Apollo 4 Liftoff
Saturn V performed its first flight on November 9, 1967, as pictured here. Apollo 4 was a full-scale demonstration mission, but without a crew. NASA had hoped to launch the rocket earlier in the year, but technical glitches and the Apollo 1 disaster, in which three astronauts were killed during a rehearsal on the ground, resulted in delays. NASA jumped straight to Apollo 4, skipping over Apollo 2 and 3.
