Learning to build a large rocket
Saturn I was the first member of the Saturn family. It validated technology and structures ahead of the crewed Apollo launchers.
Its first flight in October 1961 tested only the first stage, with dummy upper stages. Later versions carried an operational upper stage powered by liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
Launches also tested Apollo boilerplates and carried Pegasus satellites, designed to measure micrometeoroid impacts in space.
Selected representative missions; crew names belong to the flight shown.
The first Saturn-family test followed a suborbital trajectory.
Pegasus deployed large instrumented surfaces to assess the hazard from tiny space particles.
Dates follow the days reported by the source agencies, generally in local time; the UTC day can differ. Crews belong to the selected missions, not every flight in the family.
No crew flew on Saturn I: it prepared the way for Saturn IB and Saturn V rather than carrying astronauts to the Moon itself.
First flight or first test of the family, including unsuccessful or suborbital attempts.
