Saturn V is the rocket that first carries people beyond low Earth orbit and on to the Moon.
That orbit is the belt close to Earth where ordinary flights stay.
The rocket stands 363 feet (111 meters) tall.
Fully fueled, it weighs 2,900 tons. A second estimate runs lower, still about 400 elephants.
From 1967 to 1973 it lifts off 13 times, all from Kennedy Space Center.
Not one launch loses a crew or a payload.
Flights toward the Moon carry 24 astronauts in all.
Later the same rocket places Skylab in orbit around Earth.
The victory is not one flight.
It lasts through a whole series in which the crews come home.
Saturn V is the first rocket to take a crew past low Earth orbit.
Space Launch System later does the same.
It holds the record for the largest payload sent into low Earth orbit.
And 2,900 tons?
Even the lower estimate equals about 400 elephants, lifted as one body.
The Moon wants more than a brave crew.
It wants a rocket that does not lose them.
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