Saturn launch vehicles

The Saturn family of American rockets was developed by a team of former German rocket engineers and scientists led by Wernher von Braun to launch heavy payloads to Earth orbit and beyond. The Saturn family used liquid hydrogen as fuel in the upper stages. Originally proposed as a military satellite launcher, they were adopted as the launch vehicles for the Apollo Moon program. Three versions were built and flown: the medium-lift Saturn I, the heavy-lift Saturn IB, and the super heavy-lift Saturn V. Von Braun proposed the Saturn name in October 1958 as a logical successor to the Jupiter series as well as the Roman god's powerful position. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy identified the Saturn I SA-5 launch as being the point where US lift capability would surpass the Soviets, after having been behind since Sputnik. He last mentioned this in a speech given at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio on the day before he was assassinated.: 128  To date, the Saturn V is the only launch vehicle from the Apollo Space Program to transport human beings beyond low Earth orbit. A total of 24 humans were flown to the Moon in the four years spanning December 1968 through December 1972. No Saturn rocket failed catastrophically in flight, except on the pad during the Apollo 1 test flight, when a fire ignited in the crew module, burning alive and killing all the astronauts.