Saturn family
Saturn IB
The Saturn IB (pronounced "one B", also known as the Uprated Saturn I) was an American launch vehicle commissioned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the Apollo program. It replaced the S-IV second stage of the Saturn I with the much more powerful S-IVB, able to launch a partially fueled Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) or a fully fueled Lunar Module (LM) into low Earth orbit for early flight tests before the larger Saturn V needed for lunar flight was ready.
Saturn IB is built by National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States. It first flew on 26 February 1966 and last flew on 15 July 1975.
Flight record
Payload
| Low Earth orbit | 21,000kg |
|---|
Vehicle
| Stages | 2 |
|---|---|
| Length | 43.2m |
| Diameter | 6.61m |
| Launch mass | 590t |
| Liftoff thrust | 7,100kN |
| Maiden flight | 1966-02-26 |
| Reusable | No |
Pads used
Orbits delivered
Launch history
| Date | Mission | Pad | Orbit | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975-07-15 | Saturn IB | Apollo-Soyuz Test Project | Launch Complex 39B | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 1973-11-16 | Saturn IB | Skylab 4 | Launch Complex 39B | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 1973-07-28 | Saturn IB | Skylab 3 | Launch Complex 39B | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 1973-05-25 | Saturn IB | Skylab 2 | Launch Complex 39B | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 1968-10-11 | Saturn IB | Apollo 7 | Launch Complex 34 | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 1968-01-22 | Saturn IB | Apollo 5 | Launch Complex 34 | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 1967-01-27 | Saturn IB | Apollo 1 (Failure before launch) | Launch Complex 34 | Low Earth Orbit | Failure |
| 1966-08-25 | Saturn IB | Apollo AS-202 | Launch Complex 34 | Suborbital | Success |
| 1966-07-05 | Saturn IB | Apollo AS-203 | Space Launch Complex 37B | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 1966-02-26 | Saturn IB | Apollo AS-201 | Launch Complex 34 | Suborbital | Success |
Specifications from Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs, launch records from Space Index. Derived figures are computed here; see sources and method.
Further reading: Wikipedia