Description

(Formerly Skill Level 5)

Before there was the Saturn V, there was the Saturn 1B, the NASA test bed for Apollo flight hardware. Versions of the Apollo Command and Service Module, and the Lunar Module were all test flown on the Saturn 1B while the Saturn V was still in development. Even the S-IVB upper stage which served as the third stage of the Saturn V was first tested on the Saturn 1B, functioning as that vehicles second stage. The Saturn 1B would eventually see service as the primary launch vehicle for Earth orbit missions in the Apollo spacecraft.

One of the distinctive features of the Saturn 1B is the set of cylindrical tanks that forms the rockets first stage. Resembling a cluster of smaller rockets, the tanks are sometimes misidentified as re-purposed Redstone missile stages. In fact, these 70-inch diameter tanks were created using the same forms that produced the Redstone rockets. So, while they share a