans, suited the requirements

Saturn_SA1_on_launch_pad

Modules of the Apollo spacecraft were tested in Florida in the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building. Above, NASA officials Walt Williams, Merritt Preston, Kurt Debus, Brainerd Holmes, and Wernher von Braun

Maiden launch of the Apollo program- Saturn SA-1 from Cape Canaveral, 27 October 1961

First Saturn Launch

Liftoff of Saturn I. Note the long cable mast falling away on the right

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Abe Silverstein, NASA’s Director of Space Flight Development, is shown touring a rocket engine facility

1-Launch Complex 34, blockhouse interior