A forgotten milestone?

Just a reminder that today, Nov 9th 2007, is the 40th Anniversary of the launch of Apollo 4, the first Saturn V and at that date the largest single object Man had ever lifted off the Earth - equalled but never improved upon since.

It didn't get enough of a place in history as it was unmanned, but it was a great big step on the way to the Moon, and it worked perfectly the first time around.

An interesting event Paul, would some of the later Apollo missions caring the rovers have been heavier although not actually larger.

Probably a bit heavier, yes Dave, but the same size of course! Most of the weight was fuel and Apollo 4 carried enough to perform a simulated return from the Moon - it went into a highly elliptical orbit and got up to 25,000mph on the way back in!

Hi,

A bit of trivia: I think that must have been the Saturn V featured in Star Trek (first generation)!

The first Saturn V, I can remember was Apollo 8 just before Christmas 1968.
Even on TV the roar of the rocket (and the excitement of those watching!) was tremendous.

John

Yes, and the slo-mo footage of staging in space often attributed to Apollos 8 and 11 was in fact 4 as well. I have some archive footage of the launch on a VHS and the commentators can't take in the sheer power of the noise - the "Saturn crackle" is very evident on the soundtrack.

Apollo 8 was the third Saturn V to launch and the first manned flight. The second was Apollo 6, unmanned.