NASA

50 Years Ago: Final Saturn Rocket Rolls Out to Launch Pad 39 

On March 24, 1975, the last in a long line of super successful Saturn rockets rolled out from the vehicle assembly building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Saturn IB rocket for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was the 19th in the Saturn class stacked in the assembly building, beginning in 1966 with the Saturn V 500F facilities checkout vehicle. Thirteen flight Saturn V rockets followed, 12 to launch Apollo spacecraft and one to place the Skylab space station into orbit. In addition, workers stacked four flight Saturn IB rockets, three to launch crews to Skylab and one for Apollo-Soyuz, plus another for the Skylab rescue vehicle that was not needed and never launched. Previously, workers stacked Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets on the pads at Launch Complexes 34 and 37. With the successful liftoff in July 1975, the Saturn family of rockets racked up a 100 percent success rate of 32 launches. 

Workers prepare to lower a white spacecraft onto its rocket in a large assembly building.
Workers in the assembly building prepare to lower the spacecraft onto its Saturn IB rocket.NASA
Black and white image of a silver spacecraft (Apollo) being lowerered onto a white truncated cone (Spacecraft LM Adapter) in a large assembly hall.
Workers lower the Apollo command and service modules onto the spacecraft adaptor.NASA
Image of the base of a large rocket taken from the bottom looking up, inside a large assembly building, with workers replacing stabilizing fins.
Technicians in the assembly building replace the fins on the Saturn IB rocket’s first stage.NASA

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Ben

I am the owner of Cerebral-overload.com and the Verizon Wireless Reviewer for Techburgh.com. My love of gadgets came from his lack of a Nintendo Game Boy when he was a child . I vowed from that day on to get his hands on as many tech products as possible. My approach to a review is to make it informative for the technofile while still making it understandable to everyone. Ben is a new voice in the tech industry and is looking to make a mark wherever he goes. When not reviewing products, I is also a 911 Telecommunicator just outside of Pittsburgh PA. Twitter: @gizmoboaks

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