The Saturn V that put astronauts on the Moon flew a total of 13 times between 1967 and 1973 with a 100 per cent success record. Designed and developed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville under German rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun, it was the most powerful rocket ever built.
The Saturn V was a huge, three-stage leviathan, weighing more than 3,000 tonnes and towering 110m above the launch pad.
Inside were some 12 million working parts, which caused von Braun to say: “I find myself thinking of all those thousands of parts – all built by the lowest bidder – and I pray that everyone has done his homework.”
Mankind’s greatest adventure, the first mission to land on the Moon, began at Cape Kennedy, Florida, at 9.32am on 16 July 1969.
The ground shook as the giant Saturn V rocket slowly rose into the blue sky of a perfect summer’s day. It was only the fourth time that the booster had blasted off with a crew on board.
Below, we take a look at some of the incredible images captured as Apollo 11's Saturn V was pieced together.
Cosmonaut Aleksey A. Leonov (left) and astronaut Thomas P. Stafford during crew training at Star City, near Moscow, for the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Credit: NASA
21 March 1969. Saturn V’s S-II second stage is hoisted into position ready to be attached to the S-IC first stage. Credit: NASA
21 March 1969. The rocket’s S-IVB third stage is moved over the second stage. Credit: NASA
21 March 1969. The third stage is lowered into position over the second stage. Credit: NASA
21 March 1969. Engineers prepare the third stage for fitting the Instrument Unit, seen to the left of the picture, which
houses guidance, control and other computer systems. Credit: NASA
4 April 1969. The Apollo 11 lunar module, Eagle, is raised ready to be fitted into its protective fairing. Credit: NASA
11 April 1969. Apollo 11’s command service module is fitted into place on top of the protective fairing encasing the lunar module. Credit: NASA
18 April 1969. Wrapped in protective blue coating, the Apollo 11 command service module is transferred to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Credit: NASA
1 May 1969. The Apollo 11 spacecraft assembly is lifted into position on top of the third stage, revealing the four legs of the lunar module inside its protective fairing. Credit: NASA
1 May 1969. High up in the 160m-tall Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, the Apollo 11
spacecraft assembly is lowered onto the top of the Saturn V rocket, dwarfing engineers on the surrounding gantries. Credit: NASA
1 July 1969. Dr Wernher von Braun, chief architect of the Saturn V rocket, pauses in front of the 110m-tall superbooster, the tallest and most powerful vehicle ever launched into space, as it is readied for its historic mission on pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA
14 July 1969. A technician opens the cover of Apollo 11’s commemorative plaque before fitting it to the front leg of the lunar module. It says ‘Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind’. Credit: NASA
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Cosmonaut Aleksey A. Leonov (left) and astronaut Thomas P. Stafford during crew training at Star City, near Moscow, for the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Credit: NASA
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