This week in 1966, AS-202 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission was an uncrewed suborbital flight to test the Saturn IB rocket and the Apollo command and service modules. The objectives of the flight were to verify the structural integrity, launch loads, stage separation, and operation of subsystems of the Saturn 1B, and to evaluate the Apollo spacecraft separations, emergency detection system, subsystems, heatshield at high reentry velocity, and mission support facilities. All mission objectives were achieved. Today, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is playing a vital role in the Artemis program by developing the Space Launch System. SLS and the Orion spacecraft, along with the commercial human landing system and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, are NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission. 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)