This week in 1965, technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility installed the S-IC-D thrust structure in the Vertical Assembly Building. A component of the S-IC, or first stage of the Saturn V rocket, the thrust structure absorbed the forces created by the five F-1 engines and redistributed them into uniform loading around the base of the rocket. The thrust structure also provided support for the engines and engine accessories and miscellaneous equipment. S-IC-D was a flight model used for dynamic testing of the Saturn V S-IC stage. Here, the S-IC-9 – employed on Apollo 14 – is installed in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The Saturn V was designed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. From October 2018 through December 2022, NASA will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program that landed a dozen astronauts on the Moon between July 1969 and December 1972, and the first U.S. crewed mission – Apollo 8 – that circumnavigated the Moon in December 1968. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage. (NASA)