How NASA's new megarocket stacks up against its legendary predecessor
When NASA detonated its giant rocket on the Moon in July 1969, residents of Earth watched the 363-foot-tall behemoth in department stores, on a giant screen in Central Park, and on TV in living rooms in Tokyo and Paris.
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Even today, it is the most powerful rocket ever flown successfully.
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This rocket, the Saturn V, could propel the weight of some four school buses to the moon.
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It sent astronauts to the chalky lunar surface six different times.
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And it hauled America's first space station, Skylab, into orbit around Earth.
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Now half a century later, NASA is on the cusp of launching its new powerful megarocket to the moon.
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Yet it is not a "better" rocket. It's designed to do different, and unprecedented, things.
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Namely, NASA intends the SLS to carry the resources and people needed to establish a permanent presence on the Moon.
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Flying back to the Moon is important for future human exploration of deep space.