Apollo 50th: My Family’s Saturn V Obsession

The Saturn V rocket: built to take us to the moon. To date it’s the largest, most powerful rocket ever built and is the only one that has taken humans out of low Earth orbit (in other words, beyond the International Space Station’s altitude).

In my family, things like this are awe-inspiring. Like my experiences in May witnessing the reenactment of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Point, seeing these engineering marvels reminds me of what humankind is capable of with innovation and teamwork.

I won’t go into the specs of the Saturn V; this NASA website explains it well to a middle-school-aged audience. Those who want to learn more will get a lot from the Wikipedia page, it seems well-detailed. The part I do want to explain is the allocation of the vehicles that were never launched.

Eighteen Saturn V rockets were built, in some way, shape, or form. Three were built expressly for testing, with no intentions of being launched. Two were built for space flight but didn’t get launched due to budget cuts to their intended programs. Thirteen of those 18 were launched. Of the five that weren’t used, they have been cannibalized quite a bit, with assorted stages on display at museums across the United States.

After doing a little research of my own, it seems that my family and I have seen two of the rockets still existence….plus some parts that are on display elsewhere. The first fully-assembled one I had seen was at the Apollo/Saturn V center at Kennedy Space Center in eastern Florida. My family lived there from 2002-2005 and KSC was the second most popular destination for our friends and family who came into town for visits (second, of course, to Walt Disney World). Our family has also seen the S-IVB third stage unit that’s on display at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Most recently, this past December we saw the Saturn V on display at Rocket Park at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

At both Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Space Center, to see the Saturn V rockets in all their glory, you will need to take advantage of the shuttle buses that are included with admission. The rockets are housed in buildings to protect them from the elements. Be sure to program enough time in your visit to see the rockets; I highly recommend trying to arrive as soon as the museum opens and going straight to the shuttle buses. The lines will be shortest. I know when my sons were younger that was difficult. They thought we were taking them away from the aircraft that were on display as soon as you walked in.

At Johnson Space Center my family made a point to go straight to the shuttle bus area first, and by the time we returned to the main visitor center after the tours, the lines for the buses were well over one hour long. Having teen sons made this much easier: they understand logic pretty well…most of the time.

In addition, be prepared to leave your strollers behind to get on the buses. Bring a baby carrier of some sort for the really little ones. Allow 60-90 minutes for the shuttle bus portions, depending on how much time you want to spend with the rockets. Trust me, though, it’s worth it!

I’ll bet you’re wondering, “Patricia, you’ve seen 2/3 of the full Saturn V rockets left in existence. Do you plan to visit the last one?”

The answer is, “I’m not sure.” The third assembled rocket is on display at the Saturn V Hall at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This happens to be the home of the U.S. Space Camp, and when my sons were younger, seeing this Saturn V might have been much more likely if we hadn’t moved away from Florida when we did. My oldest son was in a gifted program at his elementary school, and during spring break each year, the gifted program 5th graders attend Space Camp. Alas, we left that community at the end of my oldest son’s 4th grade year. Huntsville’s Saturn V Hall not only has all three stages in place, like at Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers, but they also have a full-sized static display replica outside, in the vertical! GeekMom Marziah has a photo of the vertical replica in her post about attending Space Camp in 2012. Built in 1999, this structure will give guests a better impression of how tall the rocket is (taller than the Statue of Liberty on her pedestal!). The three real rockets are all on display in the horizontal, which certainly makes upkeep easier.

Speaking of horizontal, last year, around Fathers Day, my husband got the Saturn V LEGO kit, all 1900 glorious pieces of it. He built it with our teen sons, and all three of them will tell you that it has incredible detail, and, at just over 3′ tall upon completion, is quite fragile. It’s currently on display, in the horizontal, in our basement, along with his brand new Lunar Lander LEGO nearby.

So, to sum up:

• There were 18 Saturn V rockets built for the U.S. space program. Thirteen of them were launched (one time use only).
• Of the five that weren’t launched, stages were assembled to recreate three full rockets for museum displays:
  • Kennedy Space Center, Florida
  • Johnson Space Center, Texas
  • U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Alabama
• Other Saturn V parts exist in the following locations:
  • INFINITY Science Center, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi (near Slidell, Louisiana)
  • National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.
  • Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (of the National Air and Space Museum), Chantilly, Virginia
  • Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum (Air Zoo), Kalamazoo, Michigan
  • New Mexico Museum of Space History, Alamogordo, New Mexico
  • Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia

I am definitely one for trying to check off “all the ______” in many ways. I recently was able to visit my 50th state in 2016. But I haven’t decreed to the family, “We need to see the third Saturn V!!” quite yet. However, after the research I’ve done for this little post, after learning how much more there is so see, plus Space Camp!!!!, I’m now itching to get there sooner rather than later.

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