Apollo’s Earth-orbit launcher
Saturn IB was smaller than Saturn V. It launched Apollo into Earth orbit for testing, Skylab expeditions and the Apollo-Soyuz rendezvous.
Its first flight took place in 1966. Following the Apollo 1 ground fire, systems were thoroughly reviewed; Apollo 7 became the first crewed Apollo flight in 1968.
In 1973 Saturn IB carried the three Skylab crews. Its final flight, in 1975, launched the American astronauts for the Apollo-Soyuz meeting.
Selected representative missions; crew names belong to the flight shown.
Eleven days of Apollo spacecraft testing in Earth orbit with three astronauts.
Apollo joined Soyuz for the first international docking of two crewed spacecraft.
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.
It played a central role in testing Apollo and establishing America’s first long-duration station expeditions.
First flight or first test of the family, including unsuccessful or suborbital attempts.
