Over 51 years ago, three Apollo 11 astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, took off to the Moon on top of the most impressive rocket ever built.
It was on July 16, 1969, at 9:32 a.m. In this article, you will see amazing photos from NASA’s vaults showing how they developed and launched Saturn V. I look at them in awe and admiration.
It was the most critical trip in the history of humankind, a journey that many deemed impossible.
An odyssey began many years before and changed our understanding of the world. Only eight years before this day, on May 25, 1961, President Kennedy declared a plan to go to the Moon.
It was a project that they didn’t have. The mere idea was one that almost everyone thought was improbable to do in that time frame.
Now think about this: The United States only launched its first man to space on May 5, 1961, and didn’t even orbit the Earth.
That happened after President Kennedy’s announcement on February 20, 1962. And yet, they did it.
The United States was fighting against all the odds to defeat the Soviet Union in the Moon’s race.
The battle turned the country into a technological powerhouse like no other in the world.
They were catapulting it decades ahead of everyone else, with more engineering students getting out of college than ever with the single intention of participating in the most essential, most fantastic project ever imagined.
Enjoy the images below of an era long gone.
January 4, 1969. (LM) five ascent stage in Final Assembly Area on overhead hoist being moved to a dolly for rollout examination.
February 21, 1969. Workers arrange the S-IC first stage in the Vehicle Assembly Building transfer passage.
February 21, 1969. A crane lifts the S-IC first stage in preparation for stacking on a mobile launcher within the VAB’s High Bay 1.
March 6, 1969. The arrival of the Apollo 11 Instrument Unit (IU) at KSC aboard Super Guppy.
March 21, 1969. The S-II second stage is moved into position for mating with the S-IC first stage inside the KSC vehicle assembly building (VAB).
March 21, 1969. The S-IVB third stage is hoisted for mating to the second stage.
March 21, 1969. The S-IVB third stage is moved into position for mating.
March 21, 1969. Workers prepare the S-IVB for mating the Instrument Unit, which houses guidance, control, and other Saturn V systems.
March 21, 1969. The instrument unit for the Saturn V launch vehicle, AS-506, used to propel the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, is lowered atop the third (S-IVB) stage in the vehicle assembly building at the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
The final assembly stacking of Command Module at the North American plant, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
April 1, 1969. Apollo 11 command service module (CSM 107) is moved from Chamber L to the work stand in preparation for the first manned lunar landing. (Also shown in the background is Apollo 12 CSM 108.)
April 4, 1969. Lunar Module 5 (LM-5) moves from landing gear fixture and mate to Saturn launch adapter.
April 4, 1969. Interior view of the Kennedy Space Center’s (KSC) Manned Spacecraft Operations Building showing Lunar Module (LM) 5 being moved from the work stand for mating with its Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter (SLA).
The command and service modules for Apollo 11 are installed in the altitude chamber of the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building at NASA’s Spaceport.
April 11, 1969. The command and service modules for Apollo 11 (Apollo Spacecraft 107) move from 134 work stand and final mate to Saturn launch adapter inside the Kennedy Space Center’s (KSC) Manned Spacecraft Operations Building.
Photo: NASA/Project Apollo Archive
May 1, 1969. The Apollo 11 spacecraft assembly is hoisted for mating to the launch vehicle.
May 1, 1969. Mating of the Apollo 11 spacecraft to the Saturn V launch vehicle.
May 20, 1969. Side view of Apollo 11 in VAB on the morning of the rollout.
May 20, 1969. Apollo 11 CM / Saturn stack on rollout day.
May 20, 1969. Carrying the 363-foot-high Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket and mobile launcher, the crawler inches out of the Vehicle Assembly Building on the journey to Launch Pad 39A.
May 20, 1969. Saturn V SA-506, the space vehicle for the first lunar landing mission, is rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building and down the 3.5-mile crawler way to Launch Complex 39-A.
Saturn V launch vehicle, the Apollo 11 mission, launched from The Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on July 16, 1969, and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969.
May 20, 1969. The Saturn V moves one mile per hour down the crawler toward pad 39A.
May 20, 1969. Aerial view of Apollo 11 as it nears the end of the rollout.
Check out this article that reveals the inside of the Apollo Saturn V rocket and its significant components. You will be amazed. See for yourself these fantastic drawings.