This week in 1961, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center engineers readied the Saturn I S-I stage for checkout in Building 4705. The Saturn I S-I stage had eight H-1 engines clustered, using liquid oxygen/kerosene-1 propellants capable of producing a total of 1,500,000 pounds of thrust. Originally developed by Dr. Wernher von Braun’s team at the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency, 10 Saturn I rockets were flown before being replaced by the Saturn IB. Saturn I launches enabled the Pegasus satellites and the flight verification of the Apollo Command and Service Module aerodynamics in the launch phase. The NASA History Program documents and preserves NASA’s remarkable history through a variety of products — photos, press kits, press releases, mission transcripts and administrators’ speeches. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the History Program’s Web page.
Image credit: NASA