The Saturn Rocket Survivors

The Saturn rocket family is a series of rocket stages that could be stacked in different configurations as needed to meet a variety of mission requirements. Example configurations include:

• Saturn IB — 2-stage missions to low earth orbit
• Saturn V — 2-stage heavy-lift to low earth orbit
• Saturn V — 3-stage missions to the moon

These rockets powered the first and only human flights to escape the gravity of our small blue planet. They remain the most powerful boosters to reach operational status and the most powerful rockets to carry humans.

There are several sites that have Saturn rocket components on display. All of these displays are built from mix and match parts using a combination of production hardware, test articles, mock-ups, and replicas. The listing below is a stage by stage inventory of those components. To summarize, you can view these displays at the following locations:

• Alabama Welcome Center, Ardmore, AL — Saturn IB
• Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX — Saturn V
• Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL — Saturn IB, Saturn V
• Marshall Space Center, Huntsville, AL — Saturn I, Saturn V, Skylab
• National Air & Space Museum, Washington, DC — Skylab
• NASA Michoud, New Orleans, LA — Saturn V Booster

It is a shame that this flight-ready hardware was built, and in some cases, stacked and ready to fly, yet it was either scrapped or turned into bird roosts. This shame turned into a scandal when it was widely reported in the media that much of this hardware had been allowed to rot almost to the point of not being salvageable. As a result of the outcry, these artifacts have been restored, preserved, and in many cases, moved indoors into purpose-built structures.