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We've been sending animals to space for nearly 75 years, leading to critically important science and no shortage of bizarre stories.

We've been sending animals to space for nearly 75 years, leading to critically important science — and no shortage of bizarre stories

After serving as a beloved landmark for road tripping families for over 44 years, the iconic rocket overlooking the Alabama Welcome Center is coming down.

In August 1965, NASA established the program that would follow the first Apollo moon landing. Called Saturn-Apollo Applications, it would have seen more than 30 manned lunar and space station missions using Apollo spacecraft and rockets in the late 1960s/early 1970s. That the Apollo 1 fire in January 1967 killed three astronauts is well known; less so is that it also killed NASA's ambitious Apollo-derived program. Beyond Apollo blogger David S. F. Portree describes Saturn-Apollo Applications at its height, just before the fire.

The Saturn V rocket remains one of NASA's greatest technological achievements—a powerful launch vehicle that finally brought the Moon within reach.