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This Week in NASA History: First Saturn Rocket, SA-1, Launches — Oct. 27, 1961

This week in 1961, marked a high point in the 3-year-old Saturn development program, as the first Saturn I vehicle, SA-1, flew.
This week in 1961, marked a high point in the 3-year-old Saturn development program, as the first Saturn I vehicle, SA-1, flew a flawless 215-mile ballistic trajectory from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

This week in 1961, marked a high point in the 3-year-old Saturn development program, as the first Saturn I vehicle, SA-1, flew a flawless 215-mile ballistic trajectory from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The 162-foot-tall rocket weighed 925,000 pounds and employed a dummy second stage. The Saturn I launch vehicle was built at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s Fabrication and Assembly Engineering Division. Marshall also designed, developed and managed the production of the Saturn V rocket that took astronauts to the moon. Today, Marshall is developing NASA’s Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket ever built that will be capable of sending astronauts deeper into space than ever before, including to an asteroid and Mars. 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 History Program’s webpage.

Image credit: NASA