BUILDING A MOON ROCKET

A ROCKET FOR THE MOON
When Apollo began, neither the United States nor the Soviet Union possessed a rocket powerful enough to send humans to the Moon and back. Both the Americans and the Soviets had to develop a super-booster, or Moon rocket. The United States succeeded with the mighty Saturn V.

Saturn-1B Launch Vehicle
The Saturn-1B, a variant of the first stage of the three-stage Saturn V, was used during the Apollo Program to launch Apollo 7, the program's first Earth orbital flight with humans. In the 1970s, after the Moon landings, this rocket also was used to launch the crews of Skylab missions 2, 3, and 4 to the Skylab Orbital Workshop and the U.S. crew of Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
  • Height (with spacecraft): 67 meters (225 feet)
  • Thrust at lift off: 720,000 kilograms (1.6 million pounds)
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-- -- TIMELINE -- --


Racing to Space
The Moon decision
To reach the moon
Apollo 11
Later Apollo missions
What we learned about the Moon
After the Apollo Program


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Created: 7/99