Today in the history of astronomy, the rocket that would take America to the Moon is a success.

| Published: October 27, 2026

Saturn I lifts off from Cape Canaveral on Oct. 27, 1961. Credit: NASA

Five months after President John F. Kennedy promised that America would put a man on the Moon, NASA successfully showed that they had a rocket to get them there. Under development with Wernher von Braun’s team since 1957, the Saturn I rocket consisted of a booster stage with a liquid oxygen tank at its core, surrounded by four tanks of kerosene and four additional tanks of liquid oxygen. It featured eight H-1 engines. Elements of the Saturn I were derived from the Redstone missile, the Jupiter rocket, and the Thor rocket and hardware was even reused, lowering costs.

After an array of testing, the Saturn program was transferred to the newly opened George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama, and assembly began. In April 1961, the Saturn I boosters and engines were tested at the MSFC.…