First stage assembly
This photo, captured on October 1, 1968, shows three Saturn boosters in development at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, Louisiana. The stages, designated S-1C-10, S-1C-11, and S-1C-9, were being fitted with five F-1 engines at the time. NASA used its Saturn Vs—each capable of exerting 34.5 million newtons of thrust—to launch the Apollo missions to the Moon and deposit the Skylab space station in low Earth orbit. The heavy lift vehicle performed its debut flight during Apollo 4, lifting off on November 9, 1967.
