This week in 1963, the Saturn I SA-4 flight launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. SA-4 was an uncrewed test flight of the Saturn I booster. One-hundred seconds into flight, a pre-set timer disabled engine number 5 to test the “engine-out” capability of the booster. Fuel was successfully rerouted to the other seven engines and the flight continued, completing the Block 1 Saturn tests. Managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the Saturn I vehicle and its follow-on, the Saturn IB, served as test-bed rockets for the larger and more powerful Saturn V that would eventually carry the first humans to the Moon. Today, Marshall is developing NASA’s Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket ever built, capable of sending astronauts to the Moon, Mars and deeper into space than ever before.
The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage. (NASA)